Whitchurch, Buckinghamshire
Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox UK place
Whitchurch is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority area of Buckinghamshire, England. The village is on the A413 road about Template:Convert north of Aylesbury and Template:Convert south of Winslow. The 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 932.<ref name=ONS/>
Toponym
The toponym "Whitchurch" is common in England. It derived from the Old English wit chert, meaning white earth.Template:Citation needed
Castle
Bolbec Castle was built in the Anarchy in the early 12th century.<ref name=EH-Castle>Template:NHLE</ref> It was burned down by Parliamentary forces in the English Civil War.Template:Citation needed Its remains are a scheduled monument.<ref name=EH-Castle/>
Parish church
The oldest parts of the Church of England parish church of Saint John the Evangelist are 13th-century.<ref name=Pevsner292>Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name=EH-Church>Template:NHLE</ref> They include the chancel and the Early English west doorway.<ref name=Pevsner292/> The nave has aisles with four-bay arcades.<ref name=Pevsner292/> The south aisle was added first, late in the 13th century.<ref name=Pevsner292/> The north aisle was added slightly later, and the south door is early 14th-century.<ref name=Pevsner292/> Also 14th-century are the sedilia and piscina in the chancel.<ref name=EH-Church/> The west tower was added in the middle of the 14th century, with its eastern buttresses intruding into the north and south aisles.Template:Sfn In the 15th century a Perpendicular Gothic porch was added to the south doorway. Also Perpendicular Gothic are the nave's clerestory and roof,<ref name=Pevsner293>Template:Harvnb</ref> which are late 15th- or early 16th-century.<ref name=EH-Church/> The church is a Grade II* listed building.<ref name=EH-Church/>
The west tower has a ring of six bells. The oldest are the third and fourth bells, which were cast by an unknown bellfounder in 1619.<ref name=DoveDetails>Template:Cite web</ref> Henry I Bagley of Chacombe, Northamptonshire<ref name=DoveFounders>Template:Cite web</ref> cast the treble bell in 1680.<ref name=DoveDetails/> The other two bells were cast in 1797,<ref name=DoveDetails/> but by two different founders. John Briant of Hertford<ref name=DoveFounders/> cast the second bell, but Thomas I Mears of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the tenor.<ref name=DoveDetails/> The church has also a Sanctus bell, which was cast in 1708 by one of the Chandler<ref name=DoveDetails/> family of bellfounders of Drayton Parslow.<ref name=DoveFounders/> Sir Edward Smythe (1602–1682), a retired judge who bought the manor of Whitchurch in about 1669, is buried in the church.<ref>Ball, F Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921 London John Murray 1926</ref>
Economic and social history
The village used to have a market, which was chartered in 1245. A street of the village is still called Market Hill, and the village still celebrates the granting of its market charter with a May feast each year.Template:Citation needed
Many of the village's cottages and houses are historic. None is a Grade I listed building but two are Grade II* Listed.<ref name=EH-Priory>Template:NHLE</ref><ref name=EH-OldHouse>Template:NHLE</ref> The Priory in the High Street and The Old House in Church Headland Lane are 15th-century timber-framed houses, each with first-floor jettying.<ref name=EH-Priory/><ref name=EH-OldHouse/> The Priory was altered in the 16th, 19th and 20th centuries, has brick nogging, was a hotel (and restaurant "La Boiserie") and is now a private house.<ref name=EH-Priory/> The Old House was altered in the 17th century and the front was remodelled around 1940.<ref name=Pevsner293/><ref name=EH-OldHouse/>
Nikolaus Pevsner also noted two houses in Oving Road:<ref name=Pevsner293/> School House, which is 16th-century, timber-framed and has a jettied first floor;<ref>Template:NHLE</ref> and Whitchurch House, which is early 17th-century and has an early 18th-century façade.<ref>Template:NHLE</ref>
Rex Whistler's painting The Vale of Aylesbury was created in Whitchurch, where a house is now named after him.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Firs was used as a facility for developing weapons during the Second World War.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Creslow Transmission Station, now known as Creslow Park located within the parish was a radio transmission station operated by Section VII (Communications) of the Secret Intelligence Service from approximately 1944 to 1990.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Amenities
As well as the Priory Hotel (see above) the village now has one public house: The White Swan, at the end of the high street nearest Aylesbury.
Whitchurch Combined School is a community primary school for boys and girls aged 4–11.<ref>Whitchurch Combined School</ref> The school has about 200 pupils. Its catchment area includes the parishes of Whitchurch, Hardwick, Oving, Pitchcott and Weedon. It also includes part of Watermead and the Berryfields and Weedon Hill Major Development Areas (MDAs) in Aylesbury, although new schools are planned for the MDAs.
Notable residents
- Steve Rothery, musician with Marillion; lives in WhitchurchTemplate:Citation needed
- Sir Edward Smythe (1602–1682), former Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas; retired to Whitchurch and is buried in St John the Evangelist<ref>Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921 John Murray London 1926</ref>
- Jan Struther, novelist notable for Mrs Miniver; lived at Whitchurch House. Her ashes were buried at Whitchurch beside her father<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>