Crafton is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

in 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Mentmore Mentmore is a village and civil parish in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire, England. It is about three miles east of Wingrave, three miles south east of Wing. The village toponym is derived from the Old English for "Menta's moo ...

, in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

, England. The hamlet's name is

Anglo Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to Ge ...

in origin, and means 'farm where saffron grows'.

Edith of Wessex Edith of Wessex (; 1025 – 18 December 1075) was Queen of England through her marriage to Edward the Confessor from 1045 until Edward's death in 1066. Unlike most English queens in the 10th and 11th centuries, she was crowned. The principal ...

, a queen of England, had a hunting lodge in the small area between

and Crafton known as Berrystead. The remains of the Lodge, converted in the 15th century to a farmhouse, were demolished when

Mentmore Towers Mentmore Towers, historically known simply as "Mentmore", is a 19th-century English country house built between 1852 and 1854 for the Rothschild family in the village of Mentmore in Buckinghamshire. Sir Joseph Paxton and his son-in-law, George ...

was under construction in the mid 19th century. The hamlet while in the ecclesiastic parish of Wing, is nearer to

Wingrave Wingrave is a village in Buckinghamshire, England, about four miles northeast of Aylesbury and three miles southwest of Wing. The civil parish is called Wingrave with Rowsham within Buckinghamshire district and incorporates the hamlet of Ro ...

. It is however under the jurisdiction the parish council of Mentmore. There are two 16th century farmhouses, one of which (known as Hellesthorpe) has the unusual distinction of having a Crafton postal address, but is in the parish of Wingrave. Many residents of the hamlet are equally confused by their parish's whereabouts, most have chosen to worship and be buried at Mentmore, the village most socially connected to Crafton. Crafton once had a small

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

chapel; this is now a private house. The remainder of the

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), downward movement of a structure's foundation *Settlement (finance), where securities are delivered against payment of money *Settlement (litigatio ...

comprises small terraced 18th century cottages. However the hamlet was substantially rebuilt after the 1850s when it became part of the Mentmore estate of Baron Mayer de Rothschild. In addition to building some cottages the Baron built his famed Crafton Stud farm in the hamlet. In the short space of ten years following its creation the stud farm bred two

Epsom Derby The Derby Stakes, more commonly known as the Derby and sometimes referred to as the Epsom Derby, is a Group races, Group 1 flat Horse racing, horse race in England open to three-year-old Colt (horse), colts and Filly, fillies. It is run at Ep ...

winners for the Baron. These were Ladas and Sir Visto. One of the most attractive buildings in the hamlet is Keeper's Cottage, originally the home of the head game-keeper it also served as the lodge to the Crafton drive of Mentmore Towers. The hamlet is reached only by one small

cul-de-sac A dead end, also known as a ''cul-de-sac'' (; , ), a no-through road or a no-exit road, is a street with only one combined inlet and outlet. Dead ends are added to roads in urban planning designs to limit traffic in residential areas. Some d ...

road. It contains no

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

or shop.

References

{{Aylesbury Vale Hamlets in Buckinghamshire