| Grendon Underwood | |
|---|---|
 St. Leonard's parish church | |
  Grendon Underwood Location withinBuckinghamshire | |
| Population | 1,625 (2011)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SP685205 |
| • London | 46.2 miles (74.4 km)SE |
| Civil parish |
|
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | AYLESBURY |
| Postcode district | HP18 |
| Dialling code | 01296 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Buckinghamshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Grendon Underwood |
| |
Grendon Underwood is a village andcivil parish in westBuckinghamshire, England, near the border withOxfordshire. The village sits betweenWoodham andEdgcott, near theRoman roadAkeman Street (now part of theA41), and around 10 miles (16 km) north-west ofAylesbury. At the2011 Census, the population of the civil parish was 1,625.
Thetoponym is derived from theOld English for 'green hill near a wood', though the 'Underwood' part of the name was only added in themedieval period to differentiate the village from nearbyLong Crendon and to signify the village's position close to theBernwood Forest. TheDomesday Book of 1086 records the village asGrennedone. Themanor of Grendon anciently belonged to the St Amand family. Almeric de St Amand of this family was one of thegodfathers ofKing Edward I, who was baptised in 1239.[2]
In 1642, Grendon Underwood lay on the forest tracks used bygypsies andstrolling players (travelling performers) and was visited more than once byWilliam Shakespeare,[3] who stayed at the house, formerly an inn, now known as Shakespeare House, currently (2012) a five star guest house and Grade II listed, part Elizabethan former coaching inn.[4] Built in 1906, Grendon Underwood Junction was the point at Greatmoor, just east of Grendon Underwood village, at which theAlternative Route of theLondon Extension of theGreat Central Railway left the original main line. This was a little north of the formerQuainton Road railway station. The lines were closed to passenger trains in 1966 but subsequently used by freight trains.
During theSecond World War Grendon Hall was Station 53a of theSpecial Operations Executive (SOE).
Sofie Magdalene Dahl, the mother of authorRoald Dahl, moved with her daughters into a cottage in Grendon Underwood after they were bombed out of their home inBexley,Kent duringthe Blitz. When Roald returned home fromRoyal Air Force duty in Greece and Palestine in the autumn of 1941, he at first had no idea where to find his family. Their eventual reunion is described by Dahl on the last page of his autobiographyGoing Solo.
TheChurch of England parish church ofSaint Leonard dates from the 12th or early 13th century. The village has apublic house, "The Swan" specializing inThai cuisine (correct at 2015).[5] Grendon Underwood Combined School[6] is acommunity school with about 280 pupils. The village has a singlevillage shop. The Grendon Garage operated in the village until 2015, when it relocated toTingewick, nearBuckingham. The former premises were demolished for redevelopment.[7]
Grendon Underwood once borderedBernwood Forest, the nearest remnants of which are nowGrendon and Doddershall Woods, which are detached from the village itself by approx 500 metres. Both woods are nowsilvicultural and classified asancient forest and are sites of special scientific interest (SSSI's). This offers protected status to some of the endangered species of animals residing therein such as Bechstein's bats, andnightingales. There are also 35 species of butterflies such aspurple emperor,brown hairstreak,black hairstreak,wood white, the silver washed fritillary,high brown fritillary,marsh fritillary, pearl-bordered fritillary and small pearly-bordered fritillary.[8]
Grendon Underwood has twoprisons, both are remotely located one mile away from the church and main village. TheB-Category prison HMPGrendon is the UK's onlytherapeutic community for the treatment of serious offenders. HMP Grendon opened in 1962 as an experimental prison for inmates with psychiatricantisocial personality disorder. The facility holds approx 238 cat B male prisoners (April 2012).[9]HMPSpring Hill is aD-Category open prison with an operational capacity of 335(April 2013) Indeterminate Sentenced Prisoners (ISP's). The prison building, Springhill House was a formerMI6 Secret Service base during theSecond World War.[10]
This a Biennial event (every 2 years), with live music, comedians and a CAMRA supported real ale festival. The Grendon festival has a series of live tribute bands such as Kazabian,[11] Noasis,[12] Killerz, and Kings of Lyon,[13] national and local bands such as Stoke Mandville Band, 48Krash.[14] The festival, which takes place every other year, started out in 2006[15] with 300 people attending. In 2010 it attracted 2,000 and in 2012 organisers expected 4,000 attendees. However the event was postponed in May 2012 due to severe flooding[16] and was successfully rescheduled to September 2012. The event was down-scaled for 2014 to include just 2 acts: "The Vinyls" and "Not the Rolling Stones",[17] the event was expected to return to a mega-festival format in 2016,[18] but was once again postponed.[19]
