The Red Lion is located within the medieval manor and post medieval town of Brill.  The manor site, though not the current building, has possibly been in use since the 10^th Century, if not before. 

Brill’s name is a combination of Brythonic and Anglo Saxon words for ‘hill’ (Brythonic breg and Anglo Saxon hyll). In the reign of Edward the Confessor, who visited Brill to enjoy the hunting in Bernwood Forest, it was a town called Bruhella.  In 1086 Brill was assessed for 20 hides in Domesday with a population of 19 villans (villagers), 13 bordars (small holders) and 2 slaves.  There was a small mill worth 10 shillings, meadow for 20 ploughs, and woodland for 200 pigs.

Edward 1 was resident at Brill Manor, where he signed 6 writs in 1277. The manor remained in Royal hands until 1337 and in 1340 had been granted to John de Moleyns. During the Civil War Brill was briefly garrisoned by Parliament during the winter of 1644.

It has a Royal Charter to hold a weekly market, but has not done so for many years.  We intend to change that a little by operating a small Saturday stall market in the courtyard of the Red Lion, once the refurbishments have been completed. 

The Church of Enland Church of All Saints was built early in the 12th century, and its nave and chancel remain essentially Norman structures. In 1888 All Saints’ was largely rebuilt under the direction of John Oldritt Scott.

Brill is also known for its windmill, last owned and used by the Pointer and Nixie family who also baked bread in their house in the village With timbers dating from 1685, Brill Windmill provides one of the earliest and best preserved examples of a post mill (the earliest type of European windmill) in the UK.  Interestingly there is evidence that before being called the Red Lion the Pub was called the Pointer.

The perpetrators of the Great Train Robbery  in 1963 hid at the remote Leatherslade Farm on the boundary with the village of Oakley. The gang assembled at Leatherslade (then unoccupied and leased by the robbers), two days before the actual crime, which occurred near Cheddington, almost 20 miles to the east of Brill. And it was to Leatherslade that the gang immediately returned to divide the loot.

It is also often said that J R R Tolkien based the village of Bree in The Lord of the Rings on Brill. He used other nearby places in Oxfordshire as part of the Shire, sometimes using the same names, such as Buckland.