Brize Norton

"NORTON-BRIZE, a par. in the hund. of Bampton, co. Oxford, 3 miles N.W. of Bampton, its post town, and 5 S.E. of Burford. The village, which is small, is situated near Norton Pits, and is chiefly agricultural. The surface is generally flat, and the principal portion is arable. The soil is rather shallow, and in some parts stone brash. The tithes were commuted for land and a money payment under an Enclosure Act in 1775. The living is a vic. in the dioc. of Oxford, val. £300, in the patron, of Christ Church, Oxford. The church, dedicated to St. Brize, contains effigies in stone of John D'Aubigné and of the Greenwoods, in the costume of the time of Edward III., and one to the Wenmans of Gaswell. There is a charity of £5 per annum, bequeathed by Goddard Carter in 1723, for the education of ten poor children. The Manor House is the principal residence." [The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]