Hanbledene (11thC); Hamelden, Hameledene (15thC).
Hambleden is a Large Parish extending over 6,598-acres, of which 2,553 are Arable, 1,308 are Permanent Pasture & 2,034-acres (nearly 1/3rd of the whole area) are Woods & Plantations. The Land rises sharply from 100ft by the Thames, which forms its Southern Boundary, until it reaches 618ft in the West & North-West of the Parish. The Soil is Light & Chalky, a thick stratum of Chalk being worked in various parts of the Parish. The chief Crops are wheat & barley.
The main Road from Great Marlow to Henley runs through the Southern part of the Parish, and another Road in the Valley of the Winter-bourne runs due North up the Centre of the Parish. This Section is called a ‘Winter-bourne’ because it only Flows after the Winter Rains. Winter-bourne Streams have their own special Wildlife which is adapted to cope with Intermittent Flows. The Village is about a mile from the Southern end of this Road. In the Middle of it stands the Church. The School, built by Viscount Hambleden [William Herbert (Harry) Smith] in 1897, is Outside the Village on the opposite side of the Road. Near the Junction of the 2-Roads, the Foundations of Roman Buildings were noted in 1911 and have since been Excavated by Mr A H Cocks, FSA, and are to be Housed in a Museum near the School built by Viscount Hambleden.
The Manor House, a picturesque, many-Gabled Structure of Dressed Flint & Red Brick, standing to the East of the Church, was the Residence & Property of Mr Francis Scott-Murray. It was Built in 1604 by Emanuel Scrope, afterwards Lord Scrope of Bolton & Earl of Sunderland, but was altered, restored and added to in the 19thC. The old part retains some of its original features. In the Hall is some mid-17thC panelling brought from a neighbouring Farmhouse. The old Manor House stood to the South-East of it and is partly incorporated in the present Rectory.
House – Early 17thC U-plan building, said to have been Built 1603 for Emanuel Scrope, later Earl of Sunderland. Altered & Extended c.1830 & 20thC. The original part is of Flint with Narrow Brick Dressings and old-tile Roof. Brick Chimneys to Left & Rear with Groups of Square Shafts set Diagonally. 2-Storeys, Cellars & Attic. Chamfered plinth moulded String Courses. West Front has 3-Gables with moulded & plastered Brick coping, each Gable having a large 4-light Attic window with chamfered Brick Mullions & Transom, and 20thC Leaded Glazing. Main Floors have 4-Bay fenestration in altered Openings, the Ground-Floor with 3-pane Sashes, the 1st-Floor with Larger 19thC Sashes. Ground-Floor Sashes in Right Bays have thick glazing bars. Cellar Openings in Left Bays. 2-Storey Gabled Porch projects to Centre, of coursed & squared Flint with moulded Brick String raised over chamfered Brick Lozenge. Moulded 4-centred Brick Arch with Hood-mould; 3-light window above with hollow-chamfered Brick Mullions. Similar 2-light window to 1st-Floor of left return, 2-light leaded Casement to right return. Flanking Porch has Lead Rainwater Pipes dated 1748. c.1800 2-Storey Brick Extension to left, with Dentil Eaves & Hipped Roof. South Front is similar to West Front but with French Doors to Ground-Floor & 19thC tripartite Sashes to Attic. c.1830-40 Extension to right, of Flint with Brick Dressings & with Gable and shallow Canted Projection. Sash windows with gauged Brick Heads. c.1960 Garden Room & Billiard Room, of Flint with Stone Dressings, to far right.
Interior remodelled c.1830 & 20thC Ground-Floor Rooms in South Wing have good c.1830 reeded Doorcases & Plaster Ceiling Cornices. Entrance Hall has fine early-19thC corner Cupboard with Pilasters, Arch & Cornice, scrolled Spandrels, shaped marbled Shelves, and Dome painted with Flower Basket. Some 17thC Doors & Timber partitioning in Attic.
The Elizabethan Manor House opposite the Church, formerly the Home of Maria Carmela Viscountess Hambleden, was Built in 1603 of Flint & Brick for Emanuel 11th Baron Scrope who became Earl of Sunderland. Charles I stayed there Overnight in 1646 while Fleeing from Oxford. The Manor House, Hambleden is also the former Home of Lord Cardigan who Led the ill-fated Charge of the Light Brigade. Another notable (Listed Grade II) Building is Kenricks which overlooks the Cricket Ground and was the previous Manor House and the Home of Philadelphia Carey Lady Scrope, a cousin and Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Elizabeth I. On her death in 1627 it became The Rectory and was altered in 1724 by the Rector Rev Dr Scawen Kenrick. It ceased to be The Rectory in 1938 and was acquired by the 3rd Viscount Hambleden and renamed Kenricks.
Yewden Manor House, the Property of Viscount Hambleden, and later occupied by Mr Philip Barnett, is at the South end of the Parish. In its Grounds, there is an avenue of Yews of great age. Yewden House and part of the Watermill on the opposite side of the Marlow Road both date from the early-17thC, and a House on the South side of the Henley Road, further West, is partly of the 16thC, but all have been modernised. In 1871 Yewden Manor House had been Rented from W H Smith by an interesting character named Gustav Christian Schwabe (1837-1897), who continued to live there until his death in 1897.
House, now 4-Apartments. Oldest part is probably late-16-17thC, remodelled & extended to left late-19thC, with late-17/18thC projecting Wing & Lower 19thC Wing to right. 16/17thC part (No.3) has Timber-frame concealed by colour washed Roughcast & Flint & Brick Plinth. Plain tile Roof, Chimney Stack of thin Brick to left with 4-diagonal Shafts and 1-Square Shaft. 2-Storeys & Attic, 2–Gabled Bays & 1-Chimney Bay to Front. Irregular Fenestration with Leaded Sashes to Grd-Floor right, cross windows to 1st-Floor and paired Casements to Attic, most windows Leaded. 19thC Arched door to left. Lead Water Spout to Centre. Large projecting 19thC Extensions to left (Nos. 1 & 2), are in matching style, Roughcast & colour washed, with tiled Roofs & Brick Chimneys. 3-Gabled-Bays to Front, the Centre Gable smaller, with large transomed wooden Casements, Canted Bay with Sashes & Cornice to Grd-Floor right, and Gothic Doorway in large Gabled Porch between left Bays. 17/18thC Wing projecting to Right of original part is of Flint, mostly Roughcast & colour washed, and has Gable to Front with 3-pane Sash to Upper-Storey. 19thC Venetian window to left return; Blind Turret to Centre of Roof. Single-Storey 19thC Flint & Brick Wing to far right, with Gables over Wooden Casements & Central Arched Door. Rear has 5-Gables with 19thC Canted Bay windows to Outer Bays & Centre.
Interior: No.3 has fine moulded & stopped 16/17thC Wooden Doorcase, originally External, and Upper Room with 17thC Panelling and painted Stone Fireplace. Early-18thC Staircase with turned Balusters & Knob Finials.
Schwabe was born in Hamburg in 1813 and was a prominent Patron of the Arts in his day, eventually leaving his Collection of Pictures to his Native City. For which Bequest he was made an Honorary Citizen in 1886. This was the 1st time Hamburg had made the Honour since Otto von Bismarck & General Helmut von Moltke in 1871. Schwabe was followed by Johannes Brahms in 1889, by General von Waldersee (who Commanded the German Troops sent to put down the Boxer Rebellion) in 1901, and by General von Hindenburg in 1917.]. Schwabe gathered about him at Yewden a number of Artists known as the “St. John’s Wood Clique”, many of them Royal Academicians. Schwabe, although only a Tenant, not only added the South Wing and a portion of the Centre (indicated by the Lower Line of the Roof) to the Manor House, but also Built a number of Flint & Brick Cottages in the Village. Mr Schwabe was a very shrewd man, one of the Originators, of the White Star Line and the Founder of the Great Shipbuilding Yard of Harland & Wolff. After Schwabe’s death in 1897, a there was a succession of Tenants up to 1953.
‘Friends at Yewden’ by C T Wells shows a group of Artists seated around G C Schwabe who wears a Hat, holds a Newspaper and is looking over his shoulder at the Artists P H Calderon, RA who is standing and leaning forward. The figure in the Punt holding the Pole is G D Leslie, RA; next to him is G D Storey, RA; standing together are J E Hodgson, RA & W F Yeames, RA. The Painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1882.
The Village contains several Cottages of early-17thC date.
At Hambleden, I once Lectured on Village Antiquities. Some enthusiastic Ladies set about examining their District. They found a large number of what appeared to be Roman Tiles, and this led to the Discovery of a Roman Villa of great interest, and Viscount Hambleden, son of the Right Hon W H Smith, who resided at Greenlands, erected a Museum for the Exhibition of the Spoils. It is a beautiful Village with an interesting Church. Greenlands was besieged during the Civil War.
Roman remains were unearthed to the South of the Village in 1912. The Villa Complex was made up of a Central House & several Outbuildings surrounded by a Boundary Wall. 14-Kilns, possible for Pottery, possibly Malting Ovens, were also found, suggesting it had quite an Industrial Character. A contested theory was put forward in 2010 that a Military Brothel might have formed part of the Yewden Villa Site after Archaeologists discovered Skeletal remains of what appeared to be 97-Newborn Babies. Infants were not considered to be “full” Human Beings and any younger than 2 were not Buried in Cemeteries. As a result, infant Burials tended to be at Domestic Sites in the Roman Era.
The 2–Parsonage-houses, the Upper & Lower, remained until 1724, when Dr Kenrick, then Rector of Hambleden, built the Rectory-House, the front of which remains substantially unaltered to the present day, on part of the Site of the old Manor House, utilising a portion of its Fabric.
Near the Mill is Hambleden Lock, newly Erected in 1376, when the London Bargemen Lodged a Complaint against the Tolls exacted from them at the Locks on the Thames contrary to their Franchise.
Greenlands is the well-known Residence of the Rt Hon W H Smith, and has been by him considerably enlarged; a comfortable House, but the contrast of the Dark Cedar Trees around gives it rather a Sombre effect. There are some fine Inland Ponds near, where Skating in the Winter is very good; these Ponds & the Ditches and Flat Meadows about, are favourite haunts of Heron & Lapwing.
Greenlands – 1869
At the head of the deep bend in the River to the West of the Lock stands Greenlands, the Seat of Viscount Hambleden. The original House, which stood on the River Bank to the South of the Site of the Present Mansion, was Garrisoned for the King in May 1644 by a Force under Colonel Hawkins. In the 1st week of June General Browne, in Command of a Parliamentary Force, was ordered against it, but various causes delayed the Siege until 11th July following, when Browne’s Artillery overcame the Resistance of the Royalists: the House ‘could no longer be defended, the whole Structure being beaten down by the Cannon.’ Hawkins marched out with all the Honours of War, surrendering only the House and his Ordnance; and the Parliamentary General, without waiting for Instructions, proceeded with the hearty Goodwill of the Countryside to Demolish what was left of the House. Portions of the Foundations have been uncovered from time to time, and Cannonballs, relics of the Siege, have been found in the Garden and are now preserved at Greenlands. The nucleus of the present House consists of the smaller Entrance Hall entered from a Pillared Portico on the South side facing the River, which contains the Staircase and has the Library and small Drawing Room to the West & East. This part, Built by Mr Coventry early in the 19thC, was occupied for several years as a Farmhouse. Mr Edward Marjoribanks (d.1868), of Coutts Bank the next Owner in 1852, Built the 2-Bow-windowed additions containing the Billiard Room & large Drawing Room on either side of this portion; he also laid out the extensive walled Gardens & Park. The Rt Hon W H Smith, MP, who purchased the Greenlands Estate in 1871, made great additions, building the Dining Room, the Tower and the Ranges of Offices, etc, on the North side and giving the House the appearance which it now has. The Main Entrance on the West side opens into a square and spacious Hall with the Billiard Room leading out of it on the right-hand.
The present Building was built on the site of a previous House which was owned in the 17thC by the D’Oyley Family, descendants of the Norman Robert D’Oyly. In the early-19thC, the Land was owned by Thomas Darby-Coventry and a House called Greenland Lodge was built. It was bought by William Henry Smith, son of the Founder of W H Smith. He further extended the Building, though its appearance received a cool reception from Jerome K Jerome who Joked in Three Men in a Boat that it was ‘the rather uninteresting-looking River Residence of my Newsagent.’ On Smith’s death, his Family was Ennobled with the Title of Viscount Hambleden. Greenlands remained their Home until immediately after the WW2.
Greenlands & Hambleden Estates
William Henry Smith II bought the Greenlands Estate from Sir D C Marjoribanks Bt in 1871. From then until 2012, it was the Principal Countryseat of the Family and consequently subject to consolidating Purchases of nearby Property. As the mansion of Greenlands faces the Thames, the Property Purchased from Sir D C Marjoribanks included the Remenham Estate on the other Bank in Berks. In 1946, W H Smith’s grandson, the 3rd Viscount Hambleden, Let the 19thC Mansion to the newly-formed Administrative Staff College, having moved in 1945 to the Manor House in Hambleden Village; that Property, with approximately 1400-acres, was bought by the 2nd Viscount Hambleden from F J Scott-Murray in 1922. The extent of the Properties in Bucks in 1883 was approximately 1,100-acres. The Documents listed date from 1566 to 1952 but fall mainly in the 18th & 19thCs. They are incomplete, lacking notably any Manorial records. A number of Manor & Court Rolls dating from 1652-53 to 1775 were deposited in the Bucks County Museum by the 2nd Viscount Hambleden in 1921. Although most of the Land Lies in the Parish of Hambleden, 2-Manors are involved: Yewden or Ewden, which is also known as Greenlands or Mill End, chiefly along the Thames; & Hambleden, chiefly up a Side Valley round the Village & Church of Hambleden. Even after 1922, the Estate was variously referred to as the Greenlands, Hambleden, Henley or Yewden Estate. Today, it is commonly called the Hambleden Estate and lies almost exclusively within that Parish. There are some references to Medmenham Parish, eg in the Burrow’s Farm Exchanges. Four Farm Leases of 1796 in Ilmere Parish are listed with the Remenham Deeds. Hambleden Manor was acquired in Stages by Robert Clayton in the 2nd-Half of the 17thC and remained in his Family for a 100-yrs; he was Knighted in 1671 and served as Lord Mayor of London in 1679-80. On the death of the 1st Earl of Sunderland in 1630, the Estate passed (?1643) to his 4-natural children: John Scrope, who died childless in 1646; Mary & her husband, Henry Carey, who surrendered their Interest; Elizabeth & her Husband, Thomas, 3rd Earl Rivers, who Mortgaged their Interest in 1668; and Annabel, Widow of John Howe, who sold hers in 1686. Finally in 1696, Richard, 4th Earl Rivers, Sold his Parents Interest. On the death of Sir Robert Clayton in 1707, the Estate Descended to: his nephew, William, created 1st Baronet in 1732; his son, Kenrick, in 1744; and his son, Robert, in 1769. When Sir Robert Clayton, 3rd Baronet, died in 1799, the Estate was Bequeathed in Trust for Sale & Purchased by Robert Scott in 1802. It then descended to: his nephew Charles Scott-Murray in 1808; his son, Charles Robert Scott-Murray in 1837; his son, Charles Aloysius Scott-Murray in 1882; and to his son, Francis Joseph Scott-Murray in 1909. Francis Joseph Scott-Murray Sold the Estate to the 2nd Viscount Hambleden in 1922.
Early OS Map of Oxfordshire
Further South is the Hamlet called Rockwell End, which may derive its name from the Family of Rocolte, of whom Thomas de la Rocolte is mentioned in the early-14thC. A later form of the name is Rickoll or Rockoll from 16th & 17thC Tenants.
In the Eastern half of the Parish on High Ground about a mile South-east of the Village is Burrow Farm (la Berewe alias la Burgh, 14thC; the Burrow, 17thC), which was bequeathed by Elizabeth Lady Periam in Trust to Archbishop Laud, who Founded with it 2-Scholarships in Balliol College, Oxford. It is a 16thC House with 17thC additions & modern restorations. It retains a good many Original Features, including the Entrance Doorway (now disused), a Chimney Stack, Windows, Fireplaces and some old Panelling.
Palaeolithic & Neolithic implements have been discovered at Skirmett and in other places, particularly at Burrow and in Fields near the River.
Further South is the Hamlet called Rockwell End, which may derive its name from the Family of Rocolte, of whom Thomas de la Rocolte is mentioned in the early-14thC. A later form of the name is Rickoll or Rockoll from 16th & 17thC Tenants.
The Road between Parmoor & Hambleden Village leads over Pheasant’s Hill and past the Hamlet of the same name, where there is a Congregational Chapel, built in 1810. To the West of Pheasant’s Hill, but the opposite side of the Valley, on the Skirmett Road, is Bacres, known as Baker’s Farm in 1714. After the death in 1866 of Mr Thomas Raymond Baker, who lived there for 50-yrs, the Property was bought by the Rt Hon W H Smith and the spelling of the name altered from Bakers to Bacres. It has been enlarged and was now the Residence of Mrs Henry Grenfell. North of Bacres Farm is another Farm called the Howe; this is bounded by a Road which formerly ran from Marlow past Parmoor and which on the West of the Valley is called Dudley’s Lane, leading to Luxters, an old Farmhouse which is said to have sheltered for a night the Earl of Leicester on his way from London to Cumnor.
Huttons Farm, East of the Village & Chisbidge (Chissebech, 14thC; Chesbeche, 14thC) Farm, near the Eastern Boundary of the Parish, both Built of Flint & Brick, are of early 17thC date with later alterations.
Hambleden was the birthplace of St Thomas de Cantelupe, son of William de Cantelupe and his wife Millicent (Hambleden Manor qv). He was Lord High Chancellor of England & Bishop of Hereford, and was Canonised in 1320, becoming 2nd only in Popularity to St Thomas of Canterbury among the later English Saints, and was the last English Saint to be recognised by the undivided Western Church. Another Parish Worthy was Dr Roberts, who was sequestered from the Rectory of Hambleden for Loyalty in 1644 and at the Restoration Petitioned the King for the Archdeaconry of Winchester on the Ground of the great Misery that he had suffered in Consequence. The Parish Register notes on 17th May 1685 that Mary Wallington had a Certificate to go before the King for a Disease called the ‘King’s Evil.’ (Scrofula)
Palaeolithic & Neolithic implements have been discovered at Skirmett and in other places, particularly at Burrow and in Fields near the River.
The following Place-names occur in Hambleden:
Bennetts, Grey, Holmes (16thC); Adams & Colsthorpe or Collmanstrop (17thC); Oliver’s Mead (18thC).
Hambleden Hoard
A Coin Expert said his eyes lit up when he saw 12 “rare” Medieval Gold Coins, discovered with 616-Silver Pennies hidden in a Cow Bone during the Wake of the Black Death. The hoard was deposited in 2-Phases. First the Silver Coins, the latest of which was issued in the mid-1320s, and later the Nobles were added. The Hoard was found during a Metal Detecting Rally at Hambleden in April 2019. The Hoard included 12-Gold Nobles from 1346 to 1351 as extremely rare with only 12 known examples found during a 1963 Survey. The rest of the Hoard – 547-Silver Pennies from the Reigns of Edward I & II, 21-Irish Pennies, 20-Continental Coins& 27-Scottish Pennies from the Reign of Alexander III, John Balliol & Robert the Bruce – were more commonly found.
Aston Rowant & Chilterns Spring Line Villages 