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Leckhampstead

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"The parish of Leckhampstead, on the borders of Northamptonshire, has an area of 2570 acres, of which 348 are arable land, 1796 permanent grass and 179 woods and plantations. The soil is clay and gravel; the subsoil various. The undulating surface, about 300 ft. above the ordnance datum, rises to 350 ft. in the east and north. The Ouse, which here flows in an easterly direction, forms the southern boundary. The Grand Junction Canal intersects the south of the parish, and is crossed at Cattleford Bridge by the road from Buckingham to Stony Stratford. Leckhampstead Wharf is about a quarter of a mile west of the bridge." [© copyright of the editors of The Victoria Histories of the Counties of England]
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Bibliography

The following reference sources have been used in the construction of this page, and may be referred to for further detail. Most if not all of these volumes are available in the Reference section of the County Library in Aylesbury.

"Buckinghamshire Contributions for Ireland 1642", Wilson J., 1983.
"Buckinghamshire Returns of the Census of Religious Worship 1851", Legg E. ed., 1991, ISBN 0 901198 27 7.
"Magna Britannia: Buckinghamshire", Lysons S. and Lysons D., 1806.
"The Place-Names of Buckinghamshire", Mawer A. and Stenton F.M., 1925.
"The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Buckinghamshire", Page W. ed., 1905-1928
"War Memorials and War Graves: Buckingham Hundred, Volume 7", Peter Quick.

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Cemeteries

The following Monumental Inscriptions are available as publications or as part of a Society library:

* = material held in a Society library is generally available for loan to all members either via post, or by collection at a meeting

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Census

In 1642 there were 49 people named in the tax returns for contributions for Ireland. Between them they were assessed at £2.3.7 of which sum John Pollard contributed £0.10.0

In 1798 the Posse Comitatus listed 77 men between the ages of 16 and 60 in Leckhampstead.

In the earliest government census of 1801, there were 346 inhabitants in 76 families living in 60 houses recorded in Leckhampstead.

Census Year Population of Leckhampstead
1801* 346
1811* 397
1821* 519
1831* 499
1841 505
1851 518
1861 482
1871 447
1881 340
1891 302
1901 241

* = No names were recorded in census documents from 1801 to 1831.
** = Census documents from 1911 to 2001 are only available in summary form. Names are witheld under the 100 year rule.

Microfilm copies of all census enumerators' notebooks for 1841 to 1891 are held at the Local Studies Libraries at Aylesbury and Milton Keynes, as well as centrally at the PRO. A table of 19th century census headcount by parish is printed in the VCH of Bucks, Vol.2, pp 96-101.

Availability of census transcripts and indexes.

  • 1851 - Full transcripts and indexes for Buckinghamshire are available on CD-ROM, hard copy and microfiche from the Buckinghamshire Family History Society.
  • 1861 - Available on CD-ROM with advanced search and mapping capabilities etc. from the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.
  • 1881
    • Available on CD-ROM from the Church of the Latter Day Saints, as part of the National 1881 Census Index.
    • Available on CD-ROM for Buckinghamshire, with advanced search and mapping capabilities etc. from Drake Software.
  • 1891 - Available on CD-ROM with advanced search and mapping capabilities etc. from the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.

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Church Records

The original copies of the parish registers for St Mary the Virgin, Leckhampstead have been deposited in the Buckinghamshire Record Office in Aylesbury, and they hold the following years:

Event Dates covered
Christenings 1558 - 1861
Marriages 1558 - 1854
Banns 1754 - 1931
Burials 1559 - 1903

Copies or indexes to the parish registers are available from societies as follows:

Event
Society Library*
Dates covered
Society
Christenings
1558 - 1812
Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society
Marriages
1558 - 1837
Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society
Burials
1558 - 1812
Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society

* = material held in a Society library is generally available for loan to all members either via post, or by collection at a meeting

An ecclesiastical census was carried out throughout England on 30 March 1851 to record the attendance at all places of worship. These returns are in the Buckinghamshire Record Office and have been published by the Buckinghamshire Record Society (vol 27). The returns for Leckhampstead showed the following numbers:

Church Attendance
Leckhampstead,
St Mary the Virgin
No data given for 30 March 1851

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Description & Travel

You can see pictures of Leckhampstead which are provided by:

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Gazetteers

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History

Leckhampstead was described in 1806 in "Magna Britannia" as follows:

LEKHAMSTED, in the hundred and deanery of Buckingham, lies about three miles and a half to the north-east of the county town. The manor was anciently in the Chastillons, who held it under the honor of Mandeville; before the year 1398, it passed, by purchase, to the Gernons, and from them descended, by female heirs, to the Tilneys and Greenways: Sir Anthony Greenway sold it, about the year 1631, to the Pyes. Sir Edmund Pye of Lekhamsted, who was created a baronet in 1641, was succeeded in this estate by his daughter, The Hon. Catherine West; on her death it became the property of her niece Martha, sister of the last Lord Lovelace, who married Lord Henry Beauclerk. It is now the property of their son, the Rev. Henry Beauclerk, who is also patron and incumbent of the rectory. Mr. Beauclerk has another estate in this parish, called Heyborne-fields manor, which, having been for a considerable time in the family of Greene, about the middle of the sixteenth century, became the property of the Wentworths of Lillingstone-Lovell, and passed from them, by a female heir, to the Cresswells. Mrs. Cresswell bequeathed it to Mr. Beauclerk's mother.

The manor, or reputed manor of Lekhamsted-Parva, alias, Lymes-end, with Nast-end, belonged to the Tyrells as early as the middle of the sixteenth century, and is claimed by their representative, Thomas Sheppard esq. of Thornton, who gives a deputation for the manor. Samuel Athawes esq. has also given a deputation for the manor of Lymes-end, as possessor of an estate at this place, purchased of the Tyrells.

In the church is a tablet, very rudely executed, to the memory of Sir Anthony Greenway the elder, who died in 1619.

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Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SP727380 (Lat/Lon: 52.035649, -0.9416), Leckhampstead which are provided by:

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Names, Geographical

The name Leckhampstead derives from the old english leac-ham-stede and means 'leek-homestead'.