| Cheddington | |
|---|---|
 St. Giles' parish church tower | |
  Cheddington Location withinBuckinghamshire | |
| Population | 1,754 (2011 Census)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SP9217 |
| Civil parish |
|
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Leighton Buzzard |
| Postcode district | LU7 |
| Dialling code | 01296 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Buckinghamshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Welcome to Cheddington |
| |
Cheddington is a village andcivil parish in theBuckinghamshire district of the ceremonial county ofBuckinghamshire, England. The parish has an area of 1,429 acres (578 ha).
The village is about 6 miles northeast ofAylesbury and three miles north ofTring inHertfordshire. The hamlet ofCooks Wharf has grown up where the main road into the village fromPitstone crosses theGrand Union Canal.
At Southend Hill near the village are the remains of anIron Agehill fort which has been largely obliterated through arable cultivation.[2]
The earliest known record of the village is in theDomesday Book of 1086, in which it is calledCetendone, which isOld English for "Cetta's Hill". TheChurch of England parish church ofSaint Giles was originallyNorman. There is also aMethodist church with a large congregation.
Cheddingtonmanor house is a much gabled and half-timbered red-brick building under a tiled roof, dating from the 16th century.
In 1963 Cheddington featured in the nationalpress as it was near the location of theGreat Train Robbery of 1963 at Bridego Railway Bridge in the hamlet ofLedburn.[3]
In 1984, Cheddington received national notoriety as the location of the first assault byMalcolm Fairley, a violent armed rapist, nicknamed "The Fox" because of his cunning nocturnal attacks.[4]
In the last thirty years[clarification needed] Cheddington, due to itsrailway station and easy access to four towns, has more than quadrupled in size.[5]
In 2005 Cheddington won the Buckinghamshire Best Kept Village Competition DeFraine Cup[6] and also the Buckinghamshire Village of the Year Competition. It went on to win the East of England Young People award in the national competition. Cheddington also won the smaller villages category in the 2006 and 2007 Buckinghamshire Village of the Year Competition and received a special community building award.[citation needed]
The village has twopublic houses: The Old Swan, a thatched inn, and The Three Horseshoes. A third inn, known as the Rosebery Arms, designed by theVictorian architectGeorge Devey has been converted into houses.
Cheddington Combined School is a mixedcommunityprimary school that takes children between the ages of four and 11. The school has about 200 pupils, and its catchment area includes the neighbouring parishes ofHorton andSlapton.
Cheddington has various clubs including atennis club,a bell ringers' association, abadminton club, a history society, abowls club, apetanque club and a football team.
Cheddington railway station, located approximately 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) to the north of the village, is served byLondon Northwestern Railway services betweenLondon Euston andMilton Keynes Central.[7] The station opened in 1838 asAylesbury Junction. TheCheddington to Aylesbury Line, which formerly ran between Cheddington andAylesbury High Street, closed in 1963.[8]
