Shalstone is a village and also a

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 ...

within

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 ...

district in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located in the north of the county, about four miles north west of Buckingham. The village name is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means 'farm by a shallow stream'. In 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 manus ...

of 1086 the village was recorded as ''Celdestone''. Shalstone Church, dedicated to St Edward the Confessor, was almost entirely reconstructed in 1862 by the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Sir George Gilbert Scott. Some memorial tablets in the church survived the rebuilding; these are dedicated to members of the Purefoy family and their relatives the Jervoise family. Some of the memorial statuary is by Sir

Richard Westmacott Sir Richard Westmacott (15 July 17751 September 1856) was a British sculptor. Life and career Westmacott studied with his father, also named Richard Westmacott, at his studio in Mount Street, off Grosvenor Square in London before going t ...

(remembered chiefly for his work on the new

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north ban ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

). One memorial tablet commemorates the life of Elizabeth Purefoy. She was widowed in 1704 aged 32, and survived her husband by a further 61 years, as well as her unmarried son, Henry. The memorial, which she wrote herself and had installed in the church when she was still alive, reads: :''She was a Woman of Excellent Sense and Spiritt'' :''Prudent and Frugal'' :''As well as a true friend To the family She married into'' :''And was moreover endued'' :''With all Those Graces and Virtues'' :''Which distinguish and Adorn'' :''The good Wife The good Mother and good Christian (sic)'' She died in 1765. The 'Purefoy Letters', a detailed catalogue of the everyday lives of the inhabitants of the village and surrounding area as seen through the eyes of the 90-year-old Elizabeth Purefoy to her son Henry during the period 1735-1753, were published in 1973. Henry- the

squire In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight. Use of the term evolved over time. Initially, a squire served as a knight's apprentice. Later, a village leader or a lord of the manor might come to be known as a ...

- and his mother both lived at Shalstone House. The book records Shalstone at this period in minute detail. Shalstone House is built in the

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

style, of stone. The rectangular house is of a plain design five bays by six bays, on two floors. The hipped

roof A roof ( : roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of te ...

is hidden by a solid

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

. The house contains a notable

chimneypiece The fireplace mantel or mantelpiece, also known as a chimneypiece, originated in medieval times as a hood that projected over a fire grate to catch the smoke. The term has evolved to include the decorative framework around the fireplace, and ca ...

by William Palmer installed in 1739. Shalstone House is still the home of the Purefoy family today.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Buckinghamshire Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire