Quarrendon (village)

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Quarrendon
Quarrendon shown within Buckinghamshire
OS grid reference	SP8015
Parish	Quarrendon
District	Aylesbury Vale
Shire county	Buckinghamshire
Region	South East
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	AYLESBURY
Postcode district	HP19
Dialling code	01296
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Buckinghamshire
Ambulance	South Central
European Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Aylesbury
List of places: UK • England • Buckinghamshire

Coordinates: 51°49′56″N 0°49′59″W / 51.832322, -0.833174

Quarrendon is an ancient village on the outskirts of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England.

Coming from the Old English Cweorndun the name means 'hill where mill stones are obtained'. There is evidence to suggest that the village dates back at least as far as the Anglo Saxon period as the village was reputedly the birthplace of daughters of King Penda, St Edburga and St Edith, and their niece St Osyth. Legend has it that St Osyth was beheaded by the Danish occupiers of Britain at the holy waters in Quarrendon.

Queen Elizabeth I was entertained at Quarrendon Manor by Sir Henry Lee of Ditchley for two days in 1592. The village remained with its manor intact until the 18th Century, when Henry Lee, the Lord of the Manor, went bankrupt and lost all his lands. The only remaining building in the old village is the ruined church of St Peter. In 1817 the building was described in the Gentleman's Magazine as "..a melancholy object of contemplation". Up until the 1930's there were substantial remains. Old pictures show that the church had north and south aisles with octagonal piers and double-chamfered arches. All that now remains (as of 2006) are two low sections of wall and the foot of one of the south aisle buttresses. The moat, fish ponds and groundworks of the manor also remain.

The modern housing estate of Quarrendon in Aylesbury is named after the village.