Grendon Underwood
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Grendon Underwood is a village in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located in the west of the county, close to the border with Oxfordshire and near the Roman road Akeman Street.
The village name is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means 'green hill near a wood', though the 'Underwood' part of the name was only added in the medieval period to differentiate the village from nearby Long Crendon and to signify the village's position near the Bernwood Forest. In the Domesday Book of 1086 the village was recorded as Grennedone.
The manor of Grendon anciently belonged to the St Armand family. Almeric de St Armand of this family was one of the godfathers of King Edward I when he was baptised in 1239.
The parish church is dedicated to St Leonard. The only local pub is The Swan. There is one village shop owned by Mr. Patel and The Grendon Garage is owned by Geoff the Younger and Geoff the Elder. The community school is Grendon Underwood Combined School, which caters for children from reception to year 6, or from 4 years old to 11 years old.
Today Grendon Underwood is the location of two prisons, the high security prison Grendon which is the UK's only therapeutic community for the treatment of serious offenders, and the open prison of Spring Hill.
Grendon Underwood Junction was the point at which the London extension of the Great Central Railway joined the existing Metropolitan Railway's line from Aylesbury to Verney Junction. The junction no longer exists, as the line to Verney Junction has been closed and lifted.
During the Second World War Grendon Hall was Station 53a of the Special Operations Executive (SOE).
