Brize Norton

Brize Norton is a village and civil parish 1 mile east of Carterton in West Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 938. The original part of RAF Brize Norton is in the parish.

Around the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 the village's toponym was Norton, being the north tun of Bampton. In 1235, the form Suthnorton was recorded, evidently to distinguish it from other Nortons further north in Oxfordshire such as Chipping Norton. By the 1260s, the form Norton Brun was in use, referring to the Brun or Brown family who were the parish's manorial lords. Further variants included Brunesnorton in 1297, Brimes Norton in 1303 and Brynes Norton in 1376, but the Norton Brun form outlived them and was still in use early in the 17th century. The form Brysenorton had appeared by 1523, and by the middle of the 17th century it had become the usual form of the name. However, Norton Brun had evolved into Norton Broyne and remained in use in church records until early in the 19th century.

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