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Iver

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(including Iver Heath and Thorney)

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"The parish of Iver contains 5531 acres, of which 1750 consist of arable land, 2552 of permanent grass, 217 of woods and plantations. The soil is loamy with a subsoil of gravel, and the parish contains several brickworks and gravel-pits. Cereals and green crops are grown. The country here lies low, the highest point attained being 222 ft. above ordanance datum. A small wood called Long Coppice lies in the north of the parish, but otherwise the land is rather bare, and a great part of the parish is taken up by Iver Heath. It is, however, well watered. The River Colne and the Grand Junction Canal, with a branch from Slough to Yiewsley, flow through, and the Alderbourne, a tributary of the Colne, forms the northern boundary. The village lies about the centre of the parish near the Colne, which is here crossed by a 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 Returns of the Census of Religious Worship 1851", Legg E. ed., 1991, ISBN 0 901198 27 7.
"Dictionary of English Place-Names", A.D. Mills, Oxford University Press, 1997, ISBN 0 19 28131 3
"Magna Britannia: Buckinghamshire", Lysons S. and Lysons D., 1806.
"The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Buckinghamshire", Page W. ed., 1905-1928

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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 1798 the Posse Comitatus listed 333 men between the ages of 16 and 60 in Iver.

In the earliest government census of 1801, there were 1377 inhabitants in 273 families living in 223 houses recorded in Iver.

Census YearPopulation of Iver
1801***1377
1811*1635
1821*1663
1831*1870
18411948
18511985
18612114
18712239
18812309
18912476
19012690

* = No names were recorded in census documents from 1811 to 1831.
** = Census documents from 1911 to 2001 are only available in summary form. Names are witheld under the 100 year rule.
*** = The 1801 census returns for Iver are held at the Buckinghamshire Record Office.

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 History

Iver

Details of the stained glass in the church can be found on the following web sites (the site includes many photos):

Iver Heath

Details of the stained glass in the church can be found on the following web sites (the site includes many photos):

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Church Records

Iver

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

EventDates covered
Christenings1605 - 1977
Marriages1605 - 1973
Banns1754 - 1985
Burials1605 - 1964

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

Event
Society Library*
Dates covered
Society
Christenings
1605 - 1840
Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society
Marriages
1605 - 1840
Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society
Burials
1605 - 1840
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

Iver Heath

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

EventDates covered
Christenings1862 - 1964
Marriages1863 - 1965
Banns1863 - 1975
Burials1862 - 1934

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 Iver showed the following numbers:

ChurchAttendance
Iver, St Peter267 - Morning General Congregation
104 - Morning Sunday Scholars
371 - Morning Total

201 - Afternoon General Congregation
75 - Afternoon Sunday Scholars
276 - Afternoon Total

Iver,
Thorney Licensed Schoolroom
44 - Evening Total
Iver Heath,
Wesleyan Methodist
40 - Morning General Congregation
21 - Morning Sunday Scholars
61 - Morning Total

81 - Evening General Congregation
81 - Evening Total

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Description & Travel

You can see pictures of Iver which are provided by:

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Gazetteers

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History

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

IVER, in the hundred of Stoke and deanery of Burnham, lies between Uxbridge and Colnbrook, being about three miles distant from each.. It had formerly a market, orignally granted in 1351 to Lord Neville, and confirmed in 1461 to the dean and chapter of Windsor, together with two fairs; the market has been long discontinued; a small fair is held on the 10th July. The opinion that this place took its name from Roger de Iveri, is certainly erroneous, and the learned bishop Kennet appears in this instance to have fallen into a mistake, and to have hazarded a conjecture, which is inconsistent with facts, which he has adduced from records in other parts of his useful work, the Parochial Antiquities, for he supposes Roger de Iveri to have suceeded to the manor of Iver, after Robert Doiley, who possessed it at the time of the Norman survey. Roger de Iveri and Robert Doiley were contemporaries and sworn friends; both came over with William the Conqueror, and had large grants of lands. Roger de Iveri had large estates in the county of Buckingham, but it does not appear that he ever possessed this manor, which in the survey of Domesday is called Evre and Evreham, being described as the property of Robert Doiley, from it passed with his daughter in marriage to Milo Crispin, and after his death to Brien Fitz-Count, the brave defender of Wallingford Castle, who, we are told, kept his Christmas at Iver in the year 1143. Having afterwards entered into a religious order, the King (Henry II) seized on all his estates. King Richard I. gave this manor to Robert de Clavering, some of whose descendants taking the name of Eure from this place, were ancestors of the Lords Eure and Eures of Axholme. Sir John Clavering having no male issue, gave this manor and other estates to King Edw. II. and his heirs: King Edw. III. granted it, in 1329, to Simon de Bereford, and in 1336, to Ralph Lord Neville, of Raby, steward of the household, whose grandfather had married Euphemia, daughter of Sir John Clavering above-mentioned. In 1352, Lord Neville surrendered this manor to the king, who the next year granted it to his newly endowed college at Windsor. The dean and chapter reconveyed it to the crown, in the reign of Henry VIII. and received other lands in exchange. King Edward VI. gave it to Lord Paget, in whose family it continued until 1772, when it was sold by his descendant the present Earl of Uxbridge, and having since passed through several hands, is now the property of Henry Piper Sperling esq.

The manor and park of Levinz, alias Parlaunt, belonged also to the Pagets; the Earl of Uxbridge, who died in 1743, bequeathed it to Sir William Irby, afterwards Lord Boston, whose son Frederic Lord Boston is the present proprietor: it is now a farm in the tenure of Mr. William Ives. The house, and great part of the estate, are in the parish of Langley. The manor of Oak-end, at the northern extremity of this parish, is now the property and seat of Francis Sackville Lloyd esq. who inherits it by female descent from the family of Gould [Footnote: His mother was one of the four daughters and coheirs of Sir Thomas Wheate bart. by the daughter and coheir of Thomas Gould esq.]. The manor of Mansfeld, so called probably from the ancient family of Mansfeld, of Cliefden, is now the property of Mr.Whittington.

Richings Lodge, in this parish, the seat of the Right Hon. John Sullivan, M.P. was purchased of the family of Britton, by Sir Peter Apsley, whose grandaughter brought it in marriage to the first Lord Bathurst. The amiable and accomplished Countess of Hertford (afterwards Duchess of Somerset) made this place, which her husband had purchased of Lord Bathurst, her chief residence during her widowhood; and changed its name to Percy Lodge. In one of her letters, lately published, she observes, that on the spot where her green-house stood, was formerly a chapel, dedicated to St. Leonard: she observes also, that an old covered bench in her gardens exhibited many remains of the wit of her predecessor's visitors; Addison, Pope, Prior, Congreve, and Gay. The Duchess of Somerset died at Percy Lodge, in the month of July 1754, when it was inherited by her daughter, the Duchess of Northumberland. The duke, her husband, sold it to Sir John Coghill, of whose relict, the Countess of Charleville, it was purchased in 1786, by Mr. Sullivan.

In the parish church is a monument, in memory of Sir George and Sir Edward Salter, successively carvers to King Charles I. with the effigies of Mary Lady Salter, (wife of Sir George,) rising from her coffin in a shroud. There is also the monument of John King, who was killed in his own house in 1604, by his kinsman, Roger Parkinson, who in a drunken fit stuck a shoe-maker's awl into his forehead. The lay rectory of Iver, to which a manor is annexed, was given by King Edward III. to the church of Windsor, and came again to the crown by exchange. It was purchased of the Leigh family, who had been a considerable time in possession, by Thomas Bernard esq. treasurer of the foundling hospital, who in 1800 sold it to the present proprietor, Mr. Sullivan, who is patron of the curacy. Mr. Bernard had a seat at Iver, now the property of Edward Bury esq.

Robert Bowyer, about the middle of the last century, founded a free-school at Iver, and endowed it with a sum of money, which produces an income of about 21 l. per annum.

Thorney is the principal hamlet in the parish; Riskins, Sutton, Shredding-Green, Grist, Bengers, Delaford, and Huntsmore, are in the parish. An act of parliament, for inclosing the parish of Iver, passed in 1800, when an allotment of land was assigned in lieu of the impropriate tithes, the lay rector being entitled to the vicarial as well as the great tithes: a small allotment near the workhouse was assigned for the use of the poor. The parish is stated in the act to contain 2462 acres.

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Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference TQ035813 (Lat/Lon: 51.521145, -0.509628), Iver which are provided by:

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Names, Geographical

The name Iver means '(place by) the brow of a hill or tip of a promontary'.