Pitstone, Buckinghamshire
Historical Description
Pitstone or Pightlesthorne, a village and a parish in Buckinghamshire. The village stands near Icknield Street, the boundary with Herts, the L. & N.W.R, and the Grand Junction Canal, 1 mile S of Ivinghoe, and 2 miles N by W of Tring station on the L. & N.W.R. The parish contains also the hamlet of Nettleden, and measures about 7 miles in length and 1 mile in breadth. It has a post office, of the name of Pitstone Green, under Tring; money order office, Ivinghoe; telegraph office, Cheddington. Acreage, 1644; population, 459. There is a parish council consisting of five members. The manor belongs to Earl Brownlow. Ashridge Park is the seat of Earl Brownlow, and has been separately noticed. A monument, about a mile from it, was erected in 1832 in honour of the third Duke of Bridgwater. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford; net value, £160 with residence. Patron, Earl Brownlow. The church is a beautiful building of stone in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles; consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with a tower; and contains a fine Norman font and an elaborately carved old oak pulpit. The perpetual curacy of Nettleden is a separate benefice. There is a school endowment of £10 a year.
Church Records
The Phillimore transcript of Marriages at Pitstone 1576-1812, Buckinghamshire is available to browse online.
The parish register dates from the year 1653.
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary the Virgin (parish church)
The church of St. Mary the Virgin is a building of stone in the Transitional and later styles, consisting of chancel, nave of five bays, north chapel, north aisle, south porch and a plain embattled western tower contaming 3 bells; the font is late 12th century, a variety of the Aylesbury type, with bold cable moulding between basin and foot, and foliated ornament round the top: in the choir is a square-shaped chest of the 13th century: in the north chapel are a locker and a piscina, and the stairs to the rood loft also remain: the pulpit is early 17th century work: the floor of the chancel is laid down with 14th and 15th century tiles, formerly placed in different parts of the church: the stained east window was erected in 1893 as a memorial to the Rev. Charles Ring Hutchinson, 26 years vicar (1855-81): the church was restored in 1893, and it now affords 147 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Pitstone was in Berkhampstead Registration District from 1837 to 1928, Leighton Buzzard Registration District from 1928 to 1935, and Aylesbury Registration District from 1935 to 1974
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Buckinghamshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Pitstone 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