Quainton Windmill

Quainton (formerly Quainton Malet) is a village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, 7 miles (11 km) north-west of Aylesbury. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census was 1,295. The village has two churches (Anglican and Baptist), a school and one public house. The location means that while many commute to London, others are employed in neighbouring towns and villages. Its name is Old English and means Queen's Estate (cwen tun). It is not known to which queen this refers, but possibly the Queen was Edith, the wife of Edward the Confessor. Known as "Fair Edith" she held manors in this part of Buckinghamshire, including a hunting lodge at Mentmore. Edward the Confessor had a palace at nearby Brill. The former suffix Malet refers to the Malet family who were lords of the manor from 1066 until about 1348. At least one member went on the crusades, and had associations with the Hospitallers, the organization credited with rebuilding Quainton church circa 1340. The Hospitallers erected the cross on the village green, the base and shaft of which still remain. The village green in the centre of the village has grouped around it some of the half-timbered thatched cottages for which the village is known. The parish church is dedicated to St Mary and the Holy Cross. It is a 14th-century building of the style of gothic architecture known as Decorated. The west tower was built later in the 15th century. The church contains many memorial brasses and sculpture, including the 1689 tomb of Sir Richard Winwood carved by Thomas Stayner. The stone effigies depict the deceased lying in full armour, while his widow, Ann, who paid for the tomb, rests beside him, half sitting regarding her husband. In the chancel are a reredos and sedilia by William White who was responsible for the heavy Victorian restoration and rebuilding of the chancel in 1877. The church also contains Victorian stained glass windows. Richard Brett, a former rector of Quainton and one of the translators of the King James Version of the Bible, is buried in the chancel.Close by the church is the former rectory, a large house described by Pevsner as of vitreous red brick. The principal facade has a three–bayed centre and two canted bays. The house contains 16th-century linenfold panelling. The Winwood Almshouses, still inhabited, were built to house the poor, their gothic style of architecture belying the construction date of 1687. They are a terrace of eight small cottages, one storey high with a row of dormers in the attics. These attic windows have alternating small and large gables. The terrace is decorated by two porches, with a plaque above. The almshouses are further adorned by diagonally placed chimney stacks. One of the most visible buildings is the 70 ft high Quainton Windmill, built in 1830–32. Derelict for the greater part of the 20th century it was restored in 1997 and can grind wheat into flour. Further restoration continues. The local headquarters for the RSPCA are in the parish, outside the village. Quainton has a mix of old and new dwellings. Located just out from Quainton beyond the church is what was, at one point, one of the largest beef cattle farms in Buckinghamshire, Denham Farm. This ceased being a going farm towards the end of 1990s and it is now a house.

The Aylesbury Vale (or Vale of Aylesbury) is a geographical region in Buckinghamshire, England, which is bounded by the City of Milton Keynes and West Northamptonshire to the north, Central Bedfordshire and the Borough of Dacorum (Hertfordshire) to the east, the Chiltern Hills to the south and South Oxfordshire to the west. It is named after Aylesbury, the county town of Buckinghamshire. Winslow and Buckingham are among the larger towns in the vale. The bed of the vale is largely made up of clay that was formed at the end of the ice age. In the 2011 UK census the population of Aylesbury Vale was 174,900. In the 2001 UK census the population of Aylesbury Vale was 165,748, representing an increase since 1991 of 18,600 people. About half of those live in the county town Aylesbury.

Buckinghamshire Railway Centre is a railway museum operated by the Quainton Railway Society Ltd. at Quainton Road railway station, about 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England. The site is divided into two halves which are joined by two foot-bridges, one of which provides wheelchair access. Each side has a demonstration line with various workshop buildings as well as museum buildings.

Quainton Road railway station was opened in 1868 in under-developed countryside near Quainton, in the English county of Buckinghamshire, 44 miles (71 km) from London. Built by the Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway, it was the result of pressure from the 3rd Duke of Buckingham to route the railway near his home at Wotton House and to open a railway station at the nearest point to it. Serving a relatively underpopulated area, Quainton Road was a crude railway station, described as "extremely primitive". The Duke of Buckingham built a short horse-drawn tramway to transport goods between his estates at Wotton and a terminus adjacent to the station. He extended it soon afterwards to provide a passenger service to the town of Brill, and the tramway was converted to locomotive operation, known as the Brill Tramway. All goods to and from the Brill Tramway passed through Quainton Road, making it relatively heavily used despite its geographical isolation, and traffic increased further when construction began on Ferdinand de Rothschild's mansion of Waddesdon Manor. The plan of extending the Brill Tramway to Oxford, which would have made Quainton Road a major junction station, was abandoned. Instead, the Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway and the Brill Tramway were absorbed by London's Metropolitan Railway (MR), which already operated the line from Aylesbury to London. The MR rebuilt Quainton Road and re-sited it to a more convenient location, allowing through running between the Brill Tramway and the Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway. When the Great Central Railway (GCR) from the north of England opened, Quainton Road became a significant junction at which trains from four directions met, and by far the busiest of the MR's rural stations. In 1933 the Metropolitan Railway was taken into public ownership to become the Metropolitan line of the London Passenger Transport Board's London Underground, including Quainton Road. The LPTB aimed to move away from freight operations, and saw no way in which the rural parts of the MR could be made into viable passenger routes. In 1935 the Brill Tramway was closed. From 1936 Underground trains were withdrawn north of Aylesbury, leaving the London and North Eastern Railway (successor to the GCR) as the only operator using the station, although Underground services were restored for a short period in the 1940s. In 1963 stopping passenger services were withdrawn but fast passenger trains continued to pass through. In 1966 the line was closed to passenger traffic and local goods trains ceased using the station. The line through the station was singled and used by occasional freight trains only. In 1969 the Quainton Road Society was formed with the aim of preserving the station. In 1971, it absorbed the London Railway Preservation Society, taking over its collection of historic railway equipment including many locomotives, and passenger and non-passenger rolling stock. The station was fully restored and reopened as a museum, the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre. In addition to the locomotives, stock, and original station buildings, the museum has also acquired the former Oxford Rewley Road railway station and a London Transport building from Wembley Park, both of which have been reassembled on the site. Although no scheduled trains pass through Quainton Road, the station remains connected to the railway network. Freight trains still use this line, and passenger trains still call at the station for special events at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre.

Hogshaw is a civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district in Buckinghamshire, England. It comprises the two ancient villages of Hogshaw and Fulbrook, although they no longer have an individual identity. It is in the Aylesbury Vale, between East Claydon and Quainton. The village name 'Hogshaw' is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means 'Hogg's brook' (where 'Hogg' is someone's personal name). In the Domesday Book of 1086 it was recorded as Hoggsceaga. The village name 'Fulbrook' is also Anglo Saxon, and means 'foul brook'. In the Domesday Book it was recorded as Fulebroc. Anciently the parish was in the possession of the Knights Templar and, when that order was abolished, the Knights Hospitaller. It began as the Hogshaw Nunnery and then became the Hogshaw Commandery in the 15th century. However, in the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1547, the parish was seized by the Crown. It was after this time that the villages become depopulated. It was in 1720 that the church was officially depopulated for financial reasons, and the remaining villagers forced to worship at East Claydon. The church was demolished shortly after. All that remains of the two villages today is seven houses.

Hogshaw Nunnery was a nunnery in Hogshaw, Buckinghamshire, England. In the 15th century it became the Hogshaw Commandery, associated with the Knights Templar.

Shipton Lee is a hamlet and former civil parish, now in the parish of Quainton, in the county of Buckinghamshire, England. In 1881 the parish had a population of 61. From 1866 to 1886 Shipton Lee was a civil parish in its own right. On 25 March 1886 the parish was abolished and merged with Quainton.

Waddesdon is a closed station that served the village of Waddesdon and its manor, to the north of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England. The station is not to be confused with Waddesdon Road railway station at the other end of the Waddesdon Manor estate on the Brill Tramway.

Waddesdon is a village in Buckinghamshire, England, 6 miles (10 km) west-north-west of Aylesbury on the A41 road. The village also includes the hamlets of Eythrope and Wormstone. Waddesdon was an agricultural settlement with milling, silk weaving and lace making enterprises.

St Michael and All Angels’ Church, Waddesdon is a Grade II* listed parish church in the Church of England in Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire.

Waddesdon Church of England School is a mixed secondary school in the village of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire. In September 2011 the school became an Academy. It takes children from the age of 11 through to the age of 18 and has approximately 1000 pupils, including a sixth form of approximately 200 students. It is a Church of England school and is the only CofE secondary school in Buckinghamshire. It is administered by the Oxford Diocese. The school was opened in July 1962 with about 200 students. It was built on land from the Waddesdon Manor estate, which was donated by Dorothy de Rothschild. The school maintains a close relationship with the Rothschild family and the school badge combines the five arrows from the Rothschild coat of arms with the Christian symbol of the cross. Ofsted has judged the school to be "outstanding" on three successive inspections, and the school is included in Ofsted's outstanding providers list.Waddesdon School was awarded Beacon school status in September 1998 and this was renewed in March 2001. The Beacon Schools programme was phased out in 2005 and was replaced with the Leading Edge Partnership programme. In September 2004, Waddesdon became the lead school in the Aylesbury Vale Leading Edge Partnership, which also included The Grange School and Quarrendon School. In September 2003 the school was awarded specialist school status as a Visual Arts College, by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). In December 2007 the school was awarded a second specialism in Mathematics and Computing. Since September 2006, Waddesdon has been part of the Buckingham School Sports Partnership. The partnership is led by the Buckingham School, which has specialist Sports College status, and also includes the Cottesloe and Royal Latin secondary schools, as well as about forty local primary schools. Waddesdon School also has Sportsmark status from Sport England, recognising its PE and games provision.

Wormstone (also Warmstone) is a hamlet in the parish of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located just south-south east of the main village. In the 13th and 14th centuries, the hamlet was one fifth of the fiefdom of Wallingford.