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Wendover (St. Mary)

WENDOVER (St. Mary), a market-town and parish, and formerly an unincorporated borough, in the union of Wycombe, hundred of Aylesbury, county of Buckingham, 23 miles (S. E. by S.) from Buckingham, and 35 (N. W. by W.) from London; containing 1877 inhabitants. The manor was given by Henry II. to Faramus de Boulogne, and was subsequently in the possession of the Fiennes; of Sir John Molins; Alice Perrers, a favourite of Edward III.; Thomas Holland, Earl of Kent; Edward, Duke of York, in 1338 (between which period and 1564 it was held either by the queen or some branch of the royal family);and Sir Francis Knollys and Catherine his wife. In 1660 it was purchased by the Hampden family, and continued in their possession until the decease of Lord Hampden, when it became the property of the Earl of Buckinghamshire, who sold it to Samuel Smith, Esq., in 1828; it is now the property of Abel Smith, Esq., who represented the borough till its disfranchisement by the act of the 2nd of William IV. The town is situated at the foot of the Chiltern hills, near the entrance to the Vale of Aylesbury. It is indifferently built, containing but few good houses; the inhabitants are supplied with water from wells. Many of the females are engaged in lace-making. A branch of the Grand Junction canal extends to the town, passing through a reservoir of 70 acres in the neighbourhood. The market was granted in 1403, and confirmed in 1464, with two fairs; the former is on Monday, and the latter take place on May 13th and October 2nd.

Wendover was a borough by prescription. It returned members to parliament from the 28th of Edward I. to the 2nd of Edward II., from which period the right was unexercised till, after a lapse of more than 400 years, it was restored through the exertions of Mr. Hakeville, a barrister, who, on examining the parliamentary writs in the Tower, in the 21st of James I., discovered that Amersham, Wendover, and Great Marlow, had all sent representatives. Hampden, the patriot, was member fur the borough in five successive parliaments. Petty-sessions are held once a fortnight, and courts leet and baron occasionally. The parish comprises 5640a. 31p., of which 3787 acres are arable, 1262 meadow and pasture, and 590 woodland. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £12. 6. 1., and in the patronage of the Crown, with a net income of £271; impropriator, Abel Smith, Esq. The great tithes have been commuted for £184, and those of the vicar for £46. The church stands about a quarter of a mile from the town: a beautiful font was presented by Robert Fox, Esq., of The Lodge, in 1840. An ancient chapel, dedicated to St. John, was taken down some years since, to afford a site for an infants' school. There are places of worship for Baptists and Independents. Joan Bradshaw, in 1578, left property now producing a rental of £31. 10., half of which is distributed, with £32. 13., arising from other benefactions, among the poor; and William Hill, in 1723, bequeathed an estate now let for £145 per annum, for the support of national schools in the parishes of Bierton and Wendover, and for the distribution of coal to poor men in the above and four other parishes. Roger de Wendover, historiographer to Henry II.; and Richard, Bishop of Rochester in the reign of Henry III., were natives of the place.


Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

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