North Marston

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North Marston
North Marston shown within Buckinghamshire
Population	693 (2001 Census)
OS grid reference	SP775227
Parish	North Marston
District	Aylesbury Vale
Shire county	Buckinghamshire
Region	South East
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BUCKINGHAM
Postcode district	MK18
Dialling code	01296
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Buckinghamshire
Ambulance	South Central
European Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Buckingham
List of places: UK • England • Buckinghamshire

Coordinates: 51°53′49″N 0°52′23″W / 51.897, -0.873

North Marston is a village in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located in the Aylesbury Vale, about three miles south of Winslow, and four miles north of Waddesdon.

The village name 'Marston' is a common one in England, and is Anglo-Saxon for 'farm by a marsh'. This refers to the common state of the land in the Aylesbury Vale, where the water table is quite high. The prefix 'North' was added later to distinguish the village from nearby Fleet Marston. The population of the village is approximately 700 and there are about 500 houses.

There is a holy well in the village, Found by Sir or St John Schorne, who was rector of the parish of North Marston in about 1290. He was referred to as a saint, who it is claimed performed many miracles, however many call him "Sir John Schorne". It was he that blessed the well of the Village, and since his death it became a resort of great pilgrimage; pilgrims probably stayed at one or two of the houses in the church street that still stand today, but most of the houses in Church Street were destroyed in a later fire. The Holy Well was renovated in 2004/2005, after many other designs had been put in place, and may still be seen today. On the day of its official re-opening a poem was read and can be found here as well as some before and after pictures

North Marston Parish Church

The parish church is dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and foundation stones of the church on this site were laid around the 12th century. Pilgrim money enabled the nave roof to be raised and clestory windows put in. The tower of the church dates as far back as the 15th century (the inner part) but from 2002 to 2004, all of the outer stones were replaced due to huge amounts of crumbling, There are six bells in the tower tuned to the key of F and a tenor weight of 13-2-27 from 1925 (with original inscriptions dating from as far back as C16th). There is a plan to build a meeting room, with kitchen and toilet facilities on the north side of the church, to replace those facilities of the Methodist chapel, which is soon to be sold on. Since 2004, when the Methodist Chapel closed, the Parish Church has been in a Local Ecumenical Partnership (LEP) with the Methodists.

The North Marston Church of England School is a mixed Church of England primary school. It is a voluntary controlled school, which takes children from the age of four through to the age of eleven. The school has approximately 90 pupils. It is situated across the road from the parish church.

The facilities in North Marston include:

a village hall, which was built as a war memorial after the First World War
a pub called The Bell (serving Thai meals)
a recreation ground and sports field (that is now shared with Granborough)

An ongoing project within the village is to re-create the sports field, which is now been called the North Marston and Granborough Community Sports Field. In the field there will be a pavilion, football pitch, running track, nature trail and cricket nets.

The village borders with Oving, Pitchcott, Quainton, Hogshaw, Granborough, Swanbourne and Hoggeston.