Great Linford

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 History and Antiquities of the County of Buckingham", Lipscomb G., 1847
"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: Milton Keynes and Wolverton area, Volume 6", Peter Quick.

War Memorials

War memorials in Great Linford have been transcribed by Peter Quick, and published in a booklet entitled "War Memorials and War Graves: Milton Keynes and Wolverton area, Volume 6", available from the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.

In 1642 there were 102 people named in the tax returns for contributions for Ireland. Between them they were assessed at £7.4.10 of which sum Sir Ric. Napeir contributed £3.0.0

In 1798 the Posse Comitatus listed 60 men between the ages of 16 and 60 in Great Linford.

In the earliest government census of 1801, there were 313 inhabitants in 55 families living in 51 houses recorded in Great Linford.

* = 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.

• Rectors of the Parish Church of St Andrew

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

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

* = 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 Great Linford showed the following numbers:

• Buckinghamshire Church Photos by Kevin Quick.
• Buckinghamshire Village Photos by Kevin Quick.
• Buckinghamshire Records and Local Studies Service - large collection of old photos of Buckinghamshire

• Geograph
• Flickr

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Great Linford to another place.

Great Linford was described in 1806 in "Magna Britannia" as follows:

GREAT LINFORD, in the hundred and deanery of Newport, lies nearly three miles to the south-west of Newport Pagnell. In the reign of King John, the manor belonged to Geoffrey de Gibwen, some time one of his majesty's justices-itinerant. It was afterwards in the Pipards, from whom it passed to the Botelers. Upon the attainder of James Boteler, Earl of Wiltshire, King Edward IV. granted this manor to Richard Middleton esq. and his heirs male. It soon reverted to the crown, and was granted in 1467, to the Princess Elizabeth, who became the queen of Henry VII. It seems to have been afterwards restored to the St. Legers, as representatives, in the female line, of the Botelers, for it appears that Sir George St. Leger exchanged it for other lands, with King Henry VIII. Queen Elizabeth granted it to Richard Campion and John Thompson. It was purchased of the Thompsons, about the year 1632, by Sir Robert Napier, whose heirs sold it about 1679, to Sir William Pritchard, alderman of London. By his bequest, if became the property of his relation, [Footnote: It has been said that Sir William Pritchard bequeathed this estate to St. Bartholomew's hospital; but it appears by the will, that the bequest to that hospital was only in the event of a failure of heirs, according to the entail,] Thomas Uthwatt esq. Upon the decease of Mrs. Uthwatt, lady of the manor, in 1800, it devolved to the Rev. Henry Uthwatt Andrewes, who has since taken the name of Uthwatt, which is to be assumed by his issue male, when they shall succeed and come into actual possession of the estates, devised by the will of his godfather and relation, Henry Uthwatt esq. of Great Linford, bearing date 1757.

In the parish church is the monument of Sir William Pritchard above-mentioned, who died in the year 1704. He was president of St. Bartholomew's hospital, where he erected a convenient apartment, at his own expence, for performing the operation of cutting for the stone. He founded an alms-house at Great Linford, for six poor men, who receive from his endowment an allowance of 1s. 6d. each weekly, and a school, with a salary of 10 l. per annum for the master. Mr. Uthwatt is patron of the rectory.

Dr. Richard Sandy, alias Napier, who was presented to this rectory in 1589, was a very remarkable character: he was son of Sir Robert Napier, of Luton Hoo, in Bedfordshire, and having been instructed in physic and astrology, by the celebrated Dr. Simon Forman, commenced the profession of those sciences, in conjunction with the cure of souls: his practice as a physician became very extensive, it being given out that he held conversations with the angel Raphael, by means of which, he prognosticated with certainty, the death or recovery of his patients. This procured him great credit in a superstituous age, and he was resorted to by persons of the first rank and consequence. It appears by a passage in Howell's Familiar Letters, that the Earl of Sunderland (lord president of the north) was under his care for some months, at his house at Linford, in 1629. It was said of this emperic divine, that he was so devout, that his knees grew horny by much praying, and that he died in that posture, at a great age, in the year 1634. His burial is thus entered in the parish register, "April 15, 1634. Buried, Mr. Richard Napier, rector, the most renowned physician both of body and soul." Dr.Napier's papers came into the hands of Mr. Ashmole, and are now in the museum at Oxford.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SP853420 (Lat/Lon: 52.06981, -0.756965), Great Linford which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

The name Linford derives from the old english hlymn-ford meanin 'ford by the stream or pool'. The name Great being used as a distinguishing affix.