Jackson (Devizes, 1862); part of another MS. on "The Natural History of Wiltshire" was printed by John Britton in 1847 for the Wiltshire Topographical Society; the Miscellanies were edited in 1890 for the Library of Old Authors; the "Minutes for Lives" were partially edited in 1813.
After some slight successes as a writer, a Salisbury publisher commissioned him to compile an account of Wiltshire and, in conjunction with his friend Edward Wedlake Brayley, Britton produced The Beauties of Wiltshire (1801; 2 vols., a third added in 1825), the first of the series The Beauties of England and Wales, nine volumes of which Britton and his friend wrote.
Britton was the originator of a new class of literary works.
In 1805 Britton published the first part of his Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain (9 vols., 1805-1814); and this was followed by Cathedral Antiquities of England (14 vols., 1814-1835).
In 1845 a Britton Club was formed, and a sum of £1000 was subscribed and given to Britton, who was subsequently granted a civil list pension by Disraeli, then chancellor of the exchequer.
