Radnage 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 ...

in the

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 ...

district of

, England. It is in the Chiltern Hills about two miles north east of Stokenchurch and six miles WNW 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, ...

. The parish is set in folds of the Chiltern Hills to the south of Bledlow Ridge next to the border with Oxfordshire. Although not a large parish, the residential areas known as The City, Bennett End and Town End, are separate hamlets. Radnage (also spelled Radeneach, Rodenache etc. in old documents) meant ‘red oak’ in

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 ...

History

Settlement in the area dates back to Roman times as demonstrated by the excavation of a

Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...

glass ribbed bowl from the village, now in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

. Radnage is not mentioned in Domesday Book and it appears from a 13th-century document to have been royal demesne attached to the manor of

Brill Brill may refer to: Places * Brielle (sometimes "Den Briel"), a town in the western Netherlands * Brill, Buckinghamshire, a village in England * Brill, Cornwall, a small village to the west of Constantine, Cornwall, UK * Brill, Wisconsin, an un ...

. Later, it was divided into two parts. The smaller part was granted by King Henry I to the newly established Fontevrault Abbey in France and attached to property at Leighton in Bedfordshire, which was also given to Fontevrault. The larger part, known as Radnage Manor, was for a time retained by the crown and then in 1215 was granted by King John to the

Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...

. When this order was suppressed in the early 14th century, their lands passed to the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there ...

. On the Dissolution of the Monasteries by King Henry VIII the manor was again acquired by the crown. King Charles I mortgaged it with other crown lands to the City of London in order to raise money. Later, King Charles II was said to have given it to one of his mistresses. But by the 19th century both parts of the manor again belonged to the crown and so remained until the abolition of manorial rights in 1925. Dedicated on 1 May 1920, Radnage War Memorial sits in a walled garden at Mudds Bank.

Amenities

Radnage has two

public houses A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

: The Crown and the Mash Inn (previously known as the Three Horseshoes). There is also a

village hall A village hall is a public building in a rural or suburban community which functions as a community centre without a religious affiliation. United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is a building which is owned by a local gover ...

, which is used as the meeting place for the parish council and W.I. In addition to this, the hall also has a playing field and separate children's playground. The village also has two

campsite Campsite, campground, and camping pitch are all related terms regarding a place used for camping (an overnight stay in an outdoor area). The usage differs between British English and American English. In British English, a ''campsite'' is an ...

s: Bella Vista and Home Farm.

Outdoor activities

Radnage is situated in the heart of the Chiltern Hills and is served by multiple

footpath A footpath (also pedestrian way, walking trail, nature trail) is a type of thoroughfare that is intended for use only by pedestrians and not other forms of traffic such as Motor vehicle, motorized vehicles, bicycles and horseback, horses. They ...

s and bridleways. As such, it's popular with cyclists, walkers, runners and horse riders. The village holds an annual 5k and 10k trail run race to raise money for the local school. BottomWood 1

Notable trails and locations

* Yoesden Nature Reserve, a chalk grassland bank with rare butterflies and wildflowers. * Bottom Wood, a 35-acre ancient woodland and nature reserve * Chiltern Way, 134 mile (215 km) walking loop through the Chilterns passes through the village * Chilterns Cycle Way, 170 mile (273.5 km) circular route of the Chilterns AONB passes through the village

Church of St Mary the Virgin

St Mary the Virgin is the local parish church, situated towards the northeastern edge of the parish. The church is part of the West Wycombe

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

, the building is Grade 1 listed.

History and construction

The church was built in the late

12th century The 12th century is the period from 1101 to 1200 in accordance with the Julian calendar. In the history of European culture, this period is considered part of the High Middle Ages and overlaps with what is often called the Golden Age' of the ...

, early

13th century The 13th century was the century which lasted from January 1, 1201 (represented by the Roman numerals MCCI) through December 31, 1300 (MCCC) in accordance with the Julian calendar. The Mongol Empire was founded by Genghis Khan, which stretched ...

in much the same form as it appears today, though larger windows were inserted in the

14th century The 14th century lasted from 1 January 1301 (represented by the Roman numerals MCCCI) to 31 December 1400 (MCD). It is estimated that the century witnessed the death of more than 45 million lives from political and natural disasters in both Euro ...

and the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

appears to have been lengthened and heightened in the 15th century, when the present roof was built. There is a central tower, which is unusual in being narrower than either the chancel or the nave. There are three original

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a sharp pointed arch at its top. This arch may or may not be a steep lancet arch (in which the compass centres for drawing the arch fall outside the opening). It acquired the "lancet" name from its rese ...

s of the early 13th century in the east wall of the chancel. The other windows in the church are 14th century. The south doorway is original of the early 13th century. A similar north doorway has been blocked up. The south porch and outer door are original of the 13th century, but with a 15th-century roof and 15th-century windows in the side walls. The fine 15th-century nave roof has embattled tie-beams supported by arched brackets with tracery in the

spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame, between the tops of two adjacent arches, or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fil ...

s and also in the triangular spaces above the beams. The lower-pitched chancel roof is probably 16th century. Inside the church there is an archway through the tower with 13th-century arches in pointed style at either end. The chancel has a 13th-century

piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Lutherans and Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a pisci ...

(damaged) in the south wall. The nave has traces of early wall painting and also post-Reformation texts (16th-to-18th-century). The font is probably 17th-century.For the history and architecture of the church, see VHCB Vol.3 pp.91-2, RCHMB pp.274-5 and Pevsner & Wiiliamson pp.612-3

References

Books mentioned in the notes

* VHCB = ''Victoria History of the County of Buckingham'', ed: William Page, Volume 3 (1925) * Pevsner, Nikolaus & Elizabeth Williamson: Buckinghamshire (''The Buildings of England'' - Penguin Books. 2nd edition. 1994) * RCHMB = Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England): ''An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Buckinghamshire'', Volume 1 South (1912)

Notes

{{authority control Villages in Buckinghamshire Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire