Whaddon

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.
"History and Topography of Buckinghamshire", Sheahan, James Joseph, 1862
"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: North Central Bucks, Volume 4", Peter Quick.

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

• Monumental Inscriptions for St Mary's church, Whaddon are in the library* of the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.
• War memorials in Whaddon & Nash have been transcribed by Peter Quick and published by the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.
• War memorial details are also available online on the Roll of Honour web site.

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

In 1642 there were 79 people named in the tax returns for contributions for Ireland. Between them they were assessed at £7.6.4 of which sum Mr Francis Dodsworth contributed £1.10.0

In 1798 the Posse Comitatus listed the following numbers of men between the ages of 16 and 60: Whaddon - 118, Nash - 69.

In the earliest government census of 1801, there were the following population statistics recorded:

• Whaddon - 545 inhabitants in 123 families living in 105 houses
• Nash - 265 inhabitants in 64 families living in 58 houses

* = 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.

Snellshall Priory

• Priors of Snelshall Priory

St Mary, Whaddon

• Vicars of Whaddon

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

• Buckinghamshire Stained Glass

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

Whaddon, St Mary

Nash, All Saints

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

Whaddon, St Mary

* = 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 Whaddon showed the following numbers:

• Buckinghamshire Church Photos by Kevin Quick.
• Buckinghamshire Village Photos by Kevin Quick.

• Nash village website

• Geograph
• Flickr

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

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

WHADDON, in the hundred of Cotslow and deanery of Muresley, lies about four miles south of Stony-Stratford, and about five miles nearly north of Winslow. The manor of Whaddon, with the office of Keeper of the Chace, was anciently in the Giffards. It was seized by the crown in the reign of King John, and granted to the Earl of Arundel. By a subsequent grant, in 1245, it was given to the Fitz-jeffreys, from whom it descended by heirs female to Lionel Duke of Clarence, to the Mortimers, and the Plantagenets, by which means it became again vested in the crown. The manor of Whaddon was a part of Jane Seymour's dower. It was afterwards given to the Pigots, and by them sold to the noble family of Grey of Wilton. Whaddon was the seat of the brave Arthur Lord Grey, who, in 1568, was honoured with a visit by Queen Elizabeth, then on her Buckinghamshire progress. Edmund Spenser, the poet, who was his secretary, is said to have been frequently resident with him at this place. On the attainder of William Lord Grey, for being concerned with Sir Walter Ralegh in some treasonable practices, this manor was given to Sir George Villiers, afterwards Duke of Buckingham, who occasionally resided at Whaddon-hall, from whence he took the title of Baron. In 1698, the manor and chace were purchased of the representatives of the second duke, by James Selby esq. and Dr. Willis the celebrated physician. The manor, on a partition, became the property of Dr. Willis, and was inherited by his grandson, Browne Willis the antiquary, who resided many years at Whaddon-hall, which was purchased, with the manor, of his representatives, by the late Mr. Selby, who, on the supposiition that no heir at law could be found to inherit his estates, which proved to be the case, bequeathed the manor and other property to William Lowndes esq. of Winslow, who has taken the name of Selby. Whaddon-hall is now the residence of his eldest son, William Lowndes esq. In the parish church are monuments of Thomas Pigot serjeant at law, who died in 1519: and of Arthur Lord Grey, of Wilton, who died in 1593. The great tithes of this parish, which belonged formerly to the priory of Newenton-Longueville, were given by William of Wickham to New College in Oxford, togther with the advowson of the vicarage.

Dr. Cox, Bishop of Ely, who was tutor to King Edward VI. and one of the composers of the liturgy, was a native of Whaddon.

The late Mr. Coare of Newgate-street, founded a charity school at Whaddon for 20 children, and endowed it with 10 l. per annum. He built an alms house also, but did not live to complete his intention of endowing it.

Ralph Martell, in the reign of King Henry III. founded a small priory of monks of the Bendictine order at Snelshall, now called Snelsoe green, in this parish. The prior had a grant of a weekly market on Thursdays at Snelshall, in 1227. The revenues of the priory were estimated at the time of its suppression at only 18 l. 1s. 11d. clear yearly value. The site was granted at three several times to Francis Pigot, Sir Thomas Palmer, and Edmund Ashfield. From the latter it passed by a female heir to the Fortescues, who in 1619 sold it to the Duke of Buckingham. It was included in the purchase made by Selby and Willis in 1698, and has since passed with the manor of Whaddon. There are no remains of the conventual buildings which were in a ruinous state when surveyed by the commissioners, previously to its suppression, in the reign of King Henry VIII.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SP806341 (Lat/Lon: 51.999502, -0.827376), Whaddon 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.

• Whaddon - The name derives from the old english words hwæte + dun, and means 'hill where wheat is grown'.
• Nash - The name derives from the old english word æsc, and means 'place at the ash-tree'.

• Poll Tax 1641 Cotteslow Hundred has been published by the Buckinghamshire Family History Society