Contents Buckinghamshire  Nearby Places Edlesborough (including Dagnall, Horton, Hudnall, and Northall) "Edlesborough is one of the most extensive Parishes in the Hundred, being more than sixteen miles in circumference. It is, with its Hamlets, bounded on the North and East, by Bedfordshire; having some irregular portions of Hertfordshire, towards the South, so interposed, that it is extremely difficult to trace, much more to describe with minuteness, its boundaries. Hertfordshire may, however, be considered its Southern border, as Bedfordshire circumscribes it towards the North; and Ivinghoe, Pitston, or Pightlesthorne, with Cheddington, on the West." [The History and Antiquities of the County of Buckingham, by George Lipscomb, 1847]

Bibliography

The following reference sources have been used in the construction of this page, and may be referred to for further detail. Most if not all of these volumes are available in the Reference section of the County Library in Aylesbury.

"Buckinghamshire Contributions for Ireland 1642", Wilson J., 1983.
"Buckinghamshire Returns of the Census of Religious Worship 1851", Legg E. ed., 1991, ISBN 0 901198 27 7.
"Magna Britannia: Buckinghamshire", Lysons S. and Lysons D., 1806.
"The History and Antiquities of the County of Buckingham", Lipscomb G., 1847
"The Place-Names of Buckinghamshire", Mawer A. and Stenton F.M., 1925.
"The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Buckinghamshire", Page W. ed., 1905-1928
"War Memorials and War Graves: Cottesloe Hundred, Volume 2", Peter Quick.

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Cemeteries

The following Monumental Inscriptions are available as publications or as part of a Society library:

• Monumental Inscriptions for St Mary the Virgin church are in the library* of the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.
• War memorials in Edlesborough have been transcribed by Peter Quick and published by the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.
• War memorial details are also available online on the Roll of Honour web site.

* = material held in a Society library is generally available for loan to all members either via post, or by collection at a meeting

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Census

In 1642 there were 122 people named in the tax returns for contributions for Ireland. Between them they were assessed at £15.9.4 of which sum Wm. Higbid contributed £2.0.0

In 1798 the Posse Comitatus listed the following numbers of men between the ages of 16 and 60:- Edlesborough 79, Dagnall 81, Hudnall 18, and Northall 70.

In the earliest government census of 1801, there were the following numbers:

• Edlesborough - 318 inhabitants in 75 families living in 64 houses.
• Dagnall - 348 inhabitants in 71 families living in 66 houses.
• Horton (note: this hamlet is mainly in the parish of Ivinghoe) - 44 inhabitants in 13 families living in 9 houses.
• Northall - 331 inhabitants in 77 families living in 66 houses.

* = No names were recorded in census documents from 1801 to 1831.
** = Census documents from 1911 to 2001 are only available in summary form. Names are witheld under the 100 year rule.

Microfilm copies of all census enumerators' notebooks for 1841 to 1891 are held at the Local Studies Libraries at Aylesbury and Milton Keynes, as well as centrally at the PRO. A table of 19th century census headcount by parish is printed in the VCH of Bucks, Vol.2, pp 96-101.

Availability of census transcripts and indexes.

• 1851 - Full transcripts and indexes for Buckinghamshire are available on CD-ROM, hard copy and microfiche from the Buckinghamshire Family History Society.
• 1861 - Available on CD-ROM with advanced search and mapping capabilities etc. from the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.
• 1881
  • Available on CD-ROM from the Church of the Latter Day Saints, as part of the National 1881 Census Index.
  • Available on CD-ROM for Buckinghamshire, with advanced search and mapping capabilities etc. from Drake Software.
• 1891 - Available on CD-ROM with advanced search and mapping capabilities etc. from the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.

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Church History

• Rectors & Vicars of the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin

Details of the stained glass in the church can be found on the following web sites (the site includes many photos):

• Buckinghamshire Stained Glass

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Church Records

The original copies of the parish registers for St Mary the Virgin, Edlesborough have been deposited in the Buckinghamshire Record Office in Aylesbury, and they hold the following years:

Copies or indexes to the parish registers are available from societies as follows:

* = material held in a Society library is generally available for loan to all members either via post, or by collection at a meeting

An ecclesiastical census was carried out throughout England on 30 March 1851 to record the attendance at all places of worship. These returns are in the Buckinghamshire Record Office and have been published by the Buckinghamshire Record Society (vol 27). The returns for Edlesborough showed the following numbers:

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History & Descriptions

Edlesborough was described in 1806 in "Magna Britannia" as follows:

EDLESBOROUGH, in the hundred of Cotslow and deanery of Muresley, lies on the borders of Bedfordshire, under the Chiltern hills, near the ancient Ickeneld-Street; about four miles and a half south-west of Dunstaple. The manor belonged in the reign of Henry III. to the Blounts, ancestors of the Lords Montjoy: in the fourteenth century it was in the family of Bard. From the Dormers, who were possessed of it as early as the year 1616, it passed by a female heir to the Stanhopes, and is now the property of the Earl of Chesterfield, who inherits also from the Dormers the manor of Dagnall and Hudnall, both in this parish. Hudnall had belonged to the neighbouring monastery of Asheridge; Dagnall had been in the Brocas family. Georege Whitfield esq. gives a deputation for the manor of Pinks, in Dagnall.

The manor of Horton, in this parish was in the Brocas family, from the year 1400 to 1663, about which time it was sold to the Theeds: in 1716 it was purchased by the family of Hall, from whom it passed to the present proprietor, Christopher Johnson esq. The manor of Botelers passed, about the year 1350, by a female heir from the family whose name it bears, to the Ruffords; in 1610 it was in the Langford family, who were succeeded by the Kidgells and Brewsters: it is now the property of Mrs. Catherine Moyer, spinster, by inheritance from the family last mentioned. The manor of Bates, in Edlesborough, which had been long attached to that of the neighbouring parish of Eaton-Bray in Bedfordshire, [Footnote: Bates has been attached to the manor of Eaton-Bray, since the time of Sir Reginald Bray, and probably at a much earlier period.] is the property of William Beckford esq. of Fonthill.

The manor of Cawdwells, in this parish, was granted to Sir William Paget, in 1544. It was afterwards successively in the families of Skipwith, Sankye, Pigott, and Bruges. In 1701 it was sold, together with the manors of Fitz-Hugh [Footnote: The manor of Fitz-Hugh was so called from a family of that name, who possessed it in the fourteenth century] and Bowells, which had been in the same families, to Mr. William Chew, of Dunstaple, who bequeathed them to trustees, for the support of a free-school in that town, and other charitable purposes. Another manor in Edlesborough was part of the estate of Thomas Chaucer esq. son of the poet, who married the heiress of the Burghersts. Alice Chaucer brought it in marriage to William De la Pole, Duke of Suffolk; his son, John Duke of Suffolk, gave it to the dean and chapter of Windsor, with the king's licence, in 1480.

The parish church of Edlesborough, a handsome Gothic structure, with a small spire, forms a conspicuous object, being placed on an insulated hill, which has the appearance of having been an ancient fortress. In the chancel are some brasses of a large size, among which is that of Sir John Swynshide, rector of Edlesborough, who died in 1390: in the north chancel or Rufford's aisle, are some tombs of the family of Rufford. The Earl of Bridgewater is patron of the vicarage, and impropriator of the great tithes, which belonged formerly to the monks of the Charter-house. The parish register records the burial of Michael Fenn, at the great age of 124, April 21, 1675.

Northall, Dagnall, Horton, and Hudnall, are hamlets of this parish: at Dagnall was a chantry chapel, dedicated to All Saints. Part of Ringshall is also in the parish of Edlesborough, and two houses in St. Margaret's, a hamlet of Ivinghoe.

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Names, Geographical

• Edlesborough means 'Eadwulf's beorg' i.e. 'hill or barrow of a man called Eadwulf'.
• Dagnall derives from the old english Dagganheale, meaning 'nook of land belonging to a man called Dagga'.
• Horton means 'Muddy farm'. (note: this hamlet is mainly in the parish of Ivinghoe)
• Hudnall derives from the old english Hudanheale meaning 'nook of land belonging to a man called Huda'.
• Northall similarly means 'nook of land in the north'.

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Photographs

• Buckinghamshire Church Photos by Kevin Quick.
• Buckinghamshire Village Photos by Kevin Quick.
• Buckinghamshire Records and Local Studies Service - large collection of old photos of Buckinghamshire

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[Last updated: 1st February 2004 - Kevin Quick]