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The Village of Brinton is and always has been a very small and compact parish - both in acreage (629 acres) and in population (65 inhabitants).

It used to be far more self-sufficient than it is today. For example, in 1792, the “Universal British Dictionary” said of Brinton: “It has a good inn, ‘The Thatched Tavern’.

John Brereton, who carries on an extensive trade as a draper, grocer, tallow chandler, soap boiler and feed factor and John Mason, tanner are the principal traders.

In 1836 Brinton had a watchmaker, Barton Rix and by 1845 a brewer Wm. John Brereton. And no summary of Brinton tradesmen would be complete without mention of ‘Pages’ soap boiling, candle making and general grocery business, which existed in Brinton for a good 100 years. 

St. Andrew’s Church dates from the 14th Century, probably about 1360, which makes it an interesting survivor of the Black Death, the catastrophe of 1349-50. And the earliest Brinton church register dates from 1547 (from the reign of King Edward VI). 

The oldest wall of the church is that to the East of the porch, but this has been re-faced, buttressed and made higher at various times over the last 900 years. There is evidence of Saxon walls that were found during the restoration. 

The walls of the Church have a surface of “flints with galleting” – that is small broken flints set in mortar between normal flints – and at the base of the tower, there is a course of square panels of black knapped flints alternating with plastered squares. 

The Tower was built early in the Perpendicular period (around 1400) and possibly replaced a round tower. A niche on the west face below the window contains a statue of St. Andrew. In a niche above the transept the statue of St. Andrew dates from medieval times. It survived the systematic destruction of 1547 by being plastered over and remained out of sight for 300 years until it was re-discovered in 1871. 

The Chancel is completely missing and there is no record of how this was destroyed. One more probable explanation is that a fire destroyed it just after the Reformation. On a buttress at the East end there is some cut stone that clearly belonged to the original chancel. 

In the interior of the church, there are black lettered texts. In 1604 a canon law was passed ordering biblical texts to replace paintings of saints. These texts probably date from that period. 

The Tower Arch is plain but has two strange figures; one wearing a skullcap on the south side (symbolic of a praying person) and the other being a man stretching his mouth wide open with both hands on the north side (symbolising driving out the evil gossip). 

There is only one bell in the tower. It was recast by John Brand in 1617 and re-hung in 1957.There is a still a bell frame which can house up to 3 bells. 

A fireplace in the base of the tower was used to heat the church as recently as 1894. Under the grating in the nave floor there is a stove which burnt coke which is now outdated but used to be an effective method of heating in its time. 

The benches are old, and the date 1544 is carved on the end of the back pew. The roof was renewed about this time too. 

Among the carvings is a burning barrel or tun, which is a rebus on the village name sometimes written as “Bryningatun” which was eventually contracted to Brinton. 

The piscina is Norman and is of the type known as a pillar piscina. When the chancel was lost, these stones were used to build a buttress, and then later re-discovered and reconstituted into a piscina. 

A floor slab in the aisle commemorates John Dooney (d. 1683) with the cheerful epitaph “Prepare to follow mee”. 

The glass in the West window dates from about 1890 and depicts John the Baptist supported by his disciples at the baptism of Christ with St. Andrew and others. 

The glass in the South West window has the emblems of the 4 evangelists, with scrolls containing “Holy, Holy, Holy” in four languages. The winged man with the scroll in English depicts St. Matthew, the ox with the scroll is Greek depicts St. Mark, the lion with the scroll in Hebrew depicts St. Luke and the eagle with the scroll in Latin depicts St. John. 

The glass of the Brereton window on the south side of the sanctuary was removed from the Temple Grove School Chapel in 1907. It was designed and made by A.L.Moore who gives his address on the glass. 

The nave window shows Schaeffer’s Christ the Consoler (portrayed in stained glass by A.L.Moore in 1892. 

The East window shows the Magi and is dated 1895.