Crafton is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Mentmore Mentmore is a village and civil parish in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire, England. It is about three miles east of Wingrave, three miles south east of Wing. The village toponym is derived from the Old English for "Menta's moor ...

, in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

, England. The hamlet's name is

Anglo Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

in origin, and means 'farm where saffron grows'.

Edith of Wessex Edith of Wessex ( 1025 – 18 December 1075) was Queen of England from her marriage to Edward the Confessor in 1045 until Edward died in 1066. Unlike most English queens in the 10th and 11th centuries, she was crowned. The principal source on ...

, a queen of England, had a hunting lodge in the small area between

and Crafton known as Berrystead. The remains of the Lodge, converted in the 15th century to a farmhouse, were demolished when

Mentmore Towers Mentmore Towers, historically known simply as "Mentmore", is a 19th-century English country house built between 1852 and 1854 for the Rothschild family in the village of Mentmore in Buckinghamshire. Sir Joseph Paxton and his son-in-law, George ...

was under construction in the mid 19th century. The hamlet while in the ecclesiastic parish of Wing, is nearer to

Wingrave Wingrave is a village in Buckinghamshire, England, about four miles north east of Aylesbury and three miles south west of Wing. The civil parish is called Wingrave with Rowsham within Buckinghamshire district and incorporates the hamlet of R ...

. It is however under the jurisdiction the parish council of Mentmore. There are two 16th century farmhouses, one of which (known as Hellesthorpe) has the unusual distinction of having a Crafton postal address, but is in the parish of Wingrave. Many residents of the hamlet are equally confused by their parish's whereabouts, most have chosen to worship and be buried at Mentmore, the village most socially connected to Crafton. Crafton once had a small

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

chapel; this is now a private house. The remainder of the

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building * Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fin ...

comprises small terraced 18th century cottages. However the hamlet was substantially rebuilt after the 1850s when it became part of the Mentmore estate of

Baron Mayer de Rothschild Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knigh ...

. In addition to building some cottages the Baron built his famed Crafton Stud farm in the hamlet. In the short space of ten years following its creation the stud farm bred two

Epsom Derby The Derby Stakes, also known as the Epsom Derby or the Derby, and as the Cazoo Derby for sponsorship reasons, is a Group 1 flat horse race in England open to three-year-old colts and fillies. It is run at Epsom Downs Racecourse in Surrey o ...

winners for the Baron. These were Ladas and

Sir Visto Sir Visto (1892–1914) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and Horse breeding#Terminology, sire. In a career that lasted from 1894 to 1896 he ran thirteen times and won three races. As a three-year-old in the 1895 he won both Epsom Derby, ...

. One of the most attractive buildings in the hamlet is Keeper's Cottage, originally the home of the head game-keeper it also served as the lodge to the Crafton drive of Mentmore Towers. The hamlet is reached only by one small

cul-de-sac A dead end, also known as a cul-de-sac (, from French for 'bag-bottom'), no through road or no exit road, is a street with only one inlet or outlet. The term "dead end" is understood in all varieties of English, but the official terminology ...

road. It contains no

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

or shop.

References

{{Aylesbury Vale Hamlets in Buckinghamshire