Ledburn, Buckinghamshire

Historical Description

Ledburn, a hamlet in Mentmore parish, Bucks, near the L. & N.W.R., U miles SW of Leighton Buzzard. There ia a Baptist chapel. Ledbury, a market-town, head of a poor-law union and county court district, and a parish in Herefordshire. The town stands within a small valley, on the Gloucester and Hereford Canal, chiefly on a declivity, near the river Leddon, at the W skirt of the Malvern Hills, 3½ miles WNW of the meeting-point of Herefordshire, Worcestershire, and Gloucestershire, and 14 miles E by S of Hereford city. It dates from Saxon times, was given by Edwin to the bishops of Hereford, had once a palace of the bishops, became a market-town in the time of Stephen, and was noted for silk and broadcloth manufactures in the time of Elizabeth. It consists now of two principal streets and a number of small ones, contains many ancient houses of brick and timber, with projecting storeys, hut contains also some handsome modern houses, and has a head post office, a station on the G.W.R., a police station, a market-house, a cottage hospital, a dispensary, a workhouse, and almshonses. An institute with clock tower was erected in 1894-95 in memory of the late Mrs Barrett Browning the poetess, who lived for a short time at Hope End. The market-house stands near the centre of High Street, is an old timber structure with projecting front, and rests upon sixteen massive Spanish chestnut pillars. A weekly newspaper is published. The church is variously Norman, Early English, and Decorated; it was formerly collegiate from the year 1401, was thoroughly restored in 1894-95, has a very fine Norman W door, a beautiful Early English N porch, and a handsome Early English detached tower, surmounted by a symmetrical spire 60 feet high; and contains stalls, part of a carved screen, four stained-glass windows, and numerous brasses and monuments. St Catherine's Chapel adjoins the N side of the church, took its name from Catherine Audley the hermit, and is a good specimen of Decorated English. The hospital bears the name of St Catherine, was founded in 1232 by Bishop Foliot and re-founded by Queen Elizabeth, was rebuilt in 1822 after designs by Smirke on the site of a previous old timbered house, was enlarged in 1866, and includes a chapel. There is a chapel of ease, besides Baptist, Congregational, and Wesleyan chapels. The workhouse is recent, and has accommodation for 170 inmates. A weekly market is held on Tuesday, and fairs on the second and last Tuesdays of every month. The old manufacture of broadcloth is extinct, and the present trade has connection chiefly with agriculture, and includes malting and traffic in hops, cider, perry, brewing, and aerated water. The town sent members to Parliament in the time of Edward I., received a borough charter from Elizabeth, and is a seat of petty sessions and county courts. Tonson the bookseller died here.

The parish is divided into five sections, called the Borough, Wall Hills, Wellington Heath, Leadon and Haffield, and Mitchell and Netherton. For parish council purposes it is divided into urban and county districts. Acreage, 8198; population of the civil parish, 4303; of the ecclesiastical, 3932. Ledbury Park and the Upper Hall are the chief residences. Traces of ancient camps are at Wall Hills, Haffield, and Vineyard. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Hereford; gross value, £540 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Hereford. The vicarage of Wellington Heath is a separate benefice.

Administration

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

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

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Ledburn from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Ledburn)

Land and Property

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

Maps

Online maps of Ledburn 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:

• Bucks Herald
• South Bucks Free Press, Wycombe and Maidenhead Journal
• Croydon's Weekly Standard

Visitations Heraldic

A full transcript of the Visitation of Buckinghamshire, 1634 is online