STONE HUNDRED 



STONE 



of Little Kimble for the souls of Walter and Lucy, 

 their ancestors and successors. 101 



A chantry in Little Kimble it mentioned in a grant 

 by Queen Elizabeth, but there is no certificate of its 

 dissolution under Edward VI.'* 1 There is in the 

 parish a dissenting chapel, which serves for all 

 denominations. 



Under the Inclosure Act, 1803, 

 CHARITIES an allotment containing i a. z r. 26 p. 

 was awarded for the use of the poor 

 in respect of a right of cutting firewood on certain 

 hills. The land produces about 3 a year, which is 

 applied in the distribution of two to three hundred 

 weights of coal to about twenty recipients. 



STONE 



Stanes (xi cent.). 



The parish of Stone lies completely in the Vale of 

 Aylesbury. It is well watered by the River Thame 

 and its tributaries which flow through the Vale. 

 There is a spring at Sedrup hamlet. The subsoil is 

 Kimmeridge Clay, Portland beds, London beds, and 

 Gault, 1 and the surface soil is loam and sand. There 

 it excellent pasture-land to the extent of 1,504 acres, 

 and 892 acres are arable land.' Market gardening 

 and poultry and duck-breeding are carried on by the 

 inhabitants. 



The small village of Stone stands on the highest 

 ground in the parish, 368 ft. above the sea-level, at a 

 point where the high road from Thame to Aylesbury 

 is crossed by a small road which runs from Eythorp 

 to Bishopstone. The church is close to the cross-roads, 

 standing on a mound which may be partly artificial, 

 and the houses of the village are grouped round it. 

 The most conspicuous building is the County Asylum, 

 west of the village, with its large modern red-brick 

 and stone buildings facing the main road. It was built 

 in 1852, and has since been enlarged. There is not 

 much timber in the parish, what there is being chiefly 

 on the high ground on which the main road runs. 

 Pevcrel Court, south-east of the village, is a modern 

 house built in 1862. The nearest station is at Ayles- 

 bury, 3 miles away. 



The parish was inclosed under an Act of Parlia- 

 ment for the imlosurc of Stone and Hartwell, the 

 award being dated 19 March 1777.' The area of 

 the parish it 2,641 acres.' 



Various Anglo-Saxon remains have been found 

 here, the most important being a bronze-g It brooch 

 of unusual size.' 



Two successive vicars of Stone were men of some 

 eminence. Joseph Bancroft Reade (1801-70) held 

 the living from 1839 to 1859, when he was presented 

 to the vicarage of Ellesborough. He was distinguished 

 as a chemist, microscopist, and a photographic dis- 

 coverer, and at the time of his death was president 

 of the Royal Microscopical Society.' James Booth 

 (1806-78) was presented to the vicarage in 1859. 

 He was treasurer and chairman of the Society of 

 Arts, and was mainly instrumental in establishing its 

 system of examinations. 7 



The township of Stone was held in 

 MANORS two portions before the Norman Con- 

 quest, and the same division was con- 

 tinued for several centuries. One-half had been held 

 by Ulf, a housecarl of King Edward,' but at the 

 time of the Domesday Survey it was held by Robert 

 de Todeni, the lord of Belvoir,* Leicestershire, and 

 was assessed at 7 hides of land. 10 The overlordship 

 of this part of Stone belonged to the lords of the 

 honour of Belvoir for many centuries." 



Before 1086, Robert de Todeni had granted 

 BRACERS MA"i\OR in Stone to a sub-tenant named 

 Gilbert." During the reign of Henry I, William de 

 Bracey granted the church of Stone to the abbey of 

 Oseney, 11 and was in all probability holding the manor 

 as one knight's fee of the honour of Belvoir. Gilbert, 

 his heir, confirmed this grant and afterwards gave 

 I hide of land in addition to the abbey." Charters 

 also are given in the Oseney Cartulary of Robert de 

 Bracey and Gilbert his son. 1 * 



Early in the 1 3th century this Gilbert held seven- 

 eighths of a knight's fee in Stone, 18 but before 1286 

 he had been succeeded by Roger de Bracey." Robert 

 de Bracey in 1316 " and John de Bracey" in 1346 

 held it in turn, but before 1402 Bracey's Manor in 

 Stone was held by John Glover of Little Kimble," 

 who probably held it in right of his wife." In 1415, 

 however, John Barton, sen., held a knight's fee in 

 Stone by Aylesbury of Lord Ros of Hamelake." 



Andrew Sparlyng, presumably holding as a trustee 

 for the widow of John Barton, jun., sold the manor 

 to Sir Robert Whitingham. 13 After the downfall of 

 the Lancastrian cause, his lands were forfeited and 

 granted by Edward IV to Sir Thomas Montgomery.** 

 Sir Ralph Verney, whose son John had married 

 Margery Whitingham, Sir Robert's heiress, nude 

 every effort " to recover her lands for his son. He 

 was successful as far as Bracey's Manor was concerned, 1 * 

 and Sir Ralph Verney, jun., the son of Margery 

 Whitingham," his son (another Sir Ralph) and two 

 grandsons, both Edmund by name, were seised in 

 turn. 1 * Edmund Verney, jun., sold the manor to Sit 

 Alexander Hampden," and on his eath in 1619 it 

 passed by settlement to the Lees," and from that 

 time followed the descent of the manor of Hartwell. 



104 Cal. Pai. 1317-30, p. 189. 



Pat. 31 Eliz. pt. 5. 



> y.C.H. Buck,, i. Geological Map. 



Inf. from lid. of Agric. (1905). 



Com. Intl. Award. 

 4 Ord. Surr. 



V.C.H. Buck, i, 197. 



Diet. Nat. Biog. xlvii, 360-1. 

 ' Ibid. T, 394-5- 



y.CM. Buckt. i, z$7*. 



Ibid. 113. 

 > Ibid. 157*. 



M Ct Fiud. Aidt, i, 75, 97, in i Cat. 

 Clou, 1339-4-9, P- lo6 - i Chmn. Inq- 



p.m. z Hen. V, no. 40 (file 241) ; ibid. 

 (Scr. z), cccclxxvi, no. 96. 



y.C.H. Buck,, i, 157*. 



u Cal. Clou, 1337-9. P- 3741 CoM. 

 MS. ViL E. IT. 



Ibid. 



' Ibid. 



Tnu di Nrvitt (Rec. Com.), 145 | 

 Hun<l. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 31. 



" FnJ. AiJi, i, 75. 



Ibid. 113. 



> Ibid. izz. 



Fret of F. Bucki. Mich. 14 Hen. IV. 



" Ibid. 



307 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. z Hen. V, no. 40 j 

 Feet of F. Buck*. Bait. 1 5 Hen. VI. 



Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 16, no. 

 703. 



See Dinton. 



* Ibid. 



M Esch. Inq. p.m. bdle. 5, no. i ;. 



r > Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. z), xliv, no. 

 91. 



" Ibid. Ixxiv, no. z ; ibid. c, no. 4 ; 

 Feet of F. Buck*. Hil. 3 Elii. 



Recov. R. Mich. 16 Eli*. 



M Chan. Inq. p.m. (Scr. z), ccclxzvi, 

 no. 96. 



