Contents Buckinghamshire  Nearby Places Pitchcott "Pitchcott is a small parish with an area of 925 acres, including only 32 acres of arable land, the rest, some 887 acres, being all pasture land. The slope of the land drops from 500 ft. above the ordnance datum on Pitchcott Hill, in the north of the parish, to 267 ft. in the south-east. the soil is loam and the subsoil. clay. The village is situated on the south-east of Pitchcott Hill, and from it there is a fine view over the Vale of Aylesbury." [© 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 Returns of the Census of Religious Worship 1851", Legg E. ed., 1991, ISBN 0 901198 27 7.
"Dictionary of English Place-Names", A.D. Mills, Oxford University Press, 1997, ISBN 0 19 28131 3
"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

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Cemeteries

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

• Monumental Inscriptions for St Giles church are in the library* of the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.

* = 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 1798 the Posse Comitatus listed 12 men between the ages of 16 and 60 in Pitchcott.

In the earliest government census of 1801, there were 51 inhabitants in 10 families living in 4 houses recorded in Pitchcott.

* = 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 Giles

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Church Records

The original copies of the parish registers for St Giles, Pitchcott 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 Pitchcott showed the following numbers:

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History & Descriptions

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

PITCHCOTE, in the hundred of Ashendon and deanery of Waddesdon, lies about seven miles north-west of Aylesbury. The manor was in the family of Vernon as early as the year 1377, and continued to be their property in 1557. It was anciently held under the Bohuns, earls of Hereford. In 1603 it was purchased of Sir Walter Pye by an ancestor of Thomas Saunders esq. who is the present proprietor, and patron of the rectory.

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Names, Geographical

The name Pitchcott derives from old english, and has several possible meanings. The first possible derivation is from a persons name + cot and means 'Cottage(s) of Picca'. The second derivation is from pic + cot and means 'Cottage or shed where pitch is made or stored'.

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Photographs

• Buckinghamshire Records and Local Studies Service - large collection of old photos of Buckinghamshire

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[Last updated: 18th January 2003 - Kevin Quick]