Fingest is a village in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

, England. It is in the

Chiltern Hills The Chiltern Hills or the Chilterns are a chalk escarpment in southern England, located to the north-west of London, covering across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire; they stretch from Goring-on-Thames in the south- ...

near the border with

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

. It is about six miles WSW of

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye, Buckinghamshire, River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, ...

. It lies in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Hambleden Hambleden is a small village and civil parish in southwest Buckinghamshire, England. The village is around west of Marlow, Buckinghamshire, Marlow, and around northeast of Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. The civil parish also includes the vi ...

. The parish church of St Bartholomew's dates from the early Norman period. It has an unusual tower, with a double vaulted roof. The church is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

Name

Name history

* Tinghurst, Tynhurst (11-13th cent.) * Tyngehurst (14th cent.) * Tingerst alias Fyngerst or Fingest (16-18th cent.)

Toponym

* The wood or wooded hill where the assembly meet Fingest : ('' Ting..hurst, Tyn..hurst '' ) 11-13th cent. The name is a hybrid of

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

and

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

. The first element '' ' ting ' ''or'' ' tyn ' '' is from

Þing - ( '' ' thing' '' ) ( '' ” assembly place ” '' ). The next element '' ” hurst ” '' is from

'' ” hyrst ” '' ( '' ” wood or wooded hill ” '' ).

History

The ancient parish of Fingest included Cadmore End to the north of the village, which became a separate

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

in 1852. The manor of Fingest anciently belonged to St Albans Abbey. In 1163 it was given to the

bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury. The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of Nort ...

. The ghost of Henry Burghersh, 14th-century Bishop of Lincoln, is reputed to haunt the area. After this time it was used as the country residence for the Lincoln

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

until 1547 when it was seized by

the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

. It was then given two years later to the

Duke of Somerset Duke of Somerset, from the county of Somerset, is a title that has been created five times in the peerage of England. It is particularly associated with two families: the Beauforts, who held the title from the creation of 1448, and the Seymours ...

who exchanged it with a property belonging to

Wells Cathedral Wells Cathedral, formally the , is a Church of England cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Bath and Wells and the mother church of the diocese of Bath and Wells. There are daily Church of England services in ...

. The manor is now privately owned. The civil parish of Fingest, originally based on the ecclesiastical parish, was enlarged in 1934 by adding land from the parishes of

West Wycombe West Wycombe is a small village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, famed for its manor houses and its hills. It is west of High Wycombe. The historic village is largely a National Trust property and receives a large annual influx ...

Great Marlow Great Marlow is a civil parishes in England, civil parish within Wycombe district in the England, English county of Buckinghamshire, lying north of the town of Marlow, Buckinghamshire, Marlow and south of High Wycombe. The parish includes the ...

and Hambleden. As a result, Lane End became the largest settlement in the parish, and the parish was renamed Fingest and Lane End in 1937.Vision of Britain website
In the 1980s the civil parish was abolished. The larger part became the parish of Lane End, and the village of Fingest was added to Hambleden parish. Scenes of the period drama ''

The Monuments Men ''The Monuments Men'' is a 2014 war film directed by George Clooney, and written and produced by Clooney and Grant Heslov. The film stars an ensemble cast including Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hu ...

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Name history

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