Contents Buckinghamshire  Nearby Places Lee "LEE, or LEE CHAPEL, is a small Hamlet, situated on very much elevated ground, between Great Missenden and Weston Turville. It was certainly originally built as a Chapel of Ease to Weston Turville; and was granted, at a very early period, by the family of Turville, to Missenden Abbey. It was, and continues to be, a Hamlet, chiefly consisting of detatched houses and cottages, here and there interspersed with some of a superior description, chiefly of modern erection, one of which is called Lee Cottage, and is the residence of the principal landed proprietor; and near the site of which is a farm, called the Manor Farm." [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 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: Aylesbury Hundred part three - Risboroughs, Missendens and their environs, Volume 9", Peter Quick.

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Cemeteries

War Memorials

War memorials in Lee have been transcribed by Peter Quick, and published in a booklet entitled "War Memorials and War Graves: Aylesbury Hundred part three - Risboroughs, Missendens and their environs, Volume 9", available from the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.

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Census

In 1798 the Posse Comitatus listed 34 men between the ages of 16 and 60 in Lee.

In the earliest government census of 1801, there were 150 inhabitants in 34 families living in 30 houses recorded in Lee.

* = 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

• Curates of Lee

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 John the Baptist, Lee 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 Lee showed the following numbers:

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History & Descriptions

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

LEE, in the hundred of Aylesbury and deanery of Windsor, lies about three miles to the south-west of Wendover. The manor is the property of Henry Deering esq. in right of his wife, heiress of the family of Plaistowe, for whom there are some memorials in the parish church, formerly a chapel of ease to Weston-Turville. James Oldham Oldham esq. is patron of the donative, as proprietor of Missenden-abbey and it demesnes. Lee was dependant on that monastery at the time of the reformation, and divine service was performed there by one of the monks: when Missenden-abbey was dissolved, he had an addition to his pension assigned him in consideration of his continuing to serve the cure.

[Correction/Addition at the end of Magna Britannia states "Mr. Oldham?s right of nominating to the donative of Lee has been questioned, in consequence of which the benefice when lately vacant lapsed to the Bishop, who nominated the present curate on the recommendation of Mr. Deering, lord of the manor."]

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Names, Geographical

The name Lee derives from the old english leah and means 'wood or woodland clearing'.

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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: 16th October 2004 - Kevin Quick]