Hambleden
Encyclopedia
Hambleden is a small village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 and civil parish within Wycombe district in the south of Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is about four miles west of Marlow
Marlow, Buckinghamshire
Marlow is a town and civil parish within Wycombe district in south Buckinghamshire, England...

, and about three miles north east of Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, England, about 10 miles downstream and north-east from Reading, 10 miles upstream and west from Maidenhead...

 in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

.

The civil parish also includes the villages of Fingest
Fingest
Fingest is a village in Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the Chiltern Hills near the border with Oxfordshire, about six miles WSW of High Wycombe. It lies in the civil parish of Hambleden....

 and Frieth
Frieth
Frieth is a village in the parish of Hambleden, in Buckinghamshire, England. It lies on the top of 'Frieth Hill', which is part of the chalk escarpments of the Chiltern Hills....

, and the hamlets
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

 of Colstrope, Mill End
Mill End
Mill End is a small hamlet in the parish of Hambleden in the south of Buckinghamshire, England, on the main A4155 road between Henley-on-Thames and Marlow. It is on the River Thames. Mill End consists of about 30-50 houses, some on the river bank and others on the northern side of the main road....

, Moor End, Parmoor
Parmoor
Parmoor is a hamlet to the south of Frieth in the parish of Hambleden, in Buckinghamshire, England....

, Pheasant's Hill and Skirmett
Skirmett
Skirmett is a hamlet in the parish of Hambleden, in Buckinghamshire, England. It lies in the Hambleden Valley in the Chiltern Hills, between the villages of Hambleden and Fingest....

.

History

The village name is Anglo Saxon
Old English language
Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...

 in origin, and means 'crooked or undulating valley'. It was recorded in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

 of 1086 as Hanbledene, though previously in 1015 it was known as Hamelan dene. St Thomas Cantilupe
Thomas Cantilupe
Thomas de Cantilupe was an English saint and prelate.-Early years:...

, the Lord Chancellor
Lord Chancellor
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...

 and Bishop of Hereford
Bishop of Hereford
The Bishop of Hereford is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Hereford in the Province of Canterbury.The see is in the City of Hereford where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of Saint Mary and Saint Ethelbert which was founded as a cathedral in 676.The Bishop's residence is...

, was born in Hambleden in 1218. In 1315 a Royal charter
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...

 was granted to hold a market
Market
A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services in exchange for money from buyers...

 in the village, and a fair on St Bartholomew's Day
Bartholomew
Bartholomew was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, and is usually identified as Nathaniel . He was introduced to Christ through St. Philip, another of the twelve apostles as per , where the name Nathaniel first appears. He is also mentioned as “Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee” in...

 (August 24) every year. The charter was reconfirmed in 1321, though appears to have not lasted much longer than this.

The village was a base for USA soldiers during the build up to D-Day in 1944. http://www.life.com/gallery/61121/before-and-after-d-day-in-color#index/5 an image of the village in that year.

Village and church

The brick and flint
Flint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...

 cottages in the centre of the village conform to a similar design and have dormer
Dormer
A dormer is a structural element of a building that protrudes from the plane of a sloping roof surface. Dormers are used, either in original construction or as later additions, to create usable space in the roof of a building by adding headroom and usually also by enabling addition of windows.Often...

 windows topped with red tiles. St Mary's church dates from the 14th century and includes a conspicuous memorial to Cope D'Oyley (who died in 1633) and his family. The tower contains eight bells and the ceiling is quite intricately decorated in parts. The post office in the village serves also as the local shop and cafe.

Manor house

The Jacobean
Jacobean architecture
The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James I of England, with whose reign it is associated.-Characteristics:...

 style manor house was built in 1603 of flint and stone. Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...

 stayed there overnight in 1646 while fleeing from Oxford. Another notable building is the Old Rectory built in 1794.

Yewden villa excavation

A contested theory has been put forward that a military brothel might have formed part of the Yeweden villa site.

Notable residents

Hambleden was the home village of William Henry Smith, founder (in 1821) of the book chain W H Smith
W H Smith
WHSmith plc is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It is best known for its chain of high street, railway station, airport, hospital and motorway service station shops selling books, stationery, magazines, newspapers, and entertainment products...

, he died in 1891 and is buried in the new cemetery. Lord Cardigan
James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan
Lieutenant General James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, KCB , was an officer in the British Army who commanded the Light Brigade during the Crimean War...

, famous for his role in leading the ill-fated Charge of the Light Brigade
Charge of the Light Brigade
The Charge of the Light Brigade was a charge of British cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War. The charge was the result of a miscommunication in such a way that the brigade attempted a much more difficult objective...

, was born in the Manor House. The sea chest that he took to the Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...

 can be seen in the church. Phil Vickery
Phil Vickery (rugby player)
Philip John Vickery MBE is a former English rugby union tighthead prop and member of the England squad. He was a member of England's World Cup winning squad in 2003, playing in all seven matches in the tournament, and is a former England captain. Vickery ended his club rugby career at Wasps,...

, Rugby Union London Wasps player and England 2003 World Cup Winner, lives in Hambleden

Film location

The attractive village has often been used as a location for films, such as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (film)
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a 1968 musical film with a script by Roald Dahl and Ken Hughes, and songs by the Sherman Brothers, loosely based on Ian Fleming's novel Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car. It starred Dick Van Dyke as Caractacus Potts and Sally Ann Howes as Truly Scrumptious. The...

, Dance with a Stranger
Dance with a Stranger
Dance with a Stranger is a 1985 British drama film, directed by Mike Newell. Telling the story of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain in the fifties, this moving biographical British film won critical acclaim, and brought particular notice to the careers of both Miranda Richardson...

and the opening scenes of the recent remake of The Avengers starring Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List....

 and also some scenes in 101 Dalmatians. Hambleden was also used in the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers to depict Easy Company's
Easy Company (Band of Brothers)
Easy Company, 2nd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, the "Screaming Eagles", is one of the most well-known companies in the United States Army. Their experiences in World War II are the subject of the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers based on the book...

 training in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Also, the Tim Burton
Tim Burton
Timothy William "Tim" Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet...

 film Sleepy Hollow
Sleepy Hollow (film)
Sleepy Hollow is a 1999 American period horror film directed by Tim Burton. It is a film adaptation loosely inspired by the 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving and stars Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson, Marc Pickering, Michael Gambon, Jeffrey Jones,...

, starring Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...

 and Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci is an American actress. Ricci received initial recognition and praise as a child star for her performance as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values , and her role as Kat Harvey in Casper...

, included a month-long location shoot at Lime Tree Valley, in Hambleden.
The shops in the centre routinely put out facades that are more in keeping with a traditional country village and in some cases bear no resemblance to the business now being conducted within. In 1979 Hambleden church was the set for a programme featuring Harry Seacombe called Cross on the Donkey's Back ..It was an Easter programme by Thames Television and also featured a group of school children from Hambleden C of E School. The 2010 film Nanny McPhee Returns, also used parts of the village in some of their scenes.

Nearby places

1 mile to the south of the village at Mill End are Hambleden Mill
Hambleden Mill
Hambleden Mill is a historic watermill on the River Thames at Mill End, near the village of Hambleden in Buckinghamshire, England. It is next to Hambleden Lock and has now been converted into flats.- External links :*...

 and Hambleden Lock
Hambleden Lock
Hambleden Lock is a lock with a long weir situated on the River Thames in England. The lock is on the Berkshire bank between Aston and Remenham...

 on the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

, which feature in Jerome K. Jerome's novel Three Men In A Boat
Three Men in a Boat
Three Men in a Boat ,The Penguin edition punctuates the title differently: Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog! published in 1889, is a humorous account by Jerome K...

.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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