Great Barrington is a village and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

, now in the parish of Barrington, in the

Cotswold The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the be ...

district of

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, England. It lies in the north bank of the

River Windrush The River Windrush is a tributary of the River Thames in central England. It rises near Snowshill in Gloucestershire and flows south east for via Burford and Witney to meet the Thames at Newbridge, River Thames, Newbridge in Oxfordshire. The ri ...

, west of the town of

Burford Burford () is a town on the River Windrush, in the Cotswold hills, in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England. It is often referred to as the 'gateway' to the Cotswolds. Burford is located west of Oxford and southeast of Chelt ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

. In 1931 the parish had a population of 330.

History

The toponym is recorded in the Domesday Book as ''Bernintone''. It is derived from a man named Beorn, and so means "settlement of or connected with Beorn". In the middle ages the manor and village of Great Barrington was held by

Llanthony Priory Llanthony Priory () is a partly ruined former Augustinians, Augustinian priory in the secluded Vale of Ewyas, a steep-sided once-glaciated valley within the Black Mountains, Wales, Black Mountains area of the Brecon Beacons National Park in Mo ...

, which retained it until the Dissolution. From 1553 to 1735 the manor was held by the Bray family. In 1720

Edmund Bray Edmund Bray (1686–1725) of Barrington Park, Gloucestershire was a British politician who sat in the English House of Commons from 1701 to 1708 and in the British House of Commons from 1720 to 1722. Bray was a younger son of Reginald Bray (d. 16 ...

(1686–1725) inherited the estate from his older brother William Bray (MP) (1682–1720). Edmund Bray's son Reginald sold the estate in 1734 to

Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot, (168514 February 1737) was a British lawyer and politician. He was Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain from 1733 to 1737. Early life Talbot was the eldest son of Rt. Rev. William Talbot, Bishop of Durh ...

, the

Lord Chancellor The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-ra ...

, for the use of his son William Talbot, also later 1st

Baron Dynevor Baron Dinevor, of Dinevor in the County of Carmarthen (usually spelt Dynevor or Dinefwr), is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created on 17 October 1780 for William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot, with remainder to his daughter, Lady C ...

, and William's wife, Mary de Cardonnel. Between 1736 and 1738 Charles Talbot built

Barrington Park Barrington Park is a Palladian style country house standing in an estate of the same name near the villages of Great Barrington, Gloucestershire, Great Barrington and Little Barrington, Gloucestershire, England. It is a Grade I listed building. ...

, a country house in the

Palladian style Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

, now a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. William's daughter

Cecil de Cardonnel, 2nd Baroness Dynevor Cecil de Cardonnel, 2nd Baroness Dynevor (July 1735 – 14 March 1793) was a Welsh peeress. Biography Born on July 1935, she was the daughter of William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot. Her mother was the daughter and heir of Adam de Cardonnel ...

, who married George Rice inherited the newly rebuilt Barrington Park. The house and estate has remained in the hands of Charles Talbot's descendants (since 1869 the Wingfield family) to the present day. The village of Great Barrington, and Barrington Park itself, fell into increasing disrepair during the 1960s and 70s under the owner, Charles Wingfield. Following a planning application to the Cotswold District Council in 2011, the main house was completely restored by architects Inskip+Jenkins, including the two wings designed by

John Macvicar Anderson John Macvicar Anderson (11 July 1835, Glasgow – 9 June 1915, London) was a Scottish architect. He was born in Glasgow in 1835, the son of John Anderson, merchant and the nephew of architect William Burn and his wife, Eliza Macvicar. He was ...

in the 1880s. The

ancient parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Great Barrington extended south-west of the village and included the western part of the village of

Little Barrington Little Barrington is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Barrington, in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. It lies on the south bank of the River Windrush, west of the town of Burford. In 1931 the parish had ...

. In 1866 the parish became a

, but on 1 April 1935 the civil parish was abolished and merged with the parish of Little Barrington to form the civil parish of Barrington. Despite its geographical position in Gloucestershire, part of the parish of Great Barrington formed an exclave of

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

until 1844.

Church

St Mary's church in Great Barrington is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, built in the late 12th century and restored in 1880 by

Francis Penrose Francis Cranmer Penrose Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (29 October 1817 – 15 February 1903) was an English architect, archaeologist, astronomer and rowing (sport), sportsman rower. He served as Surveyor of the Fabric of St Paul's Cathedral ...

. At the west end of the church there is a monument to

. There are numerous monuments in the chancel to the Talbot family, including a sculpture by

Joseph Nollekens Joseph Nollekens R.A. (11 August 1737 – 23 April 1823) was a sculptor from London generally considered to be the finest British sculptor of the late 18th century. Life Nollekens was born on 11 August 1737 at 28 Dean Street, Soho, London, ...

of Mary, Countess Talbot (d.1787), the estranged wife of Earl Talbot."St Mary's, Great Barrington"
The Windrush Benefice. Accessed 17 March 2020. Their great-grandson,

George Rice-Trevor, 4th Baron Dynevor George Rice-Trevor, 4th Baron Dynevor (5 August 1795 – 7 October 1869) was a British politician and peer. Early life He was the son of George Talbot Rice, 3rd Baron Dynevor. Dynevor matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford 13 October 1812; ...

is also buried there.

Famous people

Thomas Wharton, 1st Marquess of Wharton Thomas Wharton, 1st Marquess of Wharton, Privy Council of England, PC (August 1648 – 12 April 1715) was an English peer and Whigs (British political party), Whig politician. A man of great charm and political ability, he was also notoriou ...

, created a scandal in 1682 when, during a drunken rampage, he desecrated the church at Great Barrington. Although he became a leading figure in Government, he was never allowed to forget the episode.

References

External links

Barrington Parish Council website
{{Authority control Villages in Gloucestershire Cotswold District Former civil parishes in Gloucestershire

History

Church

Famous people

See also

References

External links