STONE HUNDRED 



Priory." It consisted of the whole altarage of Had- 

 denham Church and all the chapel of Cuddington, the 

 vicar finding a chaplain to celebrate at the latter 

 place." 



The advowson of the vicarage of Cuddington, to- 

 gether with that of Haddenham, was granted by 

 Henry VIII to the Dean and Chapter of Rochester, 

 who are the patrons at the present day." Queen 

 Elizabeth in I 5 79 granted to Edward Thomlynson 

 and Anthony Page, their heirs and assigns, all the late 

 free chapel of Cuddington, commonly called Cudding- 

 ton Chapel, with all land belonging to it, but this grant 

 does not seem to have taken effect." There is a Bap- 

 tist chapel in Cuddington, built in 1831, and a 

 Wesleyan chapel which was built in 1894. 



Nicholas Almond, by deed of feoff- 

 CHARITIES ment bearing date 4 April 1 8 Charles I, 

 conveyed a parcel of land, part of 

 Middle Moor, containing between five and six acres, 

 upon trust that the rents and profits should be applied for 

 apprenticing or otherwise for the benefit of the poor, 

 subject to the payment of 61. %J. to the minister for 



DINTON 



preaching a sermon every Easter Monday. In 1906 

 the sum of 14 I 5/. was received as rent of the Moor, 

 which, after payment of 6/. 8V. for a sermon, was 

 applied, together with a sum of \ charged in 1695 

 by William Almond on land called Nunhcycs, in the 

 distribution of I/, to each recipient. 



The poor are also entitled to receive one sack of 

 wheat, and two sacks of barley out of the Great 

 Tithes, being also the gift of the said Nicholas 

 Almond. 



Thomas Hill, by will, proved in the P.C.C. 7 Jan- 

 uary 1 804, charged his estate with the payment of a 

 certain quantity of wheat and barley, which was for- 

 merly distributed with the last-named charity, but the 

 distribution was discontinued on the ground that the 

 bequest was void under the Mortmain Act." 



The Rev. John Willis, a former rector, by will 

 proved in 1855, left 600 consols (with the official 

 trustees). Theannual dividends, amounting to^l 5, are 

 applied in accordance with the trusts in the dis- 

 tribution of coal, 3$ cwts. being given to each 

 recipient. 



DINTON 



Daniton (xi cent.) ; Dunigton (xiii cent.) ; Donyng- 

 ton (xiv cent ) ; Dynton (xvi cent.). 



Dinton is a large parish in the Vale of Aylesbury 

 and it lies in three hundreds. The village of Dinton 

 and Upton hamlet are in Aylesbury Hundred ; 

 Moreton Farm or Liberty is in Desborough Hundred, 

 and Aston Mullins Farm and Waldridge hamlet in 

 Ashendon Hundred. 



The River Thame forms part of the northern 

 boundary, and Bonny Brook flows from Marsh 

 hamlet through Dinton parish near Ford. There is 

 water in the grounds of Dinton Hall. 



The subsoil is Kimmeridge Clay, Portland Beds 

 and Gault ; ' the surface soil is Clay, Sand, and Lime- 

 stone. The occupation of the inhabitants is entirely 

 agricultural, 2,288 acres being laid down in permanent 

 pasture and 1,177^ in arable land.' Duck and 

 poultry breeding is also carried on. The village of 

 Dinton lies on a side road running parallel to the 

 main road from Thame to Aylesbury, at a short 

 distance to the south. A lower road from Thame 

 also crosses the parish. The nearest railway station 

 is at Aylesbury, 4 miles away, for the Great Western, 

 Great Central, and Metropolitan Extension lines. 

 The common fields were inclosed under Act of 

 Parliament, the award being made in 1804.* Various 

 Anglo-Saxon remains have been found, and are pre- 

 served at Dinton Hall. The parish is celebrated for 

 having been the place of residence of two regicides in 

 the 1 7th century, Simon Mayne at Dinton Hall 

 and Sir Richard Ingoldsby at Waldridge. 



John Bigg, joint secretary to the two regicides, 

 also lived at Dinton. Tradition names him as the 

 actual executioner of Charles I. After the Restora- 

 tion, apparently pursued by remorse, he became a 

 hermit and lived in a cave in the parish, without 

 ever changing his clothes. He died in 1696, and 

 one of his shoes is preserved at Dinton Hall, the other 



being in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. There 

 are four hamlets in the parish : Ford, Upton, West- 

 lington, and Gibraltar. Westlington is the most 

 considerable of these, and lies to the west of the 

 grounds of Dinton Hall, the church and village of 

 Dinton adjoining the same grounds on the east. 

 Upton is a little farther to the north-east, all three 

 settlements being built on the southward slope of the 

 narrow ridge of land along which the Aylesbury road 

 runs. All this part of the parish is very well timbered, 

 especially near the church and Hall. On the southern 

 boundary of the churchyard are some disused alms- 

 houses of 18th-century brickwork, with a little 

 timber work of earlier date, the south entrance to the 

 churchyard being by an archway through the build- 

 ings. They face on to a pretty green, with the 

 boundary wall of the Hall gardens on the west, and a 

 line of tall trees, beneath which the village stocks and 

 whipping-post yet stand. The road runs on the east 

 side past two small houses with half-timbered gables 

 of early 1 7th-century date, which are the two wings 

 of an H-shaped house, whose central block has been 

 destroyed, leaving two fireplaces exposed on the wall 

 of the south wing. The hamlet of Ford, as its nime 

 implies, lies to the south at the point where the road 

 from Dinton village crosses the Ford Brook, and 

 farther to the south stand the farm-houses of Upper 

 and Lower Waldridge. The small collection of 

 houses known as Gibraltar is on the main Aylesbury 

 road, north-west of Dinton village, and about half a 

 mile to the west of the ridiculous 18th-century ruin 

 known as Dinton Castle, built in 1769 by Sir John 

 Vanhattem. Though in itself of no importance, it 

 stands on a Saxon burial mound from which a number 

 of valuable objects have been dugout. Besides the 

 church there are two buildings of historical interest 

 in the parish, Dinton Hall and Upper Waldridge. 

 Of these the former, said to have been in great part 



" Line. Epii. Reg. Bithop Bck'i Init. 

 4*-7- 



Mi 



"Pit 33 Hen. VIII, pt. 9, m. 

 Pat. 21 Elii. pt. 7, m. 38. 

 Ckar. Cam. Ref. ivi, 73. 



271 



1 I'.C.H. Buck, i, Geol. Map. 

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

 Com. Indt Avtard, 



