Steeple Claydon 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

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 ...

district of the ceremonial county of

, England. The village is about south 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 ...

, west of

Winslow Winslow may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Winslow, Buckinghamshire, England, a market town and civil parish * Winslow Rural District, Buckinghamshire, a rural district from 1894 to 1974 United States and Canada * Rural Municipality of Winslo ...

and northwest of Waddesdon. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 2,278.

History

The

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 ...

"Claydon" 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 "clay hill". 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 the area (including nearby

Botolph Claydon Botolph Claydon is a hamlet in the civil parish of East Claydon, in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated about east of Bicester in Oxfordshire, and north west of Aylesbury. Anciently the hamlet was called Botyl Claydon. The prefix come ...

East Claydon East Claydon is a village and is also a civil parish in the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England. It is about south-west of Winslow. The village name 'Claydon' is Anglo Saxon in origin, and derives from the ang, clægig + ''dun'' mean ...

and Middle Claydon) as ''Claindone''. The affix "steeple" refers to the steeple of 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 ...

, which is prominent in the village. The

manor Manor may refer to: Land ownership *Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England *Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism *Man ...

of Steeple Claydon was once a royal possession. It was given as a wedding gift to Robert D'Oyly by King Henry I because D'Oyly was marrying one of the king's former mistresses. Later, after changing hands several times it came into the possession of

King Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in Englan ...

when his grandfather the

Earl of March Earl of March is a title that has been created several times in the Peerage of Scotland and the Peerage of England. The title derived from the "marches" or borderlands between England and either Wales (Welsh Marches) or Scotland (Scottish Marche ...

left it to him. The

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

has since been pulled down. Thomas Chaloner, a regicide, had a school built in the village in 1656. This site was later made into the public library.

Present day

Steeple Claydon is now one of the largest villages in the Aylesbury Vale. It has two public houses, a Co-op supermarket, a bakery, a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

, a hairdresser, a

fish & chips Fish and chips is a popular hot dish consisting of fried fish in crispy batter, served with chips. The dish originated in England, where these two components had been introduced from separate immigrant cultures; it is not known who created t ...

shop, a Chinese Takeaway, a dentist, a

doctor's surgery A doctor's office in American English, a doctor's surgery in British English, or a doctor's practice, is a medical facility in which one or more medical doctors, usually general practitioners (GP), receive and treat patients. Description Doct ...

and two garages. The village also has a successful football side, Steeple Claydon Football Club. The village has had some notable residents, including

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during t ...

and professional footballers

Sam Baldock Samuel Edward Thomas Baldock (born 15 March 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Oxford United. He grew up in the village of Steeple Claydon, Buckinghamshire, while attending the Royal Latin School in Bucking ...

and

George Baldock George Henry Ivor Baldock (Greek: Τζορτζ Μπόλντοκ; born 9 March 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as a right back for club Sheffield United. Born in England, he plays for the Greece national team. Club career Milton K ...

. The current Steeple Claydon School is a mixed,

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 ...

, which has roughly 166 pupils ranging in age from four to eleven.

References

External links

Steeple Claydon Parish CouncilSteeple Claydon Football ClubSteeple Claydon School Website
{{authority control Villages in Buckinghamshire Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire

History

Present day

References

Further reading

External links