Haddenham, Buckinghamshire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Haddenham | |
  Haddenham shown within Buckinghamshire |
|
| Population | 4,834 (2001 Census) |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | |
| Parish | Haddenham |
| District | Aylesbury Vale |
| Shire county | Buckinghamshire |
| Region | South East |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | AYLESBURY |
| Postcode district | HP17 |
| Dialling code | 01844 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Buckinghamshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| European Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | Buckingham |
| List of places: UK • England • Buckinghamshire | |
Haddenham is a large village in Buckinghamshire, England. It is about 5 miles (8 km) south-west of Aylesbury and 2 miles (3 km) north-east of Thame.
The village name is Anglo-Saxon and means Haeda's Homestead or, perhaps, the home of the Hadding tribe. There is an intriguing possibility that the first villagers were members of the Hadding tribe from Haddenham in Cambridgeshire. It is known that the first Anglo-Saxons to settle in the Vale of Aylesbury were followers of Cuthwulf, from Cottenham in Cambridgeshire, who marched south-west to the Thames after routing the British at the Battle of Bedford in 571. It was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Hedreham, but by 1142 had taken on its more modern form and was called Hedenham.
From the Norman conquest to the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries the village was in the possession of the Convent of St Andrew in Rochester. King Henry VIII, who gained possession of the village after the dissolution and held it until his death, after which it passed to his daughter Elizabeth I.
The village had a Royal charter as a market town between 1294 and 1301. The market was short-lived because the manor of Thame found they were seriously out-of-pocket because a rival market was held so close by.
Haddenham is one of many reputed to be the largest village in England, but this claim is without substance as there are many larger. It does however have its own industrial area adjoining the small grass-strip airfield, a commercial district and a station on the main line from Birmingham to London Marylebone. However it hasn't become a town, and won't until it receives the Royal charter, which many of its villagers don't want to happen.
Haddenham is known nationally as one of the three unique wychert (or whitchet) villages. Wychert describes a method of construction using a white clay mixed with straw to make walls and buildings, which are then thatched or topped with red clay tiles.
Haddenham is also renowned for its ponds which were used to breed Aylesbury ducks. Breeding has been revived recently (although not for eating) on the pond in front of the parish church. The church, of Norman origin, is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin. There is also a Roman Catholic Church, and Baptist and Methodist Chapels. The chapels are both of whitchet construction and the latter houses the village museum in a former schoolroom to the rear of the building.
Another possibly spurious claim is that the Methodist Chapel is the largest building in the world made of whitchet (wychert). Although it (and the similarly-sized Baptist Chapel) is a sizeable building the most remarkable fact is the unsupported height rather than length of the walls - one of which collapsed in July 2001 but was rebuilt.
Haddenham is served by three primary schools: Haddenham Community Infant School, Haddenham Community Junior School and the voluntary aided, Haddenham St Mary's Church of England School.
There are five pubs: Kings Head, Red Lion, Rose and Thistle, Rising Sun and the Green Dragon, the last being more of a restaurant than a drinking establishment. Two former pubs are now restaurants – the Crown is now the House of Spice (Indian) and the Wagon and Horses a Chinese (Peking Rendezvous).
Shopping facilities are limited owing to the nearby towns, but the village still has a traditional and excellent butcher, a baker and a greengrocer and some smaller retailers.
Haddenham is also the home of the St Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital, and the Vale "Real Ale" Brewery.
The village has been used as the backdrop for a number of television programmes including eight episodes of Midsomer Murders.
