HARDWICK, in the hundred of Cotslow and deanery of Muresley, lies about four miles from Aylesbury, on the road to Buckingham. The manor belonged anciently to the family of Newmarch: upon a partition being made between two co-heiresses of that family, the manor became divided into moieties, one of which having been successively in the families of Moels and Russell, was sold to William of Wickham, bishop of Winchester, and by him made part of the endowment of his newly founded college, in Oxford: the other moiety passed to the family of Bottreaux, by whom it was sold about the year 1460, to the Brecknocks; and by them, about the year 1542, to the Lees. Both these estates were held of the king, as of his honor of Berkhamsted.

The manor of Weedon, a considerable hamlet in this parish, was also in the baronial family of Moels, who probably inherited it from that of Newmarch. It was afterwards in the Cobhams. Sir John Cobham gave the manor of Weedon-Hill, in Chesham, and Weedon in the vale, to the crown, in the reign of Edw. III. It is probable that it was, at a subsequent period, granted to the Brecknocks or Lees. The manor of Hardwick cum Weedon was purchased in 1801, of Lord Dillon, the representative of the Lee family, by the Marquis of Buckingham. Lillies, at Weedon, which is the manor-place, was the jointure house of Elizabeth, relict of Sir Francis Lee, (afterwards Countess of Lindsey,) who died in 1719: it is now occupied by Edward Nugent esq. The advowson of the rectory is annexed to the New-College estate. In the church are some memorials of the Lees. Hardwick was inclosed by an act of parliament, passed in 1778, when an allotment of land was assigned to the rector, who was entitled to all the tithes of the parish, except those of certain fields specified in the act. The hamlet of Weedon, containing 1700 acres, was not inclosed till 1801, when an allotment of land was again given to the rector of Hardwick.
(Magna Brittania 1806)
Ye Olde Jug was formerly known as The Bell and remains almost unaltered in appearance since the mid 1600's.

 

<Return to home page>