Great and Little Kimble, Buckinghamshire
Historical Description
Kimble, Great and Little, a parish in Buckinghamshire. Formerly two separate parishes, they were united by a Local Government Order in 1885, together with a part of Little-Hampden. The village of Great Kimble is on Icknield Street, a quarter of a mile SE from Little Kimble station on the G.W.R., and 3½ miles S by W from Wendover. Post town, Tring; money order office, Princes Risborough; telegraph office, Butler's Cross, Ellesborough. Acreage, 3415; population, 565. The parish was anciently called Kunebel; is said to have got that name from Cunobelin or Cymbeline, the British king, whose sons made a brave standl here against the Romans, and it contains eminences called Belinus' castle, and Belinesbury, where Cunobelin is supposed to have had fbrtalices or residences. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford; net value, £190 with residence. Patron, the Earl of Buckingham. The church is an ancient embattled building of flint and stone in the Decorated style, comprises nave, aisles, and chancel, witli an embattled western tower, and has a richly carved Norman font. Little Kimble is a village with a station on the Aylesbury branch of the G.W.R. on Icknield Street, contiguous to Great Kimble. Post town, Tring; money order office, Princes Risborough; telegraph office, Butler's Cross, Ellesborough. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford; gross value, £200. The church is a very ancient building of stone in the Decorated style. It contains some curious red outline mural paintings, now nearly obliterated. There is a Dissenting chapel. Marsh and Kimble Wick are-adjacent hamlets.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ecclesiastical parish | Little Kimble All Saints |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register of Great Kimble dates from the year 1664; that of Little Kimble from the year 1657, but is very imperfect.
Churches
Church of England
All Saints
The church of All Saints, Little Kimble, is a small but ancient building of stone, probably dating from the end of the 13th century, and chiefly in the Decorated style: it consists of chancel, nave, north and south porches and a bell gable at the west end, containing 2 bells: the east and west windows are stained, and on the north side of the chancel is a memorial window to the Rev. Samuel Thomas Chapman, rector here from 1810: five other windows in the church retain fragments of ancient stained glass: the pulpit, reading desk and open seats are of oak: on the walls of the nave are some ancient paintings of the early 14th century: the floor of the chancel retains some ancient tiles, much defaced: there are two piscinae, one in the east wall and the other in the south wall of the nave: the font is also ancient: the church was restored and reseated in 1875-6, at a cost of £1,300, and affords 70 sittings.
St. Nicholas (parish church)
The parish church of St. Nicholas, Great Kimble, situated on an eminence and thoroughly restored and reseated in 1876-81, is an ancient embattled building of flint and stone in the Decorated style, consisting of chancel with aisles of two bays, nave of four bays, aisles, south porch and a large embattled western tower, with a corbel table of heads supporting the parapet and containing 6 bells: in the chancel is a window, presented by Sir Robert Frankland-Russell bart. of Thirkleby, Yorkshire, who died 11th March, 1849: others to Mrs. Frankland-Russell Astley, Rev. John Steward, a former vicar, and one erected in 1892, by the parishioners and friends, to the Rev. Edward Keating Clay B.A. vicar 1873-91: the font is of the " Aylesbury" type, late 12th century: the chapel in the south chancel aisle was added by the Rev. Arthur Kennet Hobart-Hampden M.A. rector 1891-1909, as a memorial to his mother, Mrs. Marianne Hobart, and was consecrated by the Bishop of Oxford in 1904: an oak screen and a reredos with painted panels were erected to the memory of Canon Hobart Hampden: there are 200 sittings. A large tumulus behind the church, called "Dial hill," was opened in 1887, and found to be an ancient burial place, in which some relics were met with.
Civil Registration
Great Kimble and Little Kimble was in Wycombe Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Great and Little Kimble from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Kimble, Little (All Saints))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Buckinghamshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Great and Little Kimble 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