BRAMPTON BRIAN, or BRYAN, is a large parish and village pleasantly situated on the borders of the counties of Salop and Radnor, and on the river Teme, which is noted for its trout and grayling fishing. It is distant 11 miles W. of Ludlow, 14 N.W. of Leominster, 26 N.W. of Hereford, 5 E. of Knighton, 4 N.W. of Wigmore, 2¼ S.W. of Leintwardine, and about 2 from Bucknell station on the Central Wales railway; is in Wigmore hundred, petty sessional division, and polling district, Knighton union and county court district. The population of the entire parish in 1861 was 430; in 1871, 529; inhabited houses, 89; families or separate occupiers, 92. The Herefordshire portion of Brampton Brian parish contained in 1871, 341 persons, 55 inhabited houses, and 58 families or separate occupiers. The area of the entire parish is 5,314 acres, of which 2,926 belong to Herefordshire, being assessed to the county rate at £3,000. Robert William Daker Harley, Esq., is lord of the manor and principal, landowner. Brampton Brian is situate in a pleasant valley, possessing a rich loam soil, fertile in grain and pasturage, and watered by the Teme. The Radnorshire hills and the woods of the neighbourhood add greatly to the beauty of the scenery. The turnpike road from Ludlow to Knighton intersects the parish. A fair is held yearly for sheep and cattle on the 21st of June, and for horses on the 22d[Ed:sic] of June. This place was an ancient lordship of the family of Brian de Brampton, who resided here from about the time of Henry I., and having intermarried with some of the chief nobility of the kingdom, became extinct in the time of Edward I., when Margaret, a co-heiress, conveyed this estate in marriage to Robert de Harley, from whom it descended to the Earl of Oxford, thence to Lady Langdale, and recently to its present owner. The castle, which had been erected here at an early period, became the chief seat of the Harleys till the time of the civil wars in the reign of Charles I., when it was twice besieged by the forces in the service of the king, and at length burnt and otherwise dilapidated. The ruins, which chiefly consist of some fragments of walls and an entrance gateway flanked by two round towers, occupy a low situation about 100 yards N. from the church. In a space called the "Wilderness", near the ruins, are some of the largest and most flourishing trees in England. Brampton Brian is in the diocese of Hereford, archdeaconry of Salop, and rural deanery of Clun; living, a rectory; value, £350, with residence and 18 acres of glebe; patron, Robert William Daker Harley, Esq.; rector, Rev. David Rodney Murray, M.A., of Christ Church, Oxford, who was instituted in 1826. The earliest register is dated 1663. The church of St. Barnabas is a plain structure, rebuilt after the destruction of Brampton Brian castle, and restored and repaired in 1833. A memorial window at the east end, the organ, and a portion of the communion-plate, were given by the family of the late Edward Rogers, Esq., of Stanage park. The clock was given by the family of the late Mr. John Edwards. There are monuments to the first Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, and to the sixth and last Earl. Numerous members of the Harley family are buried here, including John Harley, Bishop of Hereford; but no record whatever is placed to their memory in the church. On St. Thomas' day annually there is given away thirty bushels of wheat, and about £4 in money, to the poor people of Brampton Brian and neighbourhood. Parishioners get one peck of corn and sixpence; non-parishioners, half-peck and sixpence. The origin or amount of the charity is involved in obscurity; and it is continued because it has always been the custom. The owner of the estate supplies the funds necessary. The interest of £100 invested in the Three per Cent. Consols is given away every Christmas by the rector and churchwardens, to such poor families in the parish as shall be considered the most deserving. The late John Edwards, Esq., left this charity in the year 1857. There is a national school, with residence for the master; average attendance, about 70. It is under Government inspection, and has a small endowment. Brampton Brian Hall, a large brick mansion with stone facings, is the residence of Lieut. General George Staunton, C.B. To the west is a park, nearly 6 miles in circumference, occupying a considerable portion of an extensive eminence. About a mile to the N. of the park is Coxall Knoll camp, which was the last post occupied by the gallant Caractacus. Boresford, and Upper and Lower Pedwardine, are townships in this parish, and contained 71 persons in 1871. Stanage lordship, distant about 2 miles from the church, is in the county of Radnor, but belongs to Brampton Brian parish. It comprises 2,388 acres and contained in 1871 a population of 188, and 34 inhabited houses. The Rev. John Rogers, M.A., J.P., is owner of the lordship, and resides at Stanage Park, a beautiful castellated mansion of stone, pleasantly situated at the foot of the Radnorshire hills, in the midst of tastefully laid-out ornamental grounds.