Edlesborough
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Edlesborough is a village and
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 ...
in the
Aylesbury Vale The Aylesbury Vale (or Vale of Aylesbury) is a geographical region in Buckinghamshire, England, which is bounded by the Borough of Milton Keynes and South Northamptonshire to the north, Central Bedfordshire and the Borough of Dacorum ( Hertfor ...
district of
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. Edlesborough is also next to the village of
Eaton Bray Eaton Bray is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England. It is situated about three miles south-west of the town of Dunstable and is part of a semi-rural area which extends into the parish of Edlesborough. In the 2011 United Kingdom c ...
just over the county boundary in
Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...
, about west-south-west of
Dunstable Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the ...
. As well as the village of Edlesborough itself, the civil parish also includes the
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 ...
s of
Dagnall Dagnall is a village in the parish of Edlesborough, in Buckinghamshire, England. The place name is derived from the Old English for "Daegga's Knoll". In manorial rolls of 1196 it was listed as ''Dagenhale''. The spelling ''Dagenhale'' appears i ...
,
Northall Northall is a hamlet in the civil parish of Edlesborough, in Buckinghamshire, England, situated halfway between Edlesborough and Billington, Bedfordshire. It has one large Baptist chapel which is still in use and one pub, The Swan. The village ...
and part of Ringshall. Hudnall was transferred in 1885 to the parish of
Little Gaddesden Little Gaddesden (pronounced ) is a village and civil parish in the borough of Dacorum, Hertfordshire north of Berkhamsted. As well as Little Gaddesden village (population 694), the parish contains the settlements of Ashridge (population 53), H ...
in
Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
.


Toponym

The village
toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...
is derived from the
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
for "Eadwulf's barrow". The
Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
of 1086 records it as ''Eddinberge''.


Parish church

The
Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...
of St Mary the Virgin is built on top of a barrow and its high 14th-century
bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...
is a local landmark. The church has been redundant since 1975, when the
ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish priest ...
merged with that of
Eaton Bray Eaton Bray is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England. It is situated about three miles south-west of the town of Dunstable and is part of a semi-rural area which extends into the parish of Edlesborough. In the 2011 United Kingdom c ...
. Today the church is in the care of the
Churches Conservation Trust The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...
, and it is normally open to visitors. The earliest parts of the church date from the 13th century. A
chantry A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings: # a chantry service, a Christian liturgy of prayers for the dead, which historically was an obiit, or # a chantry chapel, a building on private land, or an area in ...
was added in 1338 and the tower in 1340. The closeness of these construction dates indicates how rich Edlesborough parish was at the time. Much of the church was altered in the 15th century, including the chantry, which has given the church a very 15th-century character. Thomas Cobhambury appears as vicar of Edlisburgh in 1413. On 28 March 1824, the tower was struck by lightning, setting it on fire. The roof's lead melted, and the molten lead set fire to everything it struck. Villagers fought the fire, which burned for 12 hours until it was extinguished.


Furnishings

The 15th-century
rood screen The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, or ...
,
pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...
with tester and timber roofs are all notable. In the 15th century six
misericord A misericord (sometimes named mercy seat, like the biblical object) is a small wooden structure formed on the underside of a folding seat in a church which, when the seat is folded up, is intended to act as a shelf to support a person in a par ...
s were added to the choir stalls. These include carvings of a bat, a dragon and a mermaid. The misericord of the dragon also has some frog carvings for its supporters. There are some notable
monumental brass A monumental brass is a type of engraved sepulchral memorial, which in the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional monuments and effigies carved in stone or wood. Made of hard latten or sheet brass, let into the paveme ...
es. The church underwent two major restorations overseen by the architect
Robert Jewell Withers Robert Jewell Withers (1824–1894) was an English ecclesiastical architect. Early life Robert Jewell Withers was born on 2 February 1824 in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England. His father was John Alexander Withers and his mother, Maria Jewell. ...
in 1867 and 1875. In the first restoration,
box pews A box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th centuries. History in England Before the rise of Protestantism, seating was not customary in chu ...
were replaced with pine benches, a gallery was removed from the west, the
rood screen The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, or ...
was painted, and a large
wall painting A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spanish ...
was added to the
nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
wall by the
Arts and Crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...
artist Daniel Bell, depicting Christ enthroned in Majesty. The 1875 restoration of the
chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...
was funded by a donation from
Adelbert Brownlow-Cust, 3rd Earl Brownlow Adelbert Wellington Brownlow-Cust, 3rd Earl Brownlow (19 August 1844 – 17 March 1921), was a British soldier, courtier and Conservative politician. Background and education Brownlow was the second son of John Egerton, Viscount Alford, eldest ...
of
Ashridge Ashridge is a country estate and stately home in Hertfordshire, England in the United Kingdom. It is situated in the Chiltern Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, about north of Berkhamsted and north west of London. The estate com ...
. A more modern addition is a two-light stained glass window on the theme of the Nativity by
M. E. Aldrich Rope M. E. Aldrich Rope (Margaret Edith Rope) (29 July 1891 – 9 March 1988) was an English stained-glass artist in the Arts and Crafts movement tradition active between 1910 and 1964. She was a cousin of Margaret Agnes Rope of Shrewsbury, anoth ...
, also in an Arts and Crafts style. The Church contains six tuned bells, and one calling bell. It previously had only 5 tuned bells and one calling bell, however, another tuned bell was added after the fire in 1824. Since the Church was decommissioned, the bells no longer ring often, however, they are used during occasional special events.


Economic and social history

The Lower
Icknield Way The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern and eastern England that runs from Norfolk to Wiltshire. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills. Background It is generally said to be, within ...
, a prehistoric track that runs below the Chiltern Escarpment, runs through the village and aligns with the church mound. The village was once a centre for the straw plait industry.
RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
Edlesborough was a radio station near Dagnall. The nearby Edlesborough Hill is a low wooded hill beside the
River Ouzel The River Ouzel , also known as the River Lovat, is a river in England, and a tributary of the River Great Ouse. It rises in the Chiltern Hills and flows north to join the Ouse at Newport Pagnell. It is usually called the ''River Ouzel'' ...
just south of the village . For decades it was the site of a
Classic trials Classic trials, or colloquially mud plugging, is one of the oldest forms of rallying or off-road motor sports, dating from the beginning of the 20th century. Originally, the challenge was just to complete a long (challenging) road course. All thre ...
motor sport event known as the March Hare in which a variety of vehicles tried to climb the hill's steep ascent as a test of their capabilities.


St. Mary's Village Carnival

Annually, on the first Saturday in July, Edlesborough and the surrounding communities put on an annual carnival, held on the Village Green. It features several attractions, starting with a float parade in which several parties compete for a rosette. These parties include the local Scout group and Edlesborough Primary Academy, the village school, as well as other local scout groups and schools from the other villages surrounding Edlesborough. Other attractions include fairground rides, various shops, a classic vehicle display, barbeques and other food stalls, various performances by local performance groups, a dog show, and an owl display.


Carnival History

It didn't begin on the village's Green, as it does today. At first, it was a traditional Church fete, hosted in the Vicarage garden, before being moved to Park Farm in
Eaton Bray Eaton Bray is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England. It is situated about three miles south-west of the town of Dunstable and is part of a semi-rural area which extends into the parish of Edlesborough. In the 2011 United Kingdom c ...
in 1965. In 1988, it was moved once again to Eaton Bray Recreational Ground, however, the next year, it was moved to the Edlesborough Village Green. It was originally set to alternate between Eaton Bray Recreational Ground and Edlesborough Village Green, however, the former soon became too small to accommodate the growing event, and it now remains in Edlesborough.


Carnival Themes

Each year, the carnival chooses a different theme, and that theme is often reflected in the float parade. 2000: Around The World 2001: Wild West 2002: Celebrating Britain 2003: Circus 2004: Fantasy 2005: Nursery Rhymes 2006: Films 2007: Favourite Adverts 2008: Fairy Tales 2009: Books 2010: Inventions 2011: Pirates 2012: Kings and Queens 2013: Sci-Fi 2014: Music 2015: The Sea 2016: Myths, Monsters and Magic 2017: Transport 2018: Games 2019: Village Life 2020 (Cancelled): Heroes 2021: Heroes 2022: Love Our Planet


Carnival Trivia

- Pam Rhodes opened the 1998 Carnival. - In 2020, during lockdown, instead of a carnival, a scarecrow competition was held, where people made scarecrows and put them on display around the village. - In 2021, the carnival, while not cancelled, was delayed, instead taking place on the 28th of August.


Local Myths And Legends

- A legend says that a tunnel leads from the Church into a former pub, then known as The Bell when it was running. The pub has since been transformed into a private residence. - While the aforementioned pub "The Bell" was still running, some witnesses claim that after hours, the ghost of a girl with a besom broom could be seen sweeping leaves from the floor by the fireplace. The first report of this sighting claimed that the apparition asked for a better broom. - It is said that, on dark nights, riding on horseback down the road leading from the Church towards Tring Road, is the ghost of Dick Turpin. He was said to hide in the attic of Butler's Manor in Northall, looking out for coaches to come past for him to hold up.


Amenities

Edlesborough Primary Academy (Formerly Edlesborough School) is a
community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...
primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
. It serves the 4–11 age range and has about 250 pupils. The Academy was founded in 1849. The nearest
secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...
is The Cottesloe School in
Wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...
, though students that pass the
Eleven-Plus The eleven-plus (11+) is a standardized examination administered to some students in England and Northern Ireland in their last year of primary education, which governs admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools which use academic ...
exams can also choose to enrol in one of the three
Grammar Schools A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school, ...
in the relatively nearby town of
Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wy ...
, the three Grammar Schools being
Aylesbury Grammar School Aylesbury Grammar School is a grammar school in Aylesbury situated in the English county of Buckinghamshire, which educates approximately 1300 students. Founded in 1598 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire by Sir Henry Lee, Champion of Queen Elizabeth ...
,
Aylesbury High School Aylesbury High School (AHS) was founded in 1959, in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, when the previously co-educational Aylesbury Grammar School (founded 1598) split to become two single-sex grammar schools. The two institutions remain on adjacent s ...
, and
Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School (SHFGS) is an 11–18 mixed, grammar school and sixth form with academy status in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England. It is named after Sir Henry Floyd, a former Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire. As a sele ...
. The village green has two football pitches, one enclosed tennis court and a cricket square. There is a small playing area for children in the green, as well as another in The Grange, which is a residential development further out in the village. There is also a sports pavilion next to the tennis court, which was upgraded in 2021 to include a gym and a café. Nearby, the more central area of the village contains the Edlesborough Post Office and Stores, a corner shop that sells general food supplies and birthday cards, as well as serving as a post office. Next to the shop is an appliance retail
Janes LTD
and th
Heirloom Café
The village is also home to a village pub, th
Traveler's Rest
and a used car dealer
the NMJ Motorhouse


Talk Talk

The English band
Talk Talk Talk Talk were an English band formed in 1981, led by Mark Hollis (vocals, guitar, piano), Lee Harris (drummer), Lee Harris (drums), and Paul Webb (bass). The group achieved early chart success with the synth-pop singles "Talk Talk (Talk Talk s ...
filmed a music video for their song "
Dum Dum Girl ''It's My Life'' is the second studio album by English band Talk Talk, released in 1984. Recording Mike Oldfield's bass player, Phil Spalding made an uncredited appearance on the album, substituting for Paul Webb on "The Last Time" – "Pa ...
" on their 1984 album '' It's My Life''. The video was filmed on Sparrow Hill Farm; the parish church can be seen in the background. It does not seem that the music video was ever released officially.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine


References


Sources

* * *


External links

* {{authority control Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire Villages in Buckinghamshire Grade I listed churches in Buckinghamshire