Mentmore
This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2012) |
Mentmore | |
---|---|
Mentmore Village Green in winter 1963 | |
Location within Buckinghamshire | |
Population | 385 (2011 Census)[1] |
OS grid reference | SP9019 |
Civil parish |
|
Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Leighton Buzzard |
Postcode district | LU7 |
Dialling code | 01296 |
Police | Thames Valley |
Fire | Buckinghamshire |
Ambulance | South Central |
UK Parliament | |
Mentmore is a village and
The village toponym is derived from the Old English for "Menta's moor". The Domesday Book of 1086 records the village as Mentmore.
Queen Edith, the daughter of Earl Godwin and wife of King Edward the Confessor had a hunting lodge at Mentmore, between the site of the present Mentmore Towers and the hamlet of Crafton at a site known as Berrystead. The well of this lodge is marked today by a wood still known as Prilow, derived from the Norman French pres l'ieu ("near the water").
In 1808 Magna Britannia reported:
MENTMORE, in the hundred of Cotslow and deanery of Muresley, lies about eight miles to the north-east of Aylesbury. The manor was anciently in the families of Bussel and Zouche: in 1490 it was granted to Sir Reginald Bray, from whom it descended, by a female heir, to the family of Sandys: in 1729, it was purchased with the manor of Leadbourne, by Lord Viscount Limerick, of a Mr. Legoe, who inherited them from the family of Wigg. They are now the property of Richard Bard Harcourt esq. who purchased them of Lord Limerick's son, James Earl of Clanbrassil. In the church are some memorials of the families of Theed and Wigg.
The impropriate rectory, which was given by the Bussells to the priory of St. Bartholomew, in Smithfield, is now the property of Mr. Harcourt, who is patron of the vicarage.
The
The village
The ownership eventually passed to the Harcourt or D'Harcourt families, until it was brought in 1850 from the trustees of three Harcourt sisters who had been left insolvent on the death of their father. The purchaser was Baron Mayer de Rothschild.
The Baron employed the leading architect of the day Joseph Paxton to build a new grandiose mansion; the site chosen because of its fine elevation, was that of the village itself. To a Rothschild this was no problem, the village was moved to the site it occupies today. In fairness to the Baron the villagers were living in semi-derelict hovels, and were probably only too pleased to be rehoused.
The plan chosen for the new village was "Tudor meets Victorian" around a village green and mansion gates.
While Paxton and his son-in-law
Of particular note, is the cottage orné style Old Dairy; this building was designed by George Stokes in 1859, it is a pastiche of the Hameau de la Reine at Versailles. While intended as a functioning dairy, its verandas were also designed as a setting for Baroness Mayer de Rothschild's afternoon tea parties. This is one of the last buildings still to be owned by the Rosebery Estate and was restored in 2007.
At this time
By 1880 the village and its new approach roads were more or less finished and looked much as they do today. The late
In 1977, Towers, village and farms were put up for sale in their entirety. Today the village retains much of its Victorian character. The stable blocks are now developments of new housing, and executive style homes have been built in the village, yet Mentmore would still appears predominantly unchanged.
References
- ^ Neighbourhood Statistics 2011 Census, Accessed 3 February 2013