Contents Buckinghamshire  Nearby Places Tattenhoe "This small parish of 690 acres, is situated on the eastern verge of Whaddon Chase, and forms an angle of Cottesloe hundred which abruptly pierces the hundred of Newport, between Fenny Stratford and Shenley. It borders on the road between Fenny Stratford and Stoney Stratford, the foundation of which road was the old Roman way, called Watling Street. The parish is divided into three farms; the soil is clay, with a small portion of loam; the rateable value is £745; and the population is included with Shenley. There is no village, but the place is distant from Fenny Stratford about three miles W.N.W.." [History and Topography of Buckinghamshire, by James Joseph Sheahan, 1862]

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.
"History and Topography of Buckinghamshire", Sheahan, James Joseph, 1862
"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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Census

In 1798 the Posse Comitatus listed 8 men between the ages of 16 and 60 in Tattenhoe.

In the earliest government census of 1801, there were 31 inhabitants in 4 families living in 4 houses recorded in Tattenhoe.

* = 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

• Ministers of the Parish Church of St Giles

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Church Records

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

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History & Descriptions

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

TOTTENHOE, in the hundred of Cotslow and deanery of Muresley, lies about six miles north-east of Winslow, and about the same distance south-east of Stony-Stratford. The manor was anciently in the family of Martell, who founded the neighbouring monastery of Snelshall, afterwards till 1416 in the Jarponvilles. In 1477, having in the mean time passed through several hands, it was purchased by Thomas Stafford, descended from a younger branch of the family of Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, and son of Sir Humphrey Stafford, who was slain by Jack Cade. This Thomas Stafford left a natural son, whose descendants had for many generations a seat at Tottenhoe, and continued possessed of the manor till it was mortgaged by Charles Stafford, the last of the family, who dissipated his estate, and died in great poverty in 1716. The manor of Tottenhoe having been first mortgaged to them, was purchased by the Selby family, and is now the property of William Selby esq. of Winslow.

There are no remains of the manor-house: the church, a small mean building, stands within its moated site. It was rebuilt in 1540, but the parish being small, it had been for some time disused and desecrated, when upon the rector of Shenley laying claim to the tithes of Tottenhoe, Mr. Stafford, then proprietor of the manor, procured it to be re-consecrated, in 1636, and endowing it with tithes, presented to the benefice as a rectory. The great tithes were formerly appropriated to the priory of Snelshall. This parish contains only four houses.

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Names, Geographical

The name of Tattenhoe derives from old english, being a persons name + hoh, and means 'Tatta's spur of land'.

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Photographs

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

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Taxation

• Poll Tax 1641 Cotteslow Hundred has been published by the Buckinghamshire Family History Society

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[Last updated: 19th January 2003 - Kevin Quick]