The toponym is recorded in the Domesday Book as
Bernintone. It is derived from a man named Beorn, and so means "settlement of or connected with Beorn". In the middle ages the manor and village of Great Barrington was held by
Llanthony Priory, which retained it until the
Dissolution. From 1553 to 1735 the manor was held by the Bray family. In 1720
Edmund Bray (1686–1725) inherited the estate from his older brother
William Bray (MP) (1682–1720). Edmund Bray's son Reginald sold the estate in 1734 to
Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot, the
Lord Chancellor, for the use of his son
William Talbot, also later 1st
Baron Dynevor, and William's wife, Mary de Cardonnel. William's daughter
Cecil de Cardonnel, 2nd Baroness Dynevor, who married
George Rice inherited the newly rebuilt Barrington Park. The house and estate has remained in the hands of Charles Talbot's descendants (since 1869 the Wingfield family) to the present day. the main house was completely restored by architects Inskip+Jenkins, including the two wings designed by
John Macvicar Anderson in the 1880s. The
ancient parish of Great Barrington extended south-west of the village and included the western part of the village of
Little Barrington. In 1866 the parish became a
civil parish, but on 1 April 1935 the civil parish was abolished and merged with the parish of Little Barrington to form the civil parish of
Barrington. Despite its geographical position in Gloucestershire, part of the parish of Great Barrington formed an exclave of
Berkshire until 1844. == Church ==