Whitchurch is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority area of Buckinghamshire, England. The village is on the A413 road about north of Aylesbury and south of Winslow. The 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 932. It was burned down by Parliamentary forces in the English Civil War. Its remains are a scheduled monument. They include the chancel and the Early English west doorway. which are late 15th- or early 16th-century. Henry I Bagley of Chacombe, Northamptonshire cast the treble bell in 1680.

thumb|left|The Priory Hotel (15th and 16th century)

Economic and social history

thumb|The Old House (15th, 17th and 20th centuries)

The village used to have a market, which was chartered in 1245. A street of the village is still called Market Hill, and the village still celebrates the granting of its market charter with a May feast each year.

Many of the village's cottages and houses are historic. None is a Grade I listed building but two are Grade II* Listed. The Priory in the High Street and The Old House in Church Headland Lane are 15th-century timber-framed houses, each with first-floor jettying. and Whitchurch House, which is early 17th-century and has an early 18th-century façade.

Rex Whistler's painting The Vale of Aylesbury was created in Whitchurch, where a house is now named after him.

The Firs was used as a facility for developing weapons during the Second World War.

Creslow Transmission Station, now known as Creslow Park located within the parish was a radio transmission station operated by Section VII (Communications) of the Secret Intelligence Service from approximately 1944 to 1990.

Amenities

As well as the Priory Hotel (see above) the village now has one public house: The White Swan, at the end of the high street nearest Aylesbury.

Whitchurch Combined School is a community primary school for boys and girls aged 4–11. The school has about 200 pupils. Its catchment area includes the parishes of Whitchurch, Hardwick, Oving, Pitchcott and Weedon. It also includes part of Watermead and the Berryfields and Weedon Hill Major Development Areas (MDAs) in Aylesbury, although new schools are planned for the MDAs.

Notable residents

  • Steve Rothery, musician with Marillion; lives in Whitchurch
  • Sir Edward Smythe (1602–1682), former Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas; retired to Whitchurch and is buried in St John the Evangelist
  • Jan Struther, novelist notable for Mrs Miniver; lived at Whitchurch House. Her ashes were buried at Whitchurch beside her father

References

Sources and further reading

  • Whitchurch Parish Council
  • Whitchurch School Association
  • Creslow Park