AYLESBURY HUNDRED 



ELLESBOROUGH 



ELLESBOROUGH 



Ellesborough is an irregularly-shaped parish, lying 

 on the northern slope of the Chiltern Hills. It con- 

 tains nearly 3,595 acres. 1 The highest point is 

 Combe Hill, which is 8 5 2 ft. high,' but in the northern 

 part of the parish the land lies between 300 ft. 

 and 400 ft. above the Ordnance datum. In the 

 hills the land is well-wooded, with 5 1 4} acres of 

 woods or plantations.* The park at Chequers Court 

 contains tome fine timber. The subsoil is chalk and 

 Upper Greensand, the surface variable chalk and 

 flint in the uplands and loam in the low-lying district. 

 The occupation of the inhabitants is entirely agri- 

 cultural ; the proportion of arable land and permanent 

 pasture is nearly equal, with 1,158 acres of arable and 

 1,143 of grass. 4 The main roads in the parish are 

 the Upper and Lower Icknield Ways. The latter 

 forms at this part of its course the main road from 

 Wycombe to Aylesbury, and passes through Terrick 

 End. The Upper Icknield Way wanders from the 

 main road, running from Little Kimble Church to 

 Wendover, through Ellesborough village nd the ham- 

 let of Butler's Cross. The parish is well watered by 

 various streams running northwards ; one of these 

 turns the Ellesborough mill and another passes near 

 Chalkshire. There are springs to the north of 

 Ellesborough village, feeding a good-sized pond, used 

 for water-cress growing. Moats still exist at Grove 

 Farm, where there is an old dovecote, possibly of the 

 l6th century, Terrick House, at which there are re- 

 mains of I yth-century work much modernized, and 

 Nash Lee Farm ; there is a also reservoir near Beacon 

 Hill in the southern part of the parish. Between 

 Nash Lee and Terrick House the site of a Roman 

 villa has been discovered, and various British coins ' 

 have been found in the parish. The nearest railway 

 station is at Little Kimble on the Aylesbury branch 

 of the Great Western Railway. Wendover station 

 on the Metropolitan Extension Railway is 2 miles 

 away. The parish was inclosed by an Act of Parlia- 

 ment* for the inclosure of the three parishes of Great 

 and Little Kimble and Ellesborough, the award being 

 dated 2 May 1805. 



Before the Norman Conquest the 

 MANORS township of ELLESBOROUGH was 

 held in three parts, by Earl Harold, 

 Baldwin the man of Archbishop Stigand,' and Levenot 

 the man of King Edward.' The land held by Earl 

 Harold* was assessed at 13$ hides, and was called a 

 manor. At the Conquest it was given to Ralph 

 Talgebosch or Taillebois, but before the Domesday 

 Survey was made he had exchanged it with Ansculf de 



Picquigny for half of Risborough at the king's com- 

 mand, and William Fitz Ansculf was the tenant in 

 I086. 10 The latter also held the land of Baldwin, 

 but had enfeoffed Osbert as his sub-tenant." Ralph 

 Paganell became possessed of all the lands of Fitz 

 Ansculf," which formed the honour of Dudley or 

 Newport. He was succeeded by his son Gervase 

 Paganell," who paid feudal dues for lands in Buck- 

 inghamshire in 1190-1." Four years later, how- 

 ever, his honour '* was in the hands of the king, 

 but it afterwards passed to Ralph de Someri," the 

 son of John de Someri, who had married Hawisia 

 Paganell." The Someris held the honour until the 

 death of John de Someri in 1323," when his 

 possessions were divided between his two sisters Mar- 

 garet and Joan, and Ellesborough was assigned to the 

 latter," who was the widow of Thomas Botccourt. 

 The overlordship appears to have lapsed after the 

 honour was broken up, and in the 1 5th century this 

 part of Ellesborough was held in chief under the 

 honour or castle of Nottingham." 



In 1086" Ralph held the manor of ELLES- 

 BOROUGH of William Fitz Ansculf, but its descent 

 in the following century is lost. At the close of the 

 1 2th century, however, it was in the hands of 

 Richard son of William, but he, during the civil wars 

 of the reign of John, granted it to William 

 Cauntlow." A dispute arose between his widow 

 Geva and William Cauntlow in 1224" about her 

 dower. An agreement had previously been made be- 

 tween them," but in spite of this she brought a claim 

 for a third part of the manor, which she obtained 

 by judgement of the king's court. William Caunt- 

 low died in 1239 * and was succeeded by an- 

 other William Cauntlow," who held the manor as 

 mesne lord till his death in 1251." He had been 

 the close friend of Henry III," but this friendship 

 was not extended to his son and heir William," 

 whom the king treated with great harshness." He 

 did homage for his lands in the same year, 1251, but 

 only survived his father a short time. His early 

 death, which took place in 1254," was lamented by 

 the chronicler Matthew Paris, 1 ' by whom he was 

 described as 'juvenis elegans et dives.' His heir was 

 his son George, who was either two or three years old 

 at the time of his father's death.** George died just 

 after reaching his majority," and Ellesborough passed 

 to Milicent, the elder" of his two sisters and co- 

 heiresses. She had married first Eudo la Zouche,** 

 and afterwards John de Montalt." Ellesborough 

 passed to her son William la Zouche,* 8 and on his 



1 OrJ. S*rv. 



Ibid. 



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



Ibid. 



y.C.H.Biukt. i, 192. 



Com. Intl. Avoardi. ' Eddleiborough ' 

 it printed in the Blue Book bjr miitakc. 



7 f.C.H. Buki. i, 1544. 



Ibid. 269*. 



Ibid. 2J4A 



' Ibid. Ibid. 



" Ibid. 21). 



u Dugdale, Mm. Jtnfl. vii, lojS. 



" ReJ Bk. of E*ch. (RolU Ser.), 71. 



" Ibid. 90. 



" Ibid. 109, 113. 



W Dugdale, Moa.Angl. Tii, 1038 ; Ctl. 

 Inj. f.m. EJw. I, no. 813. 



11 Chan. Inq. p.m. 16 Edw. II, no. 72. 



' Ctl. Clou, 1318-23, p. 630. 



10 Chan. Inq. p.m. 19 Edw. IV, no. II; 

 Exch. Inq. p.m. bdle. 5, no. 3. 



y.CM. Buck, i, 254*. 



" Aniie R. 54, ir. 5 d. ; Hund. R. 

 (Rec. Com.), i, 20. 



Feet of F. Buck*. 8 Hen. Ill, no. 6. 



M Aiiite R. 54, m. 5 d. 



u Matt. Paria, Ckron. Maj. (Rolli Ser.), 

 iii, 519. 



.,/. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 20. 



" Exccfta i Rot. Fin. (Rec. Com.), ii, 

 loo. 



33' 



Matt. Paria, Ckr<m. Maj. (Rollt Ser.), 

 . "4- 



Ibid. 



** Excerftt i Rot. Fin. (Rec. Com,), ii, 

 100. 



> Col. ln t . f.m. Hn. Ill, no. 3 1 8, 

 340. 



" Matt. Paria, Ckrtn. Maj. (RolU Ser.), 

 T, 463. 



Ctl. Inj. f.m. Hin. Ill, no. 318, 

 340. 



14 Ibid. </w. /, no. 17. 



Ibid. 



* Ctl. Clou, 1272-9, pp. 420, 533. 



' Ibid. 410 ; FruJ. Aidi, i, 86. 



* Fine R. 27 Edw. I, m. 21. 



