Britain is an unincorporated

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 village in Loudoun County

Loudoun County, Virginia

Loudoun County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and is part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the county is estimated to be home to 312,311 people, an 84 percent increase over the 2000 figure of 169,599. That increase makes the county the fourth...

, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

, USA

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 lying along Milltown Creek. It is located on the eastern flanks of Short Hill Mountain

Short Hill Mountain

Short Hill Mountain is a mountain ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains in northwest Loudoun County, Virginia.- Geography :Short Hill rises sharply from the Piedmont countryside of the Loudoun Valley, northwest of Purcellville, as a low-lying ridge barely over above the surrounding area...

 along Mountain Road (VA Route 690) at its junction with Britain Road.

History

Originally known as Guinea, the village of Britain became the place of settlement for a free African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 community in the mid 19th century. Mount Sinai Free Baptist Church was built here in 1880 and served as a school for the community until 1915. Unlike most of the black settlements in Loudoun County, Britain had a post office

Post office

A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...

in operation. Its African American residents began to move elsewhere in the early 20th century with the last black families leaving Britain in the 1920s.