Contents Buckinghamshire  Nearby Places Farnham Royal (including Seer Green, Salt Hill, and Hedgerley Dean) "Farnham Royal (Slough, 3 m.) is a growing village on the upper slopes of the Thames Valley. After the Conquest the manor was given to Bertrand de Verdon on the condition of providing a glove and putting it on the king's right hand at the coronation, and supporting his right arm, while the royal sceptre was in his hand, and from this tenure by Grand Sergeantry, Farnham obviously received the epithet of 'Royal'.." [Buckinghamshire, by E.S. Roscoe]

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", E.S. Roscoe, London Methuen & Co Ltd, 1935.
"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 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: Burnham and area, Volume 13", Peter Quick.
"War Memorials and War Graves: Marlow and area, Volume 12", Peter Quick.

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Cemeteries

War Memorials

War memorials in Farnham have been transcribed by Peter Quick, and published in a booklet entitled "War Memorials and War Graves: Burnham and area, Volume 13", available from the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.

War memorials in Seer Green have been transcribed by Peter Quick, and published in a booklet entitled "War Memorials and War Graves: Marlow and area, Volume 12", available from the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.

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Census

In 1642 there were 21 people named in the tax returns for contributions for Ireland. Between them they were assessed at £2.3.6 of which sum Geo. Palmer parson contributed £0.10.0

In 1798 the Posse Comitatus the following numbers of men between the ages of 16 and 60 were listed: Farnham Royal - 158, Hedgerley Dean - 38, Seer Green - 45.

In the earliest government census of 1801, the following population figures were recorded:

• Farnham Royal - 550 inhabitants in 112 families living in 112 houses
• Hedgerley Dean - 77 inhabitants in 29 families living in 28 houses
• Seer Green - 224 inhabitants in 49 families living in 31 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 of the Parish Church of St Mary

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, Farnham Royal 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 Farnham Royal showed the following numbers:

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History & Descriptions

Farnham Royal was described in 1806 in "Magna Britannia" as follows:

FARNHAM-ROYAL, in the hundred and deanery of Burnham, lies about two miles north of Slough. The manor was, at the time of the Norman Survey, in the family of Verdon, afterward Barons Fernival, and passed from them by female heirs to the Talbots, Earls of Shrewsbury. It was held by grand serjeanty by the service of finding a glove for the king's right hand, on the day of the coronation, and supporting his right arm that day whilst he held the sceptre. In the year 1542, Francis Earl of Shrewsbury gave this manor to King Henry VIII. in exchange for other lands, reserving to himself and his descendants, the honourable office just mentioned. King Charles I. sold the manor of Farnham-Royal to certain citizens of London: after this it was many years in the family of Coke, descendants of the celebrated Sir Edward Coke, who resided in the neighbouring parish of Stoke-Poges, and it is probable purchased this manor, which, about the year 1751, [Footnote: The Coke family appointed game-keepers for this manor till 1751. Francis Godolphin was the first of that family who appointed a game-keeper in 1752.] was sold by Thomas Coke, Earl of Leicester, to the Godolphin family, and is now, by bequest of the late Lord Godolphin, the property of Lord Francis Godolphin Osborne, second son of the late Duke of Leeds.

In the parish church is a brass plate, in memory of Eustace Mascall, clerk of the works to Cardinal Wolsey, at the building of St. Frediswide, [Footnote: Meaning Christ-Church College.] in Oxford, and for seventeen years chief clerk of accounts for all the buildings of King Henry VIII. within twenty miles of London. He died in 1567, being then pistell-reader in Windsor-Castle. In this church lies buried Dr. Chandler, bishop of Durham, without any memorial. The advowson of the rectory was given by the crown to Eton College, about the year 1720. Mrs. Elizabeth Hetherington agve the sum of 140 l. towards the foundation of a charity-school in this parish in 1777. David Salter, in 1664 gave 17 l. per annum to buy loaves and white herrings for the poor, and two shillings for a pair of white kid gloves for the rector, on the first Sunday in Lent, as long as the world should last.

Sear-Green and Hedgerley-Dean, are hamlets in this parish, maintaining their own poor. There are some large and deep entrenchments at Hedgerley Dean, from whence a ditch runs westward to East-Burnham. The tradition of the neighbourhood is, that a battle was fought here between the Danes and Saxons.

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Names, Geographical

The name Farnham derives from the old english fearn-ham, and means 'fern-homestead'. The addition of the word 'Royal' was as a result of grand serjeanty during the king's coronation (see above).

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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: 2nd January 2003 - Kevin Quick]