Tuesday 30 July 2019

Buckinghamshire Places (1) : Wendover

The market town of Wendover is at the foot of the Chiltern hills. Settlement at Wendover dates from Saxon times and was at one time the manor was held by Edward the Confessor. Wendover was granted a market charter in 1214 with the town being a stop on a trade route through the Chilterns.

In the 1790s the Wendover Arm of (what became) the Grand Union Canal was built. The arm is still in existence though is unnavigable for most of it's length. Wendover railway station was opened in 1892 by the Metropolitan Railway on it's line from London through to Aylesbury (and beyond). It became a far flung part of the London Underground (though being very much above ground) until British Railways took over the line through Wendover in 1961.

Nowadays Wendover is a fairly affluent commuter town for the Big Smoke with a number of fine buildings including the fourteenth century church dedicated to St Mary.
The Pack Horse pub

The George & Dragon pub

Thatched cottages

The terminus of the Wendover Arm of the Grand Union Canal