A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



MONKS RISBOROUGH 



Hriseberga (1006) ; Riseberge (xi cent.) ; Parva 

 Risborwe (xiv cent.) ; Monks Rysborough (xvi cent.). 



The parish of Monks Risborough lies on the 

 north-western slope of the Chiltern Hills, and is 

 remarkably long and narrow in shape. Near Green 

 Hailey Firs the land rises to a height of 813 ft. 

 above the ordnance datum, but in the north-west of 

 the parish it is under three hundred feet. On the 

 hills the subsoil is chalk, but in the lower parts it is 

 Upper Greensand and Gault ; * the surface varies, con- 

 sisting of hard chalk, clay, and loam. The parish is 

 well wooded, and contains 5zof acres of wood.* 



The people are mainly occupied in arable farming, 

 but there are extensive watercress beds near the 

 village of Monks Risborough. There are I,lz8f 

 acres of arable land and 830^ of permanent pasture. 3 



The small village and church stand on the west 

 side of the main road, which runs along the foot of 

 the slope of the Chiltern Hills, the church standing 

 back from the road, with the modern vicarage to the 

 south-east. In the vicarage garden, just east of the 

 church, is a pool fed by a spring from the chalk, from 

 which a stream runs northward past a moated site, 

 whose banks and ditches are now half obliterated. 

 To the north is a farm-house, and in the field between 

 it and the church stands a square pigeon-house, the 

 walls of which are probably mediaeval. It has a north 

 doorway of curious pseudo-Gothic detail. 



A small stream runs from Askett hamlet to Monks 

 Risborough Mill and Alscott. Both the Great 

 Western and the Great Central Railways run through 

 the parish, but the nearest station is at Princes 

 Risborough. 



The main road from Aylesbury to High Wycombe 

 passes through the village of Monks Risborough and 

 follows the course of the Upper Icknield Way. 

 Grim's Dyke can be traced here, running in a south- 

 westerly direction across the southern end of the 

 parish. 



On the hills to the east of Monks Risborough is 

 cut the probably prehistoric landmark, known as the 

 Whiteleaf Cross, now well cared for by the owner of 

 the Hampden estates. 4 Two tumuli exist in its 

 neighbourhood. There are four hamlets in the 

 parish : Owlswick, Meadle, Askett, and Cadsdean. 

 At Askett there is a Baptist chapel built in 1839, 

 with a small burial-ground attached. Master John 

 Schorne is said to have been vicar here before he 

 went to Long Marston, c. 1290. In 1701 Hum- 

 phrey Hody was presented to the vicarage of Monks 

 Risborough. He was appointed Regius Professor of 

 Greek at Oxford in 1697-8, and by his will left 

 various exhibitions to Wadham College. 5 



The manor of Monks Risborough was 

 MANORS granted to the monastery of Christchurch, 

 Canterbury, at an early date. In 995 

 Ethelred II confirmed a grant of the manor made by 

 Archbishop Sigeric to Bishop ^Escwige of Dorchester 

 for 90 ' librae ' of pure silver and 200 ' mancusae.' 6 

 In the next year, however, ^Escwige restored the 

 manor, 7 which apparently was only granted as 

 security for the loan of money. 8 It was confirmed to 

 Christchurch by King Ethelred in 1006,' and by 

 Edward the Confe;sor. w During the reign of the 

 latter it was held by Asgar the Staller," with the 

 condition that he could not alienate it from the 

 Church. 



In the Domesday Survey " it is said to be held by 

 the 'Archbishop himself ; this was probably because 

 the lands of the prior had not been separated from 

 those of the archbishop, since by the I3th century 

 the manor was held by the Prior of Canterbury of 

 the king in chief. 13 



The monastery held the manor without interrup- 

 tion until it was seized by the 

 king " at the Dissolution. It 

 was not restored by him to 

 the Dean and Chapter of the 

 Cathedral Church, but was 

 granted in 1541 to Sir Francis 

 Bryan and Thomas Lawe. 15 

 In the same year, however, 

 these grantees obtained licence 

 to alienate the manor to Ed- 

 ward Restwold and his wife 

 Agnes." 



Agnes held the manor after 

 the death of her husband in 

 1548," but having apparen ly 



married as her second husband Sir Thomas Water- 

 ton, 18 it was sold by them to Thomas Fletewood," 

 whose widow Brigit held the manor on the death 

 of her husband,* and was succeeded by her son 

 George." George Fleetwood sold it in 15 69" to 

 Richard Tredway of Beaconsfield and his son Walter, 

 and Richard Tredway again sold it to Elizabeth 

 Clarke, daughter of George Clarke of Monks Ris- 

 borough. 13 She married Henry Ewer,** and they 

 held the manor till 1617, when it was sold to Sir 

 Jerome Horsey.* 5 Before his death he had settled 

 it on Sir John Bonner, Sir John Curzon, and John 

 Hampden in trust for his sons,* 6 reserving only 

 certain tenements to himself.* 7 Very shortly after his 

 death, John Hampden and William and John Horsey 

 sold the manor to John Barber alias Grigge of 

 Wendover. 88 It again changed hands in 1633, when 



CHRISTCHURCH, CAN- 

 TERBURY. Azure a cross 

 argent -with the letters 

 sable thereon. 



1 V.C.H. Bucks, i, Geological Map. 

 1 Inf. from Bd. of Agric. (1905). 

 Ibid. 



* y.c.n. Bucks. ;, 189-90. 



* Diet. Nat. Biog. xxvii, 77. 



* Kemble, Cud. Dipl. dclxxxix. 



7 Ibid. dcxc. 



8 Dugdale, Mon. i, 95. 



9 Kemble, Cad. Dipt, dccxv, dcccxcvi. 

 " Ibid. 



" V.C.H. Bucks, i, 2333. 



12 Ibid. 



18 Tata de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 245 ; 



cf. for the division of the estates between 

 the archbishop and the monks, P.C.H. 

 Kent, ii, ' Religious Houses'; Feud. Aids, 

 i, 97, 113, 123 5 Plac. de Quo War. 

 (Rec. Com.), 86. 



" Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 18. 



15 Pat. 33 Hen. VIII, pt. 4 ; L. and P. 

 Hen. fill, xvi, 947 (18). 



16 Ibid. 947 (22). 



*' Chan Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), Ixxxvi, 

 No. 5. 



18 Feet of F. Bucks. HiL 6 Edw. VI ; 

 East. 7 Edw. VI. 



256 



" Ibid. Hil. 2 Eliz.; East. 2 Eliz. 



20 Monks Risborough Ct. R. in the 

 possession of Mr. G. L. Gomme, 



21 Ibid. 



22 Close, 44 Eliz. pt. 25. 



23 Ibid. 2 Jas. I, pt. 21. 



* Monks Risborough Ct R. j Feet of 

 F. Bucks. Trin. 4 Jas. I. 



25 Ibid. Mich. 14 Jas. I. 



26 Ibid. Trin. 21 Jas. I. 



2 " Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), D. ii, 

 no. 40. 



28 Close, i Chas. I, pt. 7, no. 8. 



