Ellesborough, Buckinghamshire
Historical Description
Ellesborough, a village and a parish in Bucks. The village stands 2½ miles SW by W of Weudover, and 3 NE by N of Princes Risborough, and 1 E from Little Kimble station on the G.W.R. It was once a considerable town, but is now small and rural. The parish comprises 3595 acres; population, 641. There is a post, money order, and telegraph office at Butler's Cross (S.O.) An ancient fortification, called Cymbeline's Castle, is near the church, and traces of British camps are on Beacon Hill. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford; gross value, £200 with residence. The church was founded by St Edburga of Quarrendon, contains a fine tomb of Brigetta Croke, of date 1659, and was restored in 1871. There is a Baptist chapel and almshouses for eight poor½persons. Chequers Court is an ancient mansion, standing in a well-wooded park of 718 acres. Coombe Hill, in the parish, on the road to Wendover, is the highest point of the Chiltern range. 38 *
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 | Ellesborough St. Peter and St. Paul | |
Hundred | Aylesbury | |
Poor Law union | Wycombe |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1659.
Churches
Church of England
SS. Peter and Paul (parish church)
The parish church of SS. Peter and Paul, restored in 1854 and 1871, is an ancient embattled structure in the Late Decorated and Perpendicular styles, situated on a hill close to the ancient Icknield way, and consists of chancel, nave of four bays, south aisle, south porch and a lofty embattled western tower, with octagonal stair turret at the south-east angle, containing 6 bells: there is a piscina in the south wall of the chancel, also stained windows north and south of the chancel and memorial windows in the nave to the Lovett family: in the south aisle, within a recess, is a marble tomb in the Italian style of the 17th century, with a recumbent figure, to the memory of Brigetta, wife of Sir H. Croke, d. 1638: on the south wall are brasses, with effigies, to Thomas Hawtrey, d. 1544, and Sybell, his wife, 11 sons and 7 daughters: a shield belonging to this brass is palimpsest: the font is of the Decorated period, and is lined with lead: there is a richly-carved oak pulpit and lectern: the chancel was rebuilt in 1871 at the cost of Mrs. Frankland-Russell Astley in memory of her husband, and her sons in 1901 caused an elaborate reredos and an east window of stained glass to be erected as a memorial to their mother: there are 230 sittings.
Civil Registration
Ellesborough was in Wycombe Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Ellesborough from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Ellesborough (St. Peter and St. Paul))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Buckinghamshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Ellesborough 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