Monks Risborough, Buckinghamshire
Historical Description
Monks Risborough, a village and a parish in Bucks, 1½ mile NE from Princes Risborough station on the Wycoinbe, Thame, and Oxford branch of the G.W.R., 5 miles S from Wendover, and 7 S from Aylesborough. Post town, Tring; money order and telegraph office, Princes Rishorough. Acreage, 2873; population, 810. The manor belongs to the Earl of Buckinghamshire. The church, which was restored in 1863-64 under the direction of the late G. E. Street, R.A., is a beautiful building of flint and stone in the Early English and Perpendicular styles. It has a good rood-screen of the 14th century, a Norman font, and brasses of 1431, 1460, and 1520. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford; net value, £484 with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Oxford. Near the church are traces of a stone pigeon-house and some fishponds which formerly belonged to an ancient monastery. There are some small charities. Ashett, Cadsdean, Meadle, Owlswich, and Whiteleaf are adjacent hamlets. At Whiteleaf there is an ancient cross cut 2 or 3 feet deep in the side of a hill. The stem is about 100 feet long by 50 broad, the arms measure 70 feet in length by 12 in breadth, and the stem rises from a triangular base 340 feet wide. It is believed to commemorate a victory of Edward the Elder over the Danes in 910. Monks Sherborne. See SHEBBORNE, MONK. Monksthorpe, a hamlet in Great Steeping parish, Lincolnshire, 3f miles SE of Spilsby. Monkston. See MONXTON.
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 | Monks' Risborough St. Dunstan | |
| 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 1587.
Churches
Church of England
St. Dunstan (parish church)
The church of St. Dunstan is a structure of flint and stone in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, and consists of chancel, nave with clerestory, aisles, separated from the nave by arcades of four bays, a small north transept, south porch, vestry and organ chamber (added at the restoration), and a western tower containing 6 bells; the framework of the belfry was entirely restored and a sixth bell added in 1884: a portion of the late 15th century rood-screen remains under the chancel arch, retaining nine out of its twelve panels, adorned with paintings, which are not original, and near is a brass effigy, 1431, to Robert Blundell, a former rector; elsewhere are demi-effigies of a man and his wife, c. 1460, and some figures of children: some ancient tiles are also extant: in the porch is a portion of the old stoup and in the north aisle part of a canopied recess of the 15th century, richly carved, and a portion of the rood loft also remains: the font is a good example of c. 1200: the stained east window was presented to the church in 1864: the stained west window was erected by the parishioners and friends to the Rev. H. W. J. Beauchamp, 23 years rector, who died January 25th, 1863: in the south aisle is a stained window, and in the transept is a memorial window to Dr. Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford (1845-69) and afterwards of Winchester (1869-73), d. 19 July, 1873: the church was restored in 1863-4: there are sittings for 332 persons.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Monks Risborough was in Wycombe Registration District from 1837 to 1934
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Monks Risborough from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Risborough, Monks' (St. Dunstan))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Buckinghamshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Monks Risborough 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:
Villages, Hamlets, &c
AskettCats Deans
Meadle
Owlswick
Whiteleaf
Visitations Heraldic
A full transcript of the Visitation of Buckinghamshire, 1634 is online