Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire

Description
Waddesdon, a township and a parish in Bucks. The township lies on the Roman way, Akeman Street, 2 miles from Quainton Road station on the Metropolitan railway, and 5 1/4 NW from Aylesbury. The Wotton tramway passes through this parish. Area of the township, 5003 acres; population, 1610. The parish includes also the townships of Woodham and Westcott, and the hamlet of Wormstone. Acreage, 7252; population, 1953. There is a parish council consisting of nine members. There is a good hotel, and a parish club and reading-room. Waddesdon manor, a seat of the Rothschild family, is a fine mansion in the French chateau style, very pleasantly situated on an eminence in a park of about 800 acres. The living is a rectory, united with Westcott, in the diocese of Oxford; net value, £660 with residence, in the gift of the Duke of Marlborough. The church is an ancient building of stone in mixed styles, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, S porch, and an embattled western tower. It has some ancient and interesting tombs and monuments, and an octagonal Decorated font. The church at Westcott was erected in 1867 at the expense of the last Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, from the designs of the late G. E. Street, R.A. There are Baptist chapels at Waddesdon village and Waddesdon Hill, and Primitive Methodist and Wesleyan chapels at Waddesdon, almshouses for six aged women, and charities worth about £130 a year.