Contents Buckinghamshire  Nearby Places Horton "The parish of Horton (Hortune, xi cent.) contains an area of 1366 acres. There are 803 acres of arable land and 580 of permanent grass, but no woodland. The slope of the land is almost uniformly from 57 ft. to 67 ft. above the ordnance datum, and the maximum height attained is 80 ft. in the extreme north of the parish. The soil is loam, the subsoil gravel, and the chief crops are wheat, oats, barley and roots. Horton is well watered by various small feeders of the Rivers Thames and Colne. The Colne separates it on the east from the county of Middlesex. The village of Horton occupies a central position in the parish. A large elm tree stands on the village green at a point where the roads converge. There is a tradition that it was planted to commemorate the death of a child belonging to the Crown Inn opposite, who was accidently killed by the fall of the maypole on this spot." [© copyright of the editors of The Victoria Histories of the Counties of England]

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.
"History of the Parish of Wraysbury, Ankerwycke Priory, and Magna Charta Island; with the History of Horton, and the town of Colnbrook, Bucks", Gyll G.W.J., 1862.
"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

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Cemeteries

• Monumental Inscriptions from the Parish church of St Michael's churchyard

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Census

In 1642 there were 35 people named in the tax returns for contributions for Ireland. Between them they were assessed at £10.16.7 1/2 of which sum Edw. Goodall contributed £1.10.0

In 1798 the Posse Comitatus listed 102 men between the ages of 16 and 60 in Horton.

In the earliest government census of 1801, there were 647 inhabitants in 185 families living in 125 houses recorded in Horton.

* = 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

• Churchwardens of the Parish Church of St Michael
• Rectors of the Parish Church of St Michael

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Church Records

The original copies of the parish registers for St Michael, Horton 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 Horton showed the following numbers:

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History & Descriptions

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

HORTON, in the hundred of Stoke and deanery of Burnham, lies about a mile to the south of Colnbrook. The manor was anciently in the Windsor family, who continued to possess it several generations. In 1658, it became the property by purchase of Robert Scawen, whose great-grandson James Scawen esq. sold it in 1782. After two or three intermediate conveyances, it was purchased in 1794, by the late Thomas Williams esq. M.P. whose son, Owen Williams esq. M.P. is the present proprietor. The manor-house, a large mansion, which had been a seat of the Scawens, was pulled down a few years ago, excepting a small part, which is occupied by cottagers.

In the parish church is a heavy monument, without any inscription, intended for some of the Scawen family, and the tomb of Milton's mother, who died in 1637. That great poet passed much time in his younger years at Horton, where his parents then resided. Mr. Williams is patron of the rectory. The parish has been inclosed by an act of parliament, which passed in 1799, when an allotment of land was assigned to the rector in lieu of tithes.

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Names, Geographical

The name Horton derives from the old english words horh, tun, and means 'dirty farm'.

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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: 11th January 2003 - Kevin Quick]