AYLESBURY HUNDRED 



ASTON CLINTON 



1193, and probably granted this land to the chapel 

 during the reign of Henry II. 1 * It wai called 

 in the 1 3th century the chapel of St. Leonard of 

 Blakmere, and more land does not then seem to have 

 been attached to it."* Another account, by Lips- 

 comb, gives 1278 as the date of the foundation of the 

 chapel, 100 when Bishop Gravesend of Lincoln, during 

 a visitation, granted to William de Clinton, patron of 

 the church of Aston, a chapel within the same parish." 1 

 He apparently took a confirmation of an old grant 

 for the foundation itself, since the chapel was in 

 existence many yean before, and the last William de 

 Clinton had been dead more than fifty yean.* 1 The 

 Montagus presented to the chapel after they had ob- 

 tained the manor of Aston Clinton, the king present- 

 ing in 1403, during the minority of Thomas, Earl of 

 Salisbury."* It was served by a stipendiary priest, 

 and at the time of the dissolution of the chantries 

 the messuage and land attached to the chapel were 

 worth 23/. a year."* There were at that time about 

 thirty-five 'houscling* people living in the hamlet of 

 St. Leonards, 104 about 3 or 4 miles away from the 

 parish church, and the chapel seems to have escaped 

 dissolution since it thus served as a chapel of ease. 

 An inquisition was taken in 1570 to show why the 

 land had been unlawfully detained from the hands of 

 the Crown,"* but the tenants of the house and land, 

 Henry and Silvester Baldwin, successfully brought 

 forward the plea that the chapel was a necessity for 

 the hamlet."' The land was ihen worth $ot. a year, 

 and this was used for the repair of the chapel and the 

 support of the services there, 108 and for the repair of 

 the highways. A grant was made to William Tipper 

 and Robert Dawe, the noted fishing grantees, of the 

 chapel and Chapel Farm."* It is mentioned in 1 640,"* 

 but after the Civil War the building was in ruins, only 

 the bare walls remaining. It was rebuilt by a loyalist, 

 Cornelius Wood, who endowed it with provision for 

 a minister exempt from the jurisdiction of the bishop 

 and archdeacon, and receiving his appointment solely 

 from the patron, without institution or induction."' 

 He placed the chapel and land in the hands of trus- 

 tees, who are also the patrons of the benefice. Tl c 

 chapelry was formed in 1860 into a separate ecclesi- 

 astical parish, and the living is a vicarage in the gift 

 of the trustees. 



There is a Baptist chapel, built in 1830 and 

 rebuilt in 1846, and again in 1897. 



The Poor's Land, devised by will 

 CHARITIES of Mrs. Turpin, widow, an extract 

 from whose will was contained on a 

 tablet in the church, came into the possession of the 

 parish in 1736. The trust property consists of mea- 

 dow land containing 3 acres or thereabouts, let at 

 10 i ;/. a year, and thirteen plots of garden allot- 

 ments producing ids. a year. The income it 

 applied, in accordance with the trust, in the distribu- 

 tion of loaves of bread. 



The Church Estate, which it is understood was 

 originally derived under the will of Sir Gilbert Ger- 

 rard, bart., now consists of 7 a. 2 r. 4 p. at Broughton 

 near Aylesbury, known as Mepham's Land, let at 

 16 1 6s. a year, and a moiety of a field in College 

 Road, Aston Clinton, let at 10 i;/. a year. The 

 net rent* are carried to the church expenses. 



Ecclesiastical District of St. Leonards. The Parlia- 

 mentary returns of 1786 mention that a rent-charge 

 of \ per annum was given to the poor by an un- 

 known donor. The annuity is regularly paid by the 

 owner of DunJridj e Farm in this parish, and dis- 

 tributed in sums of I/, each to twenty poor persons 

 on St. Thomas's Day. 



The Church Trust, founded by Thomas Plaistowe 

 by feoffment dated I September, 23 Hen. VII, it 

 regulated by a scheme of the Charity Commissioner! 

 of 1 5 December 1 896. The real estate consists of 

 the Chapel Farm, containing 1 1 9 acres or thereabouts, 

 and 27 a. 3 r. 21 p. at Whitchurch (Buckinghamshire) 

 let at 145 a year, 23 acres of woodland at Mcnt- 

 more (Buckinghamshire) in hand, and 3 cottages at 

 St. Leonards, let at 11 a year. The personal 

 estate (including a legacy of IOO bequeathed by 

 will of Robert Fox, proved in 1 869) consists of 

 2,667 1 5/. 6J. Canada 3} per cent, stock, and 

 2,694 4-*- '^ South Australian 3^ per cent, stock, 

 the rents and dividends making a gross income of 

 344 a year. The stock is held by the official trus- 

 tees. By the scheme the net income is applicable in 

 the payment to the churchwardens of any proper 

 charges for the maintenance and repair of the fabric 

 of the church, and the residue subject to the pay- 

 ment of 10 a year for any public purpose for the 

 benefit of the inhabitants, and 10 a year to the 

 official trustees towards the formation of a ' Fabric 

 Fund' of not less than 200 consols is received by 

 the incumbent. 



>"> Roll, efKinjt Cl. (Pipe Roll Soc.), " Cf. n 



IMF, 127. * Cat. . 



minor of Alton Clinton. 

 , Pat. 1401-;, p. 140. 

 " -Trm di Nrvill (Rec. Com.), 254*. *>' Chint. Cert. Bucks. 5, no. 65. 



end* 



1 Liptcomb, Hiir. of Bucki. ii, 93. 

 Line. Epii. Reg. Init. of Grim- 



" Ibid. 



** Memoranda R. Paich. Rec. 1 1 Elli. 

 rot. 20. 



** Ibid. 

 Ibid. 



" Pat. J2 Elii. pt 4, m. I. 

 n Cal. S.P. Dam. 1640-1, p. 3$. 

 ul Lipicomb, Hut. of Buck, ii, 94. 



3'9 



