For thousands of years hunter-gatherers of the Thames Valley would have passed this way, stalking wild animals and gathering from the trees that grew on the greens and in this area.

This good soil and the abundant water supply may have encouraged Iron Age farmers (1500 BC - AD 50) to settle in this area.

[2] The first written evidence of a village here comes from the various Saxon charters describing ownership of land in Beorhtanville, Suttanwille and Maccanie.

[5] A walk around the narrow village streets will reveal many houses still standing which date back to Tudor times and beyond.

Brightwell Manor is a Grade II listed building, with a mid 17th-century half-timbered structure extended by an 18th-century stone frontage.