Dunsmore 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

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 o ...

Ellesborough Ellesborough is a village and civil parish in the south of Buckinghamshire, England. The village is at the foot of the Chiltern Hills just to the south of the Vale of Aylesbury, from Wendover and from Aylesbury. It lies between Wendover and t ...

, in Buckinghamshire, England. It occupies a hilltop position in the Chiltern Hills about 2 miles south of

Wendover Wendover is a market town and civil parish at the foot of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated at the point where the main road across the Chilterns between London and Aylesbury intersects with the once important road a ...

. Access is by two steep, single-track hillside lanes. The place name is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means literally ''Dunna's moor''. Much of the surrounding land is owned by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

and is heavily wooded with beech trees, and

bracken Bracken (''Pteridium'') is a genus of large, coarse ferns in the family Dennstaedtiaceae. Ferns (Pteridophyta) are vascular plants that have alternating generations, large plants that produce spores and small plants that produce sex cells (eggs ...

. Due to its elevation the village is occasionally cut off by treacherous road conditions during harsh winters. Central features of the hamlet are the village

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from ...

, the village hall and the Church of the Resurrection, Dunsmore. In the past the village supported a shop and two

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 wa ...

s, The Fox and The Black Horse, but these have now closed and been converted into residential dwellings. Dunsmore is close by to Chequers, the country retreat for the serving Prime Minister, and the local

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

memorial on

Coombe Hill, Buckinghamshire Coombe Hill is a hill in The Chilterns, located next to the hamlet of Dunsmore, Buckinghamshire, England, near the small town of Wendover, and overlooking Aylesbury Vale. It is not to be confused with another Coombe Hill on the flank of Hadd ...

. The memorial stands above

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 (Hertford ...

. There are many good, rural walks nearby.http://www.go4awalk.com/walks/localwalks.php?x=486221&y=205220&z=8000&ord=length Image:Dunsmore.jpg, The village pond at Dunsmore. Image:BuncefieldFire.jpg, The smoke plume from the 2005 Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal fire as seen from Dunsmore, Buckinghamshire, about 14 miles (23 km) away.

References

External links

{{Wycombe Hamlets in Buckinghamshire