In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Great Hampden like this:
HAMPDEN (Great), a parish in Wycombe district, Bucks; upon the Chiltern hills, 3 miles ESE of PrincesRisborough r. station, and 4 S by W of Wendover. It contains the hamlet of Hampden Row; and its post town is Great Missenden, under Amersham. Acres, 710. Real property, £, 780. Pop., 266. ...
Houses, 53. The property is mostly in one estate. Hampden House belonged to Griffith Hampden; was visited, in his time, by Queen Elizabeth; descended to his grandson, John Hampden, the famous patriot; belongs now to G. Cameron, Esq., the descendant of the patriot, in the 8th generation, through heirs female; retains its original character, though much defaced by whitewash and stucco; is entered by a curious old hall, with a wooden gallery; and contains, in Queen Elizabeth's room, in John Hampden's library, and in other apartments, many historical relics. The park has an avenue, called the Queen's Gap, which was laid open for the entrance of Elizabeth; and a spot in it, on the S side of the avenue, and within StokeMandeville, is still pointed out as the piece of land for John Hampden's resistance to a small tax on which he was led to trial, and the spark of the civil war Was kindled. "The woods of Hampden, " says Lord Nugent, " terminate to the N upon the bare brow of a lofty hill called Green Haly, in the side of which is cut in the chalk the form of a cross, which is seen from all the country round. This monument, of very remote antiquity, is called the White Leaf Cross, from the hamlet of White Leaf. It appears to have been intended as a memorial of the last battle of the Britons with Hengist and Horsa, which was fought over the extensive plain of Risborough and Saunderton. The Saxon princes planted their victorions standards on this height and on the Bledlow ridge adjoining, to recall their troops from the pursuit. '' The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford. Value, £336.*-Patron, D. Cameron, Esq. The church is ancient, picturesque, and good; and has a tablet, by John Hampden, to his first wife, brasses of a HAMPDEN of 1446 and Sir J. Hampden of 1553, and a monument of the last Hampden prior to the female heirs. The grave of John Hampden is within the church; and, on being opened in 1828, was found to contain his body in nearly entire condition.
Great Hampden through time
Great Hampden is now part of Wycombe district. Click here for graphs and data of how Wycombe has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Great Hampden itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Great Hampden, in Wycombe and Buckinghamshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/4559
Date accessed: 18th April 2024
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