Introduction to this website

This "Historic Churches of Buckinghamshire" website has been an ambition of mine for many years, since people started asking me if I would write a book on the Churches of Buckinghamshire. The financial implications of publishing a substantial book to an inevitable deadline were out of the question. However I could see that a website was something that could gradually grow over time.

Having taken on the "Stained Glass of Buckinghamshire Churches" website at the end of 2015, which would have been impossible without a vast amount of excellent technical help, I immediately decided that the two websites could run alongside each other.

So on the 1st January 2018 I am pleased to launch the first pages of "Historic Churches of Buckinghamshire". Whereas the "Stained Glass" website is based on a large amount of information in a database which can be looked at in many ways, together with an increasing number of photos, the "Historic Churches" website will be a different layout of one or more pages on each church, rather more handwritten for each church. Initially just a few churches will be available, mainly with just a few photos. They will all be available from our Index of Churches.

Basic information will be shared between both websites, and the individual church pages will have links to the equivalent "Historic Churches" or "Stained Glass" pages, when one is available.

This website has no connection with any church authorities or any individual churches, but was established and continues to be run by amateur enthusiasts with an interest in the architecture and stained glass of churches in Buckinghamshire.

If you are looking for information regarding an individual church, please refer to our links for the Church Web Site or CofE ACNY Web Site links that we show for each church on our Home Page for each church.

 

Buckinghamshire Boundaries

From a historical point of view, the boundaries of Buckinghamshire were fixed as a subdivision of the Kingdom of Mercia, and was recorded in the Domesday Survey of 1086 as being divided into 18 Hundreds. So, with Buckinghamshire's earliest Saxon churches being founded eleven centuries before the boundary changes of the 1970s, I will always consider them together, all part of one historic county, and my aim will be to include them all on this website "Historic Churches of Buckinghamshire".

Of course, in the 1970s and 1990s, it was only the civil authorities that were affected by the boundary changes (ie County Councils, District Councils, Unitary Authorities). The old borders of Buckinghamshire still exist as a Ceremonial County, and as far as the Church of England is concerned, the Archdeaconry of Buckingham still extends from Lavendon in the north down to Wraysbury in the south. Right now, in early 2018, we are expecting details of future changes to the administration of the county.

 

How Old Is Historic?

Of course, that question could be given many different answers. To me, my cut-off point for this website is the beginning of the 2nd World War. Until then, changes in Architectural Style could be traced fairly logically. However WW2 obviously saw the complete ceasing of building work, so that in itself makes a convenient cut-off point. Of course, the greatest ever variety of church building has accompanied new and expanding towns since the 1940s, but time will tell how many of them will survive into the distant future, as our oldest churches have survived.

 

Michael G Hardy