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Clifton Reynes, Buckinghamshire

Historical Description

Clifton-Reynes, a parish in Bucks, on the river Ouse, 1 mile E of OIney, where there is a station on the M.R., and 5 miles NNE of Newport-Pagnell. Post town, Newport-Pagnell; money order and telegraph office, OIney. Acreage, 1454; population, 170. Clifton was a retreat of the poet Cowper, and here Lady Austen, while visiting her sister, told him the story of John Gilpin. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford; gross yearly value, £400 with residence. The church is partly Early English, good and interesting, and contains monuments of the De Borards and the Reynes.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Ancient CountyBuckinghamshire 
Ecclesiastical parishClifton-Reynes St. Mary 
HundredNewport 
Poor Law unionNewport-Pagnell 

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.


Church Records

The parish register dates from the year 1653.


Churches

Church of England

St. Mary the Virgin (parish church)

The parish church of St. Mary the Virgin is an edifice of stone, chiefly in the Decorated style, consisting of chancel with north chapel separated from it by an arcade of two arches, nave, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower containing 6 bells, rehung in 1905; the chancel retains a piscina and sedilia; in the north chancel aisle, which is known as the Reynes aisle, is a low altar tomb of Decorated work placed under a canopied arch, with good hanging tracery, upon which recline two figures carved in oak, representing a knight in armour of the early 14th century, with crossed legs, his head resting on two cushions and his feet on a dog: the left hand holds the scabbard, and the right grasps the sword: the other figure is that of a lady in wimple, veil, and a sleeveless gown, falling in folds to her feet; the monument has neither date, inscription nor armorial bearings, but is assumed to commemorate Sir Ralph Reynes (1310) and Amabel, his wife: under the easternmost arch of the chancel arcade is an extremely elegant altar tomb of soft white stone, supporting two recumbent effigies, boldly and elaborately executed in the same material; the figure of the knight is habited in chain and plate armour, over which is a jupon emblazoned with the arms of Reynes; that of the lady has a reticulated headdress and veil, and a long flowing robe; there is neither date nor inscription, but the tomb is supposed to be that of Sir John Reynes and his first wife, Catherine (Scudamore); each side of the tomb is richly sculptured and divided by buttresses into eight lofty niches with canopies, over which runs a hollow cornice; under the westernmost arch is a third altar tomb, ornamented on each side with five shields surrounded with tracery, upon which are two other recumbent effigies carved in oak and much resembling the first two, the male figure bearing a shield; this tomb, like the former, is undated and has no incription; it is about 1325, and bears on the south side quarterings of the arms of Green and Drayton and on the north side the arms and quarterings of the Chamberlain family; there is also a brass to Sir John Reynes, with effigy and an inscription dated 1428; and another with shrouded effigies to a man and his wife, c. 1590, and perhaps representing John Reynes and Agnes his 2nd wife; the north or Reynes chapel is now a memorial chapel to five men from this parish who fell in the Great War, 1914-18: it contains a carved oak screen, on the panels of which are engraved the five names: a new high altar of stone, erected in 1923, is also a memorial to these men: the octagonal stone font is ornamented on each side with the figure of a saint under a Gothic canopy; in the church are several marble tablets to the memory of the Small family, who formerly possessed this place, and there is a tablet to James West Scorer, erected in 1938; there are traces of ancient colour decoration over the chancel arch; the eastern end of the south aisle is pierced by a hagioscope: the Wake chapel here was originally part of the old Manor of Clifton, and dates from the time of the Conquest: the church was restored in 1883-4, and in 1905 a new arch was added in the north chancel; the two windows in the north aisle were renewed in 1939: the church affords 150 sittings.


Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Clifton Reynes was in Newport Pagnell Registration District from 1837 to 1935


Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Clifton Reynes from the following:


Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Buckinghamshire is available to browse.


Maps

Online maps of Clifton Reynes are available from a number of sites:


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

CountyMilton Keynes
RegionSouth East
CountryEngland
Postal districtMK46
Post TownOlney

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