BRILLEY is a parish and village bounded on the north, west, and south by Radnorshire, and extending on the S.E. to the river Wye. It is situated on the main road from Kington to Hay and Brecon, and possesses some beautiful scenery, and is noted for its pure and bracing air. It is distant 5½ miles N. of Hay, 6 S.W. of Kington, 18 W.N.W. of Hereford, and about 1 from Whitney station on the Hereford, Hay, and Brecon branch of the Midland railway; is in Huntington hundred, Kington union, petty sessional division, and county court district, and Eardisley polling district. The population in 1861 was 517; in 1871, 488; inhabited houses, 98; families or separate occupiers, 110; area of parish, 3,792 acres; annual rateable value, £4,600. The executors of the late William Perry Herrick, Esq., who are lords of the manor, Major-General Sladen, William Deykes, Esq., Rev. Richard William James, John Harris, Esq., J. Barretts, Esq., H. Gwalter, Esq., Mrs. Hodgson, E. Lewis, Esq., and the Rev. W.A. Blakely, are the principal landowners. The soil is loamy; subsoil, clay and sandstone; chief crops, wheat, barley, roots, and fruit.

Brilley is in the diocese and archdeaconry of Hereford and rural deanery of Weobley; living, a vicarage, annexed to Michaelchurch rectory; jointvalue, £330, with residence and 1 acre of glebe; patron, the Lord Bishop of Worcester; vicar, Rev. John Walter Lee, M.A., of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, who was instituted in 1873. The church of St. Mary was completely restored in 1864-65, under the superintendence of Thomas Nicholson, Esq., F.I.B.A., of Hereford,the diocesan architect; total cost, £637, defrayed by voluntary contributions. The restoration work includes the rebuilding of the porch after its ancient type, and adapting therein such of the old woodwork as was available; the old windows have been replaced by others of a more modern design; the flat ceilings have been removed, opening to view the timber framework of the roof; stalls have been placed in the chancel, and a screen and sanctuary arch have been erected, over which latter there is a panelled oak ceiling; low open seats have been erected (all of which are free and unappropriated), with a new pulpit, lectern, sedilia, &c., whilst new flooring has been laid down, and the steps from the nave to the sanctuary restored.

The roof has been covered with green Pembrokeshire slates, and the peaks of the gables finished with stone crests and metal crosses; the walls have been stripped of the plaster which before covered them, and the defective drainage of the building has been remedied. The windows have been glazed with thick cathedral glass, a painted subject being inserted in the east window, representing our Saviour's resurrection, with an inscription at the base, "I am the Resurrection and the Life". The tower was left untouched for want of funds, and is now in a very dilapidated state. Here is a school for boys and girls, erected in 1808 by the late John Harris, Esq., and a residence for the master attached, which was built by the late John Morris, Esq. The school was enlarged and refurnished in 1874 at a cost of £170, and will now accommodate 80 children. It is under Government inspection; average attendance, 40. The Calvinistic Methodists have a chapel here.