Dinton is a village 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, within the

Buckinghamshire Council Buckinghamshire Council is the Local Government in England, local authority for the Buckinghamshire (district), Buckinghamshire district in England. It is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority, performing both county and district- ...

unitary authority area A unitary authority is a type of local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed ...

. It is in the south of the

Aylesbury Vale The Aylesbury Vale (or Vale of Aylesbury) is a geographical region in Buckinghamshire, England, which is bounded by the City of Milton Keynes and West Northamptonshire to the north, Central Bedfordshire and the Borough of Dacorum (Hertfordshir ...

on the ancient turnpike leading from

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery and the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, Waterside Theatre. It is located in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wycombe and Milt ...

Thame Thame is a market town and civil parish in South Oxfordshire, England, about east of the city of Oxford and southwest of Aylesbury. It derives its name from the River Thame which flows along the north side of the town and forms part of the ...

(although this road has since been diverted away from the village). It is within 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 ...

of Dinton with Ford and Upton. The village 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 'Dunna's estate'. 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 it was listed as ''Danitone''.

History

There was an ancient

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word ''manse'' originally defined a property l ...

house in this

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

that belonged to the Mayne family for many years (they were

lords of the manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

in 1086). This has long since disappeared, but the groundworks of the ancient

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 usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

still remain and are a goldmine of

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

finds. There is also a ruined mock-fortified building,

Dinton Castle Dinton Castle (also known as Dinton Folly) is located just north of the village of Dinton, in Buckinghamshire and was built as an eyecatcher from the Dinton Hall estate, by Sir John Vanhattern in 1769. He used the castle to exhibit his collect ...

also known as Dinton Folly, though this was constructed much later (in 1769) by Sir John Vanhattem. This octagonal

folly In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-cent ...

or "sham castle" is a Grade II listed building. A BBC article stated that the building was beside a Saxon burial ground. Another source indicates that over the past centuries, and into the 20th century, various artifacts and skeletons had been found near the structure. That report also states that there are 14 other listed buildings nearby, including Dinton Hall. A full restoration of the "castle" was completed in 2018. The 12th-century parish church of Saints Peter and Paul is a grade I listed building. John Harrison was the vicar here and his only child Henrietta Tindal (c.1817-1879) was a noted poet and writer. There is a memorial to the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

navigation expert Henry Raper in the church. Next to the church is Dinton Hall; this fine many-

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d mansion altered at various periods during its long history, was until the last quarter of the 20th century the seat of the Currie family and is now owned by the Vanbergen family. Following the Curries' departure it was bought by a Mr. Smith. He carried out a programme of restoration, and placed his own

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

above the mansion's portals. Since 2004 the mansion is owned by the Vanbergen family, and they have restored the mansion and brought in new facilities. A notable resident of Dinton in the seventeenth century was John Biggs, the Dinton Hermit, who lived in a cave in the village. He was involved in the

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in ...

of King Charles I on 30 January 1649 and was reputed to have been the actual executioner. As one of the regicides,

Simon Mayne Simon MayneAlso known as in contemporary sources as Symon Mayne ) and Symon MeyneProclamation for apprehending the late King's Judges (4 June 1660)) (1612 – 13 April 1661) was a Member of Parliament for Aylesbury and one of the regicides of K ...

, lived at Dinton, and was after his death in imprisonment buried at Dinton in 1661, it is possible that the executioner would have been given sanctuary and anonymity on one of the regicide's estates. Within the parish border lay the

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

of Westlington,

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

, Upton, Waldridge,

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

and Aston Mullins. There was also anciently a hamlet called Moreton in this parish, though today only the groundworks and ponds remain. This hamlet was wiped out sometime in the sixteenth century. The name mort / ton (death (fr) / town) could suggest that this settlement might have been wiped out and then subsequently abandoned after the inhabitants succumbed to the

Black Death The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...

, but the usual derivation of the common name 'Moreton' is "town or settlement by a fen".

Education

Cuddington and Dinton Church of England School is a mixed

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

. It is a

voluntary aided A voluntary aided school (VA school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust (usually a religious organisation) contributes to building costs and has a substantial influence in the running of the school. In m ...

school that has been formed from the merger of Cuddington and Dinton schools. It takes children from the age of four through to the age of eleven. The school now has just over one hundred pupils.

Sport

Dinton is home to Dinton

Cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

club, who have three senior teams playing in the

Home Counties Premier Cricket League The Home Counties Premier Cricket League is the top level of competition for recreational club cricket in the Home Counties of England, and has been a designated England and Wales Cricket Board, ECB ECB Premier Leagues, Premier League since its ...

and Cherwell League, as well as junior age group teams from under 9s to under 17s. Dinton CC also compete in the National

Village Cup Village cricket is a term, sometimes pejorative, given to the playing of cricket in rural villages in Britain. Many villages have their own teams that play at varying levels in local or regional club cricket leagues. When organised cricket first ...

, reaching the semi-final stage in 2013 and 2014.

References

External links

Dinton Info - News, Information and Historic articles about Dinton
*
Cuddington and Dinton Church of England School

Stone, Dinton and Hartwell Church Parish Website

News, results and information about Dinton CC
{{authority control Villages in Buckinghamshire