Brackley

"BRACKLEY, a parish, market town, and municipal borough, in the hundred of King's Sutton, in the county of Northampton, 20 miles to the S. of Northampton, 8 miles to the W. of Buckingham, and 63 miles from London, or 67 miles by railway. It is a station on the Buckingham and Banbury branch of the London and North-Western railway. Brackley is situated on the borders of Buckinghamshire, on the banks of the river Ouse, not far from its source, and is a town of great antiquity. It was an important place before the Norman Conquest, and was at an early period the seat of a considerable trade in wool. In the reign of Edward II. it was made a staple town for wool, and in the reign of his successor it was represented in a council held at Westminster by three merchant staplers. The privilege of a market was granted before the year 1217, and a charter of incorporation early in the 14th century. Edward VI. conferred on the town the elective franchise, and the right of returning two members to parliament. This right it exercised till the Reform Act, under which it was disfranchised. The government of the borough is vested by its ancient charter in a mayor, 6 aldermen, and 26 burgesses. The town stands on the slope of a hill rising from the river, and consists chiefly of one broad street, about a mile in length, running up from the bridge of two arches, by which the river is crossed. The houses are mostly built of stone. In the middle of the town is a handsome townhall and market-house, erected in 1706 by the first Duke of Bridgewater. The lace manufacture and the boot and shoe trade are the principal branches of local industry. Brackley is the seat of a Poor-law Union, the head of a County Court district, and a polling place for the south division of the county. The town contains the Union poorhouse. For civil purposes Brackley is considered as two parishes, those of St. Peter and St. James, but for ecclesiastical purposes these are consolidated.