The village of Brill in west Buckinghamshire is a bit of an oddity. It is a little bit off the beaten path, sited on a big hill some seven miles south of Bicester and it seems to have a other-worldly charm to it. The houses and building mostly seem to date from the 17th C. though the church is old ( 12th C.) and there was once a Royal palace here. Brill is however probably best known for it’s windmill, with good views over the surrounding countryside – possibly quite a windy spot! In archaeological circles it is also well known for it’s pottery and brick making, and there lots of old quarry pits in evidence around the windmill.

Brill also has two decent pubs and after a pleasant lunch at one of them I set about doing a sketch of the church.

As said above, the church was built in the 12th century, with later modifications. One of the things I like about this particular church (All Souls) is its very unusual weather vane and metal spire – which is probably unique. It looks as if the original spire was damaged or collapsed and replace this very nautical looking spire and an elaborate weather vane.

Well, anyway I set about sketching the church from an adjacent path. Here is my sketch in-situ. and a scan from my drawing.

Moving on to the High Street, there is a row of houses with some very handsome brick built chimneys, so sitting opposite I set about drawing these. Here is my view and sketch in-situ.

Here is a scan of my drawing.

As you can probably tell from this sketch I also paid perhaps too much attention to the car parked at the kerbside – but don’t think that really matters. Generally I was quite pleased with the way this turned out but still intend to return to add another sheet to this drawing, extending a bit further to the right – and that other chimney!