| Wendover | |
|---|---|
 The Clock Tower, Wendover | |
  Wendover Location withinBuckinghamshire | |
| Area | 9.1125 sq mi (23.601 km2) |
| Population | 7,399 (2011 Census)[1] |
| • Density | 812/sq mi (314/km2) |
| OS grid reference | SP864085 |
| Civil parish |
|
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | AYLESBURY |
| Postcode district | HP22 |
| Dialling code | 01296 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Buckinghamshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Wendover Parish Council |
| |
Wendover is a town[a] andcivil parish at the foot of theChiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated at the point where the main road across the Chilterns between London andAylesbury intersects with the once important road along the foot of the Chilterns. The town is 35 miles (56 km) north west of London and 5 miles (8 km) south east ofAylesbury.
The parish has an area of 5,832 acres (2,360 ha) and had, at the time of the2011 census, a population of 7,399.[1] Outside Wendover, the parish is mainly arable and also contains severalhamlets in the surrounding hills. Wendover has a weekly market, and has had a market charter since 1464.[3]
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The name is likely ofBrythonic Celtic origin. The initial part of the name could be related towyn orgwyn, as in modern Welsh, meaning white. The second part of the name "dwr" could derive from "dwfr" meaning "water". The Brythonic ancestor to the Welsh "dwr" is also the etymology of the city of Dover.
The first known documentary reference to Wendover, then known asWændofron, is in the will ofÆlfheah, theealdorman ofHampshire, and dates from between 965 and 971. Prior to theNorman Conquest, the manor, which at the time measured 24hides in area, was held byEdward the Confessor. The settlement appears to have been centred some 600 metres (2,000 ft) to the south of the present-day focus of the town, near the current location of the parish church of St Mary. By 1086, the manor ofWendovre was in thehundred ofAylesbury, withWilliam the Conqueror as its tenant in chief.[2][4][5]
The manor remained in royal ownership until 1154, and then passed back and forth between royal and private ownership several times. Wendover was granted amarket charter in 1214, and had become aborough by 1228, although it does not appear to have achieved any degree of self-government. It is likely that around this time the focus moved north to its current location, allowing the market to cater to traffic on the road running along the Chilterns betweenChinnor andTring, as well as that crossing the Chilterns between London and Aylesbury. The current layout of the older parts of the town show clear signs ofmedieval town planning, especially the presence of long, narrow and rectilinearburgage plots.[2][4]
Bothparliamentary androyalist forces visited the town during theCivil War, with looting reported by both sides. Many of the buildings in the town centre, and especially on High Street, Pound Street, and Aylesbury Road, date from the 17th century. It is not known whether this is because they needed rebuilding after civil war damage, or is an indication of the prosperity of the town at the time.[2][4]
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In 1721, theWendover to Buckingham Turnpike Trust was established, and Wendover became a stop forcoach routes to and from London. It is likely that at this time a number of new inns and hostelries were built along the High Street. TheWendover Arm of theGrand Union Canal was built between 1793 and 1797 and served local industries whilst also providing a water supply for the parent canal. In September 1892, the railway reached the town with the opening ofWendover railway station on theMetropolitan Railway's line toAylesbury. Responsibility for the station was transferred fromLondon Transport, who had inherited it from the Metropolitan Railway, toBritish Railways, in 1961.[2][6]
The 1841 census reveal the population that year was 1,877.[7]
Robert Louis Stevenson, the writer of famous works such asTreasure Island and theStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, stayed a night at The Red Lion, in October 1874, which he wrote about in an essay called "An Autumn Effect".
In 1913Alfred de Rothschild invited theRoyal Flying Corps to conduct manoeuvres on his land in the adjacent manor ofHalton, and the land continued to be used by theBritish Army throughout theFirst World War. In 1916 the Royal Flying Corps moved its air mechanics school fromFarnborough, Hampshire to Halton, and in 1917, the school was permanently accommodated there, in what was to become the currentRAF Halton. Whilst the base is not in the parish of Wendover, its close proximity impacted on the town, and the surrounding landscape, due to the associated population increases and deforestation to provide wood for construction work.[2][8][9]
In the latter part of the twentieth century, a number of large scale residential developments appeared, particularly to the north of the town. In 1998, the Wendoverbypass was built, moving theA413 road west of the town centre, paralleling the railway line. Property values rose significantly in the years after the completion of the bypass, which removed a lot of traffic from the town's narrow streets. In 2010, the proposed route theHigh Speed 2 rail line (HS2) from London to the Midlands was published, showing it taking a route in tunnel to the west of the bypass and town centre. As part of a wider campaign against the route, a Wendover lobby group was formed, with a 300 strong protest filmed by the BBC in December 2010. However, despite the opposition, the HS2 bill was passed in 2016. In 2017, construction contracts were signed.[2][10][11][12][13][14]
In 2019, the Wendover community launched WRAP (Wendover Resettlement Assistance Project),[15] a project in partnership withCitizensUK.
Wendover lies at approximately 130 metres (430 ft) above sea level. It occupies a prime position at the northern end of a natural crossing point through theChiltern Hills, which wrap around the west, south and east of the town. To the north the land slopes gently downwards towards the flat, agricultural land of theAylesbury Vale. To the west the town is overlooked byCoombe Hill (260 metres or 850 feet) and to the east byWendover Woods (267 metres or 876 feet).[2][16]
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The gap through the Chilterns that Wendover sits astride has long been an important communications route. It is used by theA413 road between London and Aylesbury, theLondon to Aylesbury railway line, and the newhigh speed rail link between London and the North that is now under construction. At Wendover this route is crossed by the route of the ancientIcknield Way, running along the line of the Chilterns, that has connectedWiltshire toNorfolk since prehistoric times.[2][4][16]
Besides the town itself, the civil parish includes the hamlets of:
Wendover was represented byits own parliamentary constituency, intermittently from 1300 and continuously from 1660, until the seat was abolished by theReform Act of 1832.[17] Since 2024 the town and parish have formed a part of theMid Buckinghamshire constituency,[18] represented byGreg Smith of theConservative Party.[19]
There are two tiers of local government covering Wendover, atparish andunitary authority level: Wendover Parish Council andBuckinghamshire Council.[20][21] The parish council is based at the Clock Tower on High Street.[22]
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Facilities in the town centre include apost office, several hairdressers, a community library (run by volunteers), multiple delis and cafés, two charity shops, a book shop and a pharmacy . There is a weekly open market on Thursdays.
Wendover's pubs include The Red Lion, The George & Dragon, The White Swan, The King and Queen, The Pack Horse, and The Shoulder of Mutton. The Red Lion pub was home to 'Britain's Oldest Barmaid', 100-year-old Dolly Saville, who worked at the pub for 74 years.[23]
There are 113listed buildings in Wendover, of which five are listed at the higher grade II* and the remainder are all listed at grade II. The five grade II* buildings are the parish church, thelychgate of that church, Bank Farmhouse, the Hale and the Red House.[24]
There is a distinctive red brick, spiredclock tower at the junction of High Street and Tring Road in the centre of the town, built in 1842. The ground floor of the tower serves as the office of the parish council.[22] The tree-lined Aylesbury Street includes the 16th-century timber framed Chiltern House and 18th-century Red House.
To the north of the town centre is the terminus of theWendover Arm of theGrand Union Canal, which joinsTring summit level of the Grand Union main line besideMarsworth top lock. Disused for over a century, the arm is in the course of being restored by the Wendover Arm Trust.[25] Remote and rural for almost all its length, the canal attracts much local wildlife, including a colony ofmandarin ducks. It is possible to walk along the canal for about 5 miles (8.0 km) from the centre of Wendover, to Tring.
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To the south of town centre lie the open spaces of Witchell Meadow, Hampden Meadow and Rope Walk Meadow, the latter hosting the new Wendover Community Orchard in memory of theFirst World War. These are bounded to the east by the Heron Stream and to the south by Hampden Pond, both feeders to the canal. On the southern side of the pond lies Wendover's parish church, which is dedicated toSt Mary, and which marks the site of the original settlement.[2]
The town is sited in a gap in theChiltern Hills and a designatedArea of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The ancientRidgeway National Trail, an 85-mile walking route fromAvebury toIvinghoe, passes along Wendover High Street. Apart from the Ridgeway Trail there are 33 miles of public rights of way and bridleways criss-crossing the parish and leading to the open chalk downland ofCoombe Hill, Buckinghamshire, home to Britain's longest survivinggeocache[citation needed], and a monument to the Buckinghamshire men who died in the Boer War.Wendover Woods on Haddington Hill and Boddington Hill belong toForest Enterprise England. There are routes for mountain bikers, and walking trails for walkers of various abilities as well as barbecue sites and play areas for children. On Boddington Hill are the remains of an Iron Age hill fort,Boddington Camp.[26]
Wendover and the surrounding villages includingAston Clinton,Ellesborough andWeston Turville, are widely regarded as exceptionally desirable places to reside and the town was named one of the best places to live in Britain byThe Sunday Times in 2018.[27][28]
The town has rail access to London and is served byWendover station which is served byChiltern Railways services to and fromLondon Marylebone on theLondon to Aylesbury Line.[29]
Wendover has four bus routes passing through it: the 50 travels between Aylesbury andRAF Halton, the 55 travels between Aylesbury andChesham, and the 55A and 55B travel between Aylesbury and Chesham including Tring. All routes are ran by Red Rose Travel.[30][31][32][33]
Local news and television programmes areBBC South andITV Meridian. Television signals are received from theOxford TV transmitter.[34]
Local radio stations areBBC Three Counties Radio,Heart East (formerly97.6 Chiltern FM),Greatest Hits Radio Bucks, Beds and Herts (formerly Mix 96) and Red Kite Radio, a community based radio station that broadcast fromAylesbury.[35]
The town is served by the local newspapers,Bucks Herald,Bucks Free Press and Wendover News.[36]
There are four schools in the town:
Wendover Football Club currently shares the school fields of the John Colet School and a clubhouse is open each Saturday afternoon for either a first or a reserve team fixture.
Wendover hosts the 'Coombe Hill Run', usually held on the first Sunday in June. It begins and ends in the town and includes two very steep climbs up the hill to the monument along with a very steep decline.[citation needed]
Wendover Cricket Club played at Ellesborough Road Ground, however, this site lay in the path ofHigh Speed 2. The club will move to a new premises, funded by HS2 Ltd, soon in the future.[37]
Wendover istwinned withLiffré in Brittany, France.[47]
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