Buckinghamshire Places (8) : Princes Risborough

The market town of Princes Risborough is in the West of the county. The town has Saxon origins and for hundreds of years was held by royalty, early on being held by Edward the Confessor. William the Conqueror granted the manor (then known as Great Risborough) to one of his loyal companions Walter Giffard. In the 12th century the manor reverted back to crown ownership. King Charles I finally sold the manor to the City of London in 1628 to repay some of his debts. The most notable royal owner of the manor was the Black Prince, Edward the son of Edward III. The manor gained it's name Princes Risborough during his time.

Princes Risborough was granted a market charter in 1523 by King Henry VIII. Princes Risborough became a centre for a number of industries including bed and furniture manufacturing in the last century with some manufacturers still in the town. 

St Mary's church dates from the 12th century though much of the surviving church is from later centuries.

Nowadays many of the inhabitants are commuters to London, the railway station opening in 1862.

Around the shires

Today we make live our latest blog, Around the shires. This has features on the towns and villages of England and Wales (i would include the other two nations though have not yet been to them!) The blog will try and avoid covering larger settlements, especially cities, and concentrate on villages and market towns.

Kemble

Yesterday i had a nice trip down to the Cotswolds, to the village of Kemble. This was a typical Cotswold village full of lovely houses and buildings made of local stone. The church was open (for a change!) so i was able to have a look in there as well. Kemble station was particularly fine, one of the best i have been to for awhile. You can see my photos here.

Model Week : Off and running

It has been a slow start to modelling this year but the first model kit project is now nearly completion (though was started last year!) Project #097 is a Fieseler Storch and is nearly complete, just needs some varnish. Its an average job like most of my models lately but could have been worse!

Churches (142) : St Lawrence, Evesham

St Lawrence's in Evesham is a former church which is next to All Saints and the bell tower of the former Evesham Abbey. The church was built in the 12th century, at least before 1195CE, by the Benedictine monks of the abbey. The church was rebuilt in about 1470. However, by the mid-17th century it not longer had it's own vicar and began to deteriorate. The roof collapsed in 1800 and the church was abandoned. The church was restored in 1836 however due to it's proximity to All Saints and a declining congregation the church was declared redundant in 1978. It has now been preserved.

The church has a four bay nave with clerestory. There is a West tower with a porch and a South chapel. The church is built from stone with a slate roof.