Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for BEACONSFIELD

BEACONSFIELD, a small town, a parish, and a subdistrict, in the district of Amersham, Bucks. The town stands on an eminence anciently used for beacon-fires, 3 miles NE of Woburn-Green r. station, and 5¾ S by W of Amersham. It has a post office,‡-B. Bucks; and is a seat of petty sessions, and a polling-place. It consists of four streets, which meet at the centre in a spacious market-place; and it contains the parish church and three dissenting chapels. The church is built of flint and squared stones; comprises nave, chancel, and side aisles, with a western tower; belonged to an Augustinian monastery, founded at Burnham, in 1165, by Richard, Earl of Cornwall; and contains the remains of Edmund Burke, whose seat was in the neighbourhood; and a marble monument to the poet Waller, who owned the manor, is in the churchyard. A weekly market recently ceased; but fairs are held on 13 Feb. and 10 May.—The parish includes also part of Coleshill hamlet. Acres, 4,541. Real property, with the rest of Coleshill, £9,619. Pop., 1,662. Houses, 342. The property is divided among a few. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford. Value, £545. Patron, Magdalene College, Oxford. Charities, £114.-The subdistrict comprises two parishes and a chapelry. Acres, 9,401. Pop., 3,092. Houses, 65


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a small town, a parish, and a subdistrict"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Beaconsfield CP/AP       Beaconsfield SubD       Buckinghamshire AncC
Place: Beaconsfield

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