''For the municipality in Quebec, see Adstock, Quebec'' Adstock is a village and

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 ...

about northwest of Winslow and southeast of

Buckingham Buckingham ( ) is a market town in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, which had a population of 12,890 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census. The town lies approximately west of ...

in the Aylesbury Vale district of

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 ...

. The 2001 Census recorded a parish population of 415 reducing to 363 at the 2011 Census. There are remains of a Roman road in the village. In the divisions of England that took place between AD 613 and 1017,

was divided into eight hundreds. The manor of Adstock originally formed part of the Votesdune Hundred, then merged into the Ashendon Hundred and was finally absorbed into the Buckingham Hundred. At that time it was surrounded by the Bernwood, one of the most important Royal Forests. At the end of the 10th century, Adstock formed a portion of the Lands of Godwine, Earl of Kent and his second wife Gytha Thorkelsdóttir. After the

Norman conquest of England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

, its name was recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 as ''Edestoche'' which is

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 ...

and means ''Eadda's Farm''. Nearby Addington was named after the same person. In the mid to late 11th century the manor of Adstock was given by

William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...

to his illegitimate son William Peverel, who was listed as its owner in 1086. This suggests that the manor was of some value, or that its previous owner was of some prominence in Anglo Saxon society. The village received a charter to establish itself as a town briefly in 1665 so that a market could be held there. This was due to the majority of the people of the two local towns of Winslow and

being infected with

bubonic plague Bubonic plague is one of three types of Plague (disease), plague caused by the Bacteria, bacterium ''Yersinia pestis''. One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and ...

. The charter was removed, however, in 1685 and Adstock was reinstated as a village rather than a town. The parish church, which dates from the 12th century, is dedicated to St Cecilia. The roof is dated 1597, and the church underwent further major restoration during the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

. There are two bells (the lightest of which dates back from about 1440) in the church and one Sanctus Adstock had an outstation from the

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and Bletchley Park estate, estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire), that became the principal centre of Allies of World War II, Allied World War II cryptography, code-breaking during the S ...

codebreaking establishment, where some of the

Bombe The bombe () was an Electromechanics, electro-mechanical device used by British cryptologists to help decipher German Enigma machine, Enigma-machine-encrypted secret messages during World War II. The United States Navy, US Navy and United Sta ...

s used to decode German Enigma messages in World War Two were located.

References

External links

* * {{authority control Villages in Buckinghamshire Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire