Whaddon, Buckinghamshire

Description
Whaddon, a village, a township, and a parish, in Bucks. The village stands 3 1/2 miles N by E of Swanbourne station on the Oxford and Bletchley branch of the L. & N.W.R., 4 1/2 S by E of Stony Stratford, and 5 from Bletchley Junction station on the L. & N.W.R. main line. It was once a market-town, gives the title of Baron to the Duke of Buckingham, and has a post office under Bletchley station; money order and telegraph office, Stony Stratford. The parish includes Nash hamlet, which is noticed separately, and comprises 3772 acres; population of the civil parish, 704; of the ecclesiastical, 398. The manor belonged to the Giffords, passed to the Pigots, the Greys, the Dukes of Buckingham, the Willises, and the Selbys, and with Whaddon Hall belongs to the Lowndes family. Whaddon Hall was visited by Queen Elizabeth in 1568, is a fine mansion of stone with a grand staircase and many spacious rooms, and is surrounded by a well-timbered deer park of about 315 acres. The remains of a Roman encampment, enclosing a space of about 5 acres, are at Whaddon Chase, and many ancient British and Roman coins have been found. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford; net value, £275 with residence. The church, which stands on high ground near the Chase, is an ancient edifice of stone, consisting of chancel with N aisle or chapel, nave, aisles, N and S porches, and an embattled western tower. It has a beautiful brass of 1612, some ancient tombs and monuments, and an Early English font. There is a Congregational chapel.