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The name of the parish comes from the town of Bruton, in the English county of Somerset, which was the ancestral home to several leading colonial figures, notably Virginia's colonial secretary Thomas Ludwell and the Ludwell family, as well as that of the Royal Governor, Sir William Berkeley.
After the death of John de Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk, in 1476, and of his daughter and heir Anne in 1481, the Mowbray estates were divided between the representatives of her two co-heirs, one of whom, William, Lord Berkeley, obtained the overlordship of Pickwell and Leesthorpe for considerable time for his family: last mentioned in connection with Pickwell and Leesthorpe in 1630.
The property then devolved upon another cousin, William Berkeley (d.1737) of Pylle, Somerset, who also took the surname Portman in lieu of his patronymic.
Katherine, who married firstly Sir William Berkeley, secondly Henry Grey, 4th (7th) Baron Grey of Codnor, and thirdly William de la Pole.