Jordans is a village in

Chalfont St Giles Chalfont St Giles is a village and civil parish in southeast Buckinghamshire, England. It is in a group of villages called The Chalfonts, which also includes Chalfont St Peter and Little Chalfont. It lies on the edge of the Chiltern Hills, we ...

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

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-e ...

, England, and 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 authorit ...

of Hedgerley. It is a centre for Quakerism, holds the burial place of

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...

, founder of the

Province of Pennsylvania The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn after receiving a land grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania ("Penn's Woods") refers to Wi ...

, and so is a popular place with American visitors. It also contains the Mayflower Barn, made from ship timbers sometimes claimed to be from the ''

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, ...

''. Some 245 households and 700 residents are served by a nursery, primary school, youth hostel, village hall and community shop. Forty of the houses and cottages and 21 flats are owned by a non-profit society that manages the village and its amenities.

Heritage

Two of several suggested origins of the name Jordans appear in a book on the history of the village: "Little is known of Jordans Farm before the seventeenth century.... It has been suggested that the name comes from some connection with a manorial family of Jourdemain... but a more probable origin is in an early owner or occupant called Jordan." Jordans Farm is known as Old Jordans today, and that building together with the Mayflower Barn date back to the 16th century.

Quakerism

In the 17th century the village became a centre for Quakerism. It has one of the oldest

Friends meeting house A Friends meeting house is a meeting house of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), where meeting for worship is usually held. Typically, Friends meeting houses are simple and resemble local residential buildings. Steeples, spires, and ...

s in the country, whose cemetery is the burial place of

, founder of the

, as well as other notable Quakers. Close by is Old Jordans, originally a farmhouse, sold by the Quakers for development in March 2006. Old Jordans was used during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

as a training centre for the Friends' Ambulance Unit.

Meeting House

Jordans Friends Meeting House was built in 1688 shortly after the

Declaration of Indulgence The Declaration of Indulgence, also called Declaration for Liberty of Conscience, was a pair of proclamations made by James II of England and Ireland and VII of Scotland in 1687. The Indulgence was first issued for Scotland on 12 February and ...

. The meeting room retains most of its original brick, including the bare brick floor, glass, panelling and benches. It suffered a serious fire on 10 March 2005, when the modern extension was virtually destroyed and the roof of the original 17th-century meeting room severely damaged. The interior of the original meeting room escaped relatively unscathed, but suffered some water and smoke damage.

Mayflower Barn

Within the grounds of Old Jordans is the Mayflower Barn on the edge of the Chiltern hills in the South Buckinghamshire countryside, about midway between London and Oxford. The farm name seems to date back to the late Middle Ages. Its known history begins in 1618 when Thomas Russell bought it. Part of the present farmhouse was already there and Thomas Russell added to it in 1624, also building a substantial new barn with timbers from a ship. Despite suppositions, it cannot be shown that they came from the ''

'', the ship that carried the

Pilgrim Fathers The Pilgrims, also known as the Pilgrim Fathers, were the English settlers who came to North America on the ''Mayflower'' and established the Plymouth Colony in what is today Plymouth, Massachusetts, named after the final departure port of Plymo ...

from Plymouth to New England. A piece of the timber was taken from the Mayflower Barn, placed in the Peace Arch built by Sam Hill and opened in September 1921. Besides the completion of the Pacific highway from the Canadian boundary to Mexico, the arch also marked a century of peace between the United States and the UK. A plaque shows where the timber was taken from the Mayflower Barn. The Barn was a tourist attraction to visitors from all over the world, particularly the Americas, but is now privately owned and closed to the public.

Education

Jordans has a primary school, Jordans County First School, and Jordan's Village Nursery School. The school, in Puers Lane, is state-funded, for years 1, 2 and Reception (Ages 5–8) as a feeder for Seer Green School, Thorpe House School and Gayhurst School. It has about 60 pupils with a student/teacher ratio of 1:12. The head since 2015 has been Hannah Bancroft. The nursery is in the Village Hall behind the store in Green West Road.

Transport

Jordans lies north-west of the intersection of the M25 and M40 motorways (Junction 16/1A). It is served by Seer Green and Jordans railway station, 1.2 miles (1.9 km) away on the London–Birmingham

Chiltern Main Line The Chiltern Main Line is a railway line which links London () and Birmingham ( Moor Street and Snow Hill), the United Kingdom's two largest cities, by a route via High Wycombe, Bicester, Banbury, Leamington Spa and Solihull. It is one of ...

Chiltern Railways Chiltern Railways, formally The Chiltern Railway Company Limited, is a British train operating company that has operated the Chiltern Railways franchise since July 1996. Since 2009, it has been a subsidiary of Arriva UK Trains. Chiltern Rail ...

. Jordans is served on Tuesday and Friday by a bus service from the village to the Tesco in Loudwater. (380, Red Eagle).

Leisure and amenities

Jordans has a "pop-up pub" named ''The Jolly Quaker'', open on the first Friday of each month. Its monthly Cinema Club "Jordans Picture House" opens on the second Friday and sometimes on the second Sunday of the month from October to May. Both operate from the village hall in Green West Road behind the village store. Several annual events take place: a summer fair, usually in June; a sports day; an annual cricket match, and a village supper to commemorate the founding of the village on the nearest Saturday to its anniversary each February. The Jordans Tennis Club in the village holds about seven roll-ups each year. In June 2019, the village marked its centenary with an event on the village green. Jordans Village Community Store opened in 1922. It sells the usual staples and some own-brand preserves, and includes a sub-post office. It is subsidized by a voluntary Shop Amenity Charge of £5 or £10 per month paid by about half the households in the village. Jordans has eight allotments, located next to the tennis court. The allotments used to be located in Crutches Lane, and were moved to allow a development of four homes for the elderly, built in 2008.

Notable residents

In birth order: *

(1644–1718) was a Quaker convert, who founded

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

, but died penniless and is buried in Jordans. * Ozzy (born 1948) and

Sharon Osbourne Sharon Rachel Osbourne (née Levy, later Arden; born 9 October 1952) is a British-American television personality, music manager and author. She is married to heavy metal singer-songwriter Ozzy Osbourne and came to prominence while appearing ...

(born 1952) occupy a mansion just outside the village.BBC.co.uk
*

Steve Soper Steven Soper is a racing driver from Surrey, England, born in 1951. He raced in major sports car and touring car categories in the 1980s and 1990s. He won the 24 Hours Nürburgring in 1987, the 24 Hours of Spa in 1995 and the Guia Race in 199 ...

(born 1951), is a racing driver dubbed by ''Motorsport Magazine'' "the greatest saloon car driver of all time". * Bill Turnbull (born 1956), a BBC news anchorman, is a former resident. * Justin Sullivan (born 1956), front man and songwriter with the band New Model Army, was born in Jordans.

References

{{authority control Villages in Buckinghamshire Quakerism in England Chalfont St Giles