Boarstall, Buckinghamshire
Historical Description
Boarstall or Borstall, a village and a parish in the county of Bucks, in Bernwood Forest, on the verge of the county, 7 miles NW of Thame station on the G.W.R. Post town,. Brill, which is the money order and telegraph office. The parish comprises 3078 acres; population, 188. The manor was obtained from Edward the Confessor by the huntsman Nigel, for service done in the forest, and is now the property of the Aubrey family. Boarstall Tower, the old manor-house, played a conspicuous part in the Civil War, and is now a picturesque ruin. The living is annexed to the perpetual curacy of Brill, in the diocese of Oxford, joint net yearly value, £187 with residence. The church was rebuilt in 1818, and contains monuments of the Aubreys.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Buckinghamshire | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Boarstall St. James | |
Hundred | Ashendon | |
Poor Law union | Bicester |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1640
Churches
Church of England
St. James (parish church)
The parish church of St. James, rebuilt in 1818 by Sir John Aubrey bart. on the foundations of the original structure, is a small edifice of stone in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel and nave, with a turret at the intersection, containing one bell: in the chancel are two marble monuments to the Aubrey family, and the stained east window bears the arms of Sir John Aubrey bart. D.C.L. and M.P. for Bucks, impaling those of his two wives Mary (Colebrook) and Martha Catherine (Carter); he died 1 March, 1826, being then father of the House of Commons: the baronetcy became extinct on the death without issue (before 1859) of Sir Thomas Digby Aubrey 7th bart.: the church was restored in 1854 by J. A. Aubrey esq. at a cost of £1,635, and affords 200 sittings: on Saturday, Dec. 5, 1812, the church was entered and a silver chalice and paten, and some pewter vessels stolen: in the churchyard are the remains of an ancient cross, and also a memorial of stone to the men connected with this parish who lost their lives in the Great War, 1914-18
Civil Registration
Boarstall was in Bicester Registration District from 1837 to 1905, Thame Registration District from 1905 to 1932, and Aylesbury Registration District from 1932 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Boarstall from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Boarstall (St. James))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Buckinghamshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Boarstall are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Buckinghamshire papers online:
Visitations Heraldic
A full transcript of the Visitation of Buckinghamshire, 1634 is online