Medmenham

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Medmenham


St Peter's Church, Medmenham
Medmenham (Buckinghamshire)
Medmenham

Medmenham shown within Buckinghamshire
OS grid reference SU805845
District Wycombe
Shire county Buckinghamshire
Region South East
Constituent country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Marlow
Postcode district SL7
Dialling code 01491
Police Thames Valley
Fire Buckinghamshire
Ambulance South Central
European Parliament South East England
UK Parliament Wycombe
List of places: UK • England • Buckinghamshire

Coordinates: 51°33′13″N 0°50′17″W / 51.553602, -0.838057

Medmenham is a village in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located on the River Thames, about three and a half miles southwest of Marlow, three miles east of Henley-on-Thames.

It is an attractive, prosperous village that is popular with many executives who work in London and the nearby towns of Maidenhead and Reading.

Contents

[edit] Name

The village name is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means 'middle-sized homestead'. It was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Medmeham.

[edit] Features

The village includes some old timber framed brick and flint cottages and some estate workers cottages built at the beginning of the 20th century from local chalk rock. The church of St Peter was heavily restored in 1839. The Dog and Badger Inn on the A4155 road dates from the late sixteenth century, the name having been transferred from the inn at Hambleden which was renamed the Stag and Huntsman. The village lane ends at the Old Ferry crossing which ceased to be used after the Second World War. It was located where the Thames towpath switched from the Buckinghamshire to Berkshire bank of the river.

[edit] Abbey

There was a Cistercian abbey founded in Medmenham in the 12th century, under the ownership of Woburn Abbey, though it was not officially recognised by royal charter until 1200. In 1547 at the Dissolution of the Monasteries the abbey was seized and given to the Moore family, and then sold privately to the Duffields. It was while in the possession of the Duffields that the abbey became infamous as the location of The Hellfire Club, formally called the Monks of Medmenham.

In 1755, when Sir Francis Dashwood acquired the ruins of the ancient abbey from the Duffield family he and John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich attended a church service at St Peter's church in Medmenham where Sandwich let loose a small monkey into the church. The regular devotees fled in horror, sure that Satan himself had invaded their place of worship.Today the abbey is a private residence and is not open to the public.

[edit] Nearby places

[edit] External links

Languages