| Wendover | |
The Clock Tower, Wendover |
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Wendover
Wendover shown within Buckinghamshire |
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| Population | 7,619 [1] |
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| OS grid reference | SP864085 |
| District | Aylesbury Vale |
| Shire county | Buckinghamshire |
| Region | South East |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | AYLESBURY |
| Postcode district | HP22 |
| Dialling code | 01296 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Buckinghamshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | Aylesbury (David Lidington, Conservative) |
| List of places: UK • England • Buckinghamshire | |
Wendover is a market town that sits at the foot of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England. It is also a civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district. The mainly arable parish is 5,832 acres (24 km²) in size and contains many hamlets that nestle in amongst the lush forest on the surrounding hills.
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The town name is of Brythonic origin and means "white waters", pertaining to the stream that rises in the adjacent hills and flows through the middle of the town, bringing chalk deposits on its way.
The parish church of St Mary sits outside the town to the east on the hillside: a feature that is very common among towns with strong Celtic origins. There is a distinctive red brick, spired clock tower at the crossroads in the centre of the town that was built in 1842. The tree lined Aylesbury Street includes the 16th-century timber framed Chiltern House and 18th-century Red House.
The town has had a Royal charter to hold a weekly market since 1464 meaning that officially it is a town rather than a village, although today many residents of Wendover like to refer to it as the latter. It is part of a civil parish, and the parish uses the term "Parish Council" rather than "Town Council", as it would be entitled to.
Part of the town was once the property of Anne Boleyn whose father held the manor of Aylesbury among his many estates. There is still a row of houses in the town today, known as Anne Boleyn's Cottages. The town is the birthplace of Gordon Onslow Ford, British surrealist artist, and it is believed to be the birthplace of the medieval chronicler Roger of Wendover. The town is also the birth-place of Cecilia Payne, who discovered that the Sun is mainly composed of hydrogen.
The town is at the terminus of the Wendover Arm of the Grand Union Canal, which joins Tring summit level of the Grand Union main line beside Marsworth top lock. Disused for over a century, the arm is in course of being restored by the Wendover Arm Trust. Remote and rural for almost all its length, the canal attracts much local wildlife.
The Aylesbury constituency of which Wendover forms a part has elected a Conservative MP (currently David Lidington) since 1924. Local elections, as in May 2011, often feature only Conservative, Liberal Democrat and independent candidates. The Wendover Parish Council, reelected in May 2011, has a small office in the town and operates a block grant from Aylesbury Vale District Council.
Today the town is very popular with commuters working in London. The popularity is due partly to the town's easy access to London by road, partly to Wendover railway station, served by Chiltern Railways from London Marylebone via Amersham, and partly because it is so picturesque. Property values have risen dramatically in recent years since the completion of the Wendover Bypass, which removed a lot of traffic from the town's narrow streets.
There are four schools in the town; The John Hampden School, named after politician and English Civil War participant John Hampden, a community infant school with approximately 275 pupils aged 4–7, Wendover Church of England Junior School, a voluntary controlled junior school with approximately 360 pupils aged 7–11, The John Colet School, named after the Renaissance humanist John Colet, is a community secondary school with approximately 1100 pupils aged 11–18, Wendover House School a school for boys aged 11–16 who have special educational needs.
Wendover was well known for having a varied and diverse range of pubs, many of which have now closed due to the constraints and geographics of the day. The pubs that still exist today are The Red Lion, The George & Dragon, The White Swan, The King and Queen, The Pack Horse, The Marquis of Granby, which was renamed in 2010 and is now called The Village Gate, The Rose & Crown and The Shoulder of Mutton.
Wendover also plays host to the 'Coombe Hill Run' which usually occurs on the 1st Sunday of June every year. It begins and ends in the village and encompasses two very steep climbs up the Hill to the monument along with a very steep decline. Legend states that a boy from Wendover can only become a man once he has completed the course for the first time.
The many hamlets in Wendover civil parish include:
By virtue of its excellent location, sitting in a gap in the Chiltern Hills and a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Wendover has much to offer both local people and visitors wishing to explore the local countryside. The area is very popular with walkers, cyclists and horse riders. The frequent train service from London Marylebone makes it an ideal destination for a day trip to the country. The Ridgeway National Trail, an 85-mile route that extends from Avebury to Ivinghoe, passes along Wendover High Street. Apart from the Ridgeway Trail there are 33 miles of public rights of way and bridleways criss-crossing the parish. These paths will take you over the open chalk downland of Coombe Hill, Buckinghamshire, home to Britains longest surviving geocache, with its impressive monument to the Buckinghamshire men who died in the Boer War, or walk to the pretty hamlet of Dunsmore in the spring and enjoy the carpet of bluebells, or enjoy the shaded woods on Haddington Hill and Boddington Hill, belonging to Forest Enterprise (known locally as 'Wendover Woods'). Here the visitor can enjoy specially prepared cycle routes, all ability walks, barbecue sites as well as play areas for children. Close to Boddington hill there are the remains of an Iron Age hill fort.[2]
A further attraction is the walk along the Wendover Arm of the Grand Union Canal, extending for approximately five miles from the centre of Wendover, to Tring. This section of the canal is currently the subject of a long term restoration project and has become home to many varieties of wildlife, including a colony of Mandarin Ducks.
The proposed High Speed 2 rail line from London to the Midlands takes a route immediately to the West of Wendover - two hundred metres from the end of the High Street. This route was confirmed, with some minor amendments, on 20 December 2010. To the South, the line would pass through Wendover Dean and Great Missenden before going underground at Amersham. To the North, it passes close by Aylesbury. Protests have been launched about the route's location through areas of outstanding natural beauty and potential noise disruption, and a Wendover lobby group formed, with a 300 strong protest filmed by the BBC in December 2010.[3][4]
Wendover Football Club was founded over 100 years ago. The club currently shares the school fields of the John Colet School and a clubhouse is open each Saturday afternoon for either a first or a reserve team fixture. The team strip is Gold and Black stripes.
The town was home to West End actress Margaret Rawlings, who lived at Rocketer Farm, and actor David Jason, who now lives two miles away in Ellesborough. It has been known to be a stopping off point for the Prime Minister due to its proximity to Chequers. The eminent physician Sir Thomas Barlow, who attended Queen Victoria on her deathbed, owned Boswells (a large country house to the South of Wendover) until his death in 1945 and the actor John Junkin lived in Wendover until his death in 2006.
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