Great Horwood is a small village and is also a civil parish within the

unitary authority area A unitary authority is a local government, local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the ...

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 with a population of about 1025 people (2001 Census). It is about five miles ESE of

Buckingham Buckingham ( ) is a market town in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, which had a population of 12,890 at the 2011 Census. The town lies approximately west of Central Milton Keynes, sou ...

, six miles WSW of

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

History and locale

The village name 'Horwood' 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 'muddy wood'. The affix 'Great' was added later to differentiate it from the adjacent village Little Horwood. In the ''

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alf ...

'' in 792 the village was recorded as ''Horwudu''. The village was from ancient times on the periphery of the

Whaddon Chase Whaddon is a village and also a civil parish within the unitary authority area of Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated just outside of Bletchley, a constituent town of Milton Keynes. The village name is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means 'hill ...

: royal hunting land that stretched across the north part of the Aylesbury Vale. In 1447 the village was granted Royal charter to hold a weekly market, thus becoming a market town. The rents from the market were collected by

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

. Great Horwood is no longer a market town. In 1996, the

lordship of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...

of Great Horwood was sold by New College to D. Jackson "Jack" Smith, an American lawyer and former member of the

Tennessee House of Representatives The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Constitutional requirements According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to consis ...

. A hamlet within the parish border of Great Horwood is

Singleborough Singleborough is a hamlet in the parish of Great Horwood, in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located about a mile from the main village. The hamlet name is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means 'gravel hill'. It appears spelt as Synkelburgh, in 144 ...

Notable buildings

Both Great Horwood village itself and Singleborough have

Conservation Areas Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

and there are 46 Grade II listed buildings in the Parish. Great Horwood has two historic pubs: The Crown is situated on the village green and The Swan Inn on Winslow Road. As of January 2019 both pubs are no longer open to the public. The parish church is dedicated to

St James Saint James or St. James may refer to: People Saints *James, brother of Jesus (died 62 or 69), also known as James the Just *James the Great (died 44), Apostle, also known as James, son of Zebedee, or Saint James the Greater **Saint James Matamoro ...

. The village is also home to Great Horwood Church of England Combined School, which is a mixed Church of England primary school. It is a voluntary controlled school, which takes children from the age of four through to the age of eleven. The school has approximately 160 pupils. Its catchment area also includes the villages of Thornborough, Nash, Beachampton and

Whaddon Whaddon may refer to several places in England: *Whaddon, Buckinghamshire *Whaddon, Cambridgeshire *Whaddon, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire * Whaddon, Stroud, in Brookthorpe-with-Whaddon, Gloucestershire *Whaddon, Wiltshire, hamlet near Trowbridge * Wh ...

Pictures

Image:mary great horwood.jpg, Entrance to Mary's? Image:church great horwood.jpg, Great Horwood Church Image:gararge great horwood.jpg, Garages in Great Horwood Image:the swan great horwood.jpg, The Swan, Great Horwood Image:Great Horwood road 2007.jpg, Horses seen in the village

References

External links

Great Horwood Church of England Combined SchoolGreat Horwood Football Club

{{authority control Villages in Buckinghamshire Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire