Kingsey is a small 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 ...

Aylesbury Vale 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 (Hertfordshir ...

district 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 near the boundary 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 ...

, about two miles east of

Thame Thame is a market town and civil parish in South Oxfordshire, England, about east of the city of Oxford and southwest of Aylesbury. It derives its name from the River Thame which flows along the north side of the town and forms part of the ...

and a mile south of Haddenham. The village

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...

is of 12th-century origin and means 'king's island', referring to a piece of dry land that belonged to the king in the

marsh In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in genera ...

es that were once common in this part of the country. In 1174 the village was called ''Eya'', meaning 'island', though by 1192 it had gained its more modern name of ''Kingesie''. This leads historians to believe that the village is named after King

Richard I of England Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199), known as Richard the Lionheart or Richard Cœur de Lion () because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior, was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ru ...

. Kingsey was transferred to Buckinghamshire from Oxfordshire in 1933, effectively being swapped for Towersey. Historically people from this village and those surrounding it were known by the derogatory term 'wetfeet', because of the high

water table The water table is the upper surface of the phreatic zone or zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with groundwater, which may be fresh, saline, or brackish, depending on the loc ...

of the area leading to the ground being so waterlogged.

Grade 1 listed 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 ...

Tythrop Park Tythrop Park, also known as Tythrop House, is a Grade I–listed 17th-century manor house, set in of parkland, in Kingsey, Buckinghamshire, England. According to Pevsner the exterior is plain and unpromising, but inside the house he describe ...

in Kingsey is listed as having an early duck decoy similar to that in

Boarstall Duck Decoy The Boarstall Duck Decoy is a 17th-century duck decoy located in Boarstall, Buckinghamshire, England, and now a National Trust property. The system took advantage of a two-acre lake with pipe-cage tunnels running out of it. At one time a commo ...

in Buckinghamshire
(Location map)

References

External links

Detailed history of Kingsey, British History Online
* by

Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey Sir Ralph William Frankland Payne-Gallwey, 3rd Baronet (1848–1916) was an English engineer, historian, ballistics expert, and artist. Life The son of Sir William Payne-Gallwey, 2nd Baronet, and his wife Emily Anne, a daughter of Sir Robert F ...

, 1886. {{authority control Villages in Buckinghamshire Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire