Middle Claydon, Buckinghamshire
Historical Description
Claydon, Middle, a village and a parish in Buckinghamshire, 2½ miles E from Verney Junction station on the L. & N.W.R., and 4 WSW of Winslow, which is the post town; money order and telegraph office, Steeple Claydon. Acreage, 2640; population, 227. The manor has belonged to the Verneys since the middle of the 15th century. Claydon House was rebuilt in the time of George II. by the second Earl of Verney in a style of great magnificence, but soon was severely injured by the Baroness Fermanagh, yet retains some-features of its original splendour. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford with the vicarage of East Claydon annexed; joint net yearly value, £246 with residence, in the gift of Sir H. Verney, Bart. The church stands close to Claydon House, and has brasses of the 16th century, an alabaster tomb of Giffard, and many monuments of the Verneys, including one to Charles I.'s standard bearer at Edge-hill.
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 | Middle Claydon All Saints | |
| Hundred | Ashendon | |
| Poor Law union | Buckingham |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1630.
Churches
Church of England
All Saints (parish church)
The parish church of All Saints is a small edifice of stone in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and an embattled western tower containing 3 bells; in the church are monuments and brasses to the Verney and Giffard families; among them is a monument to Sir Edmund Verney, Knight Marshal and standard-bearer to King Charles I. who fell at the battle of Edgehill, 23rd Oct. 1642; a Jacobean monument, with kneeling effigies at a desk, to Urian Verney, 1608, and Lettice, his Wife, and a brass medallion to the Rt. Hon. Sir Harry Verney bart. P.C., M.P. d. 1894; the chancel was built by Roger Giffard or Gyfford in 1519, and is divided from the nave by a beautiful 16th century carved oak screen, and on its north wall is a brass to him, 1543, and Mary (Verney), his wife, with brass effigies of unusual size, and also of 18 children: there is also a brass with effigy to Alexander Anne, the last chantry priest, 1526, one to Isabel Giffard, 1523, and in the chancel an altar tomb with a recumbent effigy in alabaster to a lady of this family, 1539: a framed roll of bonour, beautifully illuminated, records the names of the men connected with the parish who fell in the Great War, 1914-18: there is a piscina in the south wall of the nave: the church was thoroughly restored in 1871: there are 120 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Middle Claydon was in Buckingham Registration District from 1837 to 1935
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Middle Claydon from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Claydon, Middle (All Saints))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Buckinghamshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Middle Claydon 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