Whaddon, Buckinghamshire Explained

Static Image Name:2020-07-24 Whaddon photo number 21.jpg
Static Image Caption:Whaddon, 2020
Country:England
Coordinates:52°N -0.828°W
Population:533
Population Ref:(2011 Census)[1]
Official Name:Whaddon
Unitary England:Buckinghamshire
Lieutenancy England:Buckinghamshire
Region:South East England
Constituency Westminster:Buckingham
Post Town:MILTON KEYNES
Postcode District:MK17
Postcode Area:MK
Dial Code:01908
Os Grid Reference:SP805340

Whaddon is a village and also a civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, within the Buckinghamshire Council unitary authority area. It is situated just outside of Bletchley, a constituent town of Milton Keynes.

The village name is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means 'hill where wheat is grown'. The village is referred to several times in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle generally in the form of Hwætædun.

The village is at the centre of the ancient Whaddon Chase, the site for many centuries of royal hunting lands. Whaddon Chase is designated an area of 'Special Landscape Interest'.

The Church of St Mary is a grade I listed building.

Whaddon Church of England School is a mixed Church of England primary school. It is a voluntary controlled school, which takes children from the age of four through to the age of eleven. The school has approximately 50 pupils.

Richard Cox (ca.1500 – 1581), an English clergyman, who was Dean of Westminster and Bishop of Ely, was born at Whaddon.[2]

Whaddon Hall, the village manor, was once home to the Selby family (also known as Selby-Lowndes), whose ancestor William Lowndes (1652–1724) built the larger and grander Winslow Hall. Both mansions are still private houses.[3] During the Second World War Whaddon Hall served as headquarters of Section VIII (Communications) of MI6, as an outpost of Bletchley Park.[4]

Notes and References

  1. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11130504&c=Whaddon&d=16&e=62&g=6403864&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1359923159479&enc=1 Neighbourhood Statistics 2011 census
  2. Cox, Richard. 7. Pollard . Albert Frederick . Albert Pollard . 353. 1.
  3. Web site: From the Wireless War to Warwick. 2.warwick.ac.uk. University of Warwick. 9 November 2012.
  4. Book: Pidgeon, Geoffrey . Station X — The Secret Wireless War . 2003 . Universal Publishing Solutions Online Ltd . 978-1-84375-252-3.