Stone, Buckinghamshire

Description

The village name is Old English in origin, and refers to a boundary stone or marker stone. In the Domesday Book of 1086 the village was recorded as Stanes.

The village of Stone adjoins the village of Hartwell.

The parish church is dedicated to St John the Baptist, and is dated 1273. The graveyard contains the grave of Admiral William Henry Smyth.

1806 description

In 1806, Magna Britannia described Stone as

:STONE, in the hundred of Aylesbury and deanery of Wendover, lies nearly three miles west of Aylesbury, on the road to Thame. The manor was anciently in the family of Braci, afterwards in that of Whittingham. It has been since held for many years by the Lees with the adjoining manor of Hartwell, and is now the property of the Rev. Sir George Lee bart.

:The parish church which was consecrated in 1273, retains some vestiges of the architecture of that period. The rectory was given by the Braci family to the priory of Oseney. By the act of parliament which passed for inclosing this parish in 1776, it appears that the Lees were entitled to the great tithes of Southwarp in Stone, and the earl of Chesterfield to those of the remainder of the parish. Allotments of land were then assigned to the impropriators and to the vicar, who was entitled to the tithes of hay. Sir George Lee is patron and incumbent of the vicarage.

Astronomical observatory

In 1839, John Lee and the Royal Astronomical Society jointly owned the advowson of the parish. They appointed amateur scientist and Fellow of the Royal Society, Joseph Bancroft Reade as vicar. Reade served as incumbent until 1859, establishing a school and an astronomical observatory, and performing pioneering work in the early development of photography.

Village school

Stone Church of England Combined School is voluntary controlled, mixed primary school with approximately 200 pupils aged between four and eleven. The school's catchment area includes the nearby villages of Bishopstone and Hartwell, and children transfer to the school from Dinton Church of England School, at the age of seven. The school dates from 1871, but most of the present buildings date from 1973 when a major programme of building work provided a hall, new classrooms, a library, changing rooms, offices and an extended playground. In 2019 the school achieved a 'Good' rating from Ofsted, a rating confirmed in a 2025 inspection.

St. John's Hospital

In the early 19th century an asylum (later known as St. John's Hospital) was opened in Stone for people with disabilities or mental illnesses. It was closed in 1991, and the vast expanse of land has since been given over to a new housing estate. All that remains are the staff houses and the grade-II asylum chapel.

World War II prisoner of war camp

During World War II, a Prisoner of War camp was located in Sedrup, a hamlet near Stone (Camp No. 36 Hartwell Dog Track).

The camp housed Italian prisoners from 1942 to 1946 and consisted mostly of tents with one hut. A 1946 RAF aerial photo of the site shows camp buildings at Grid reference SP797121 , on what is now the Meadoway housing estate adjacent to Sedrup Lane. Remains of the camp were still evident on the site in the 1950s.

Governance

There are two tiers of local government covering Stone with Bishopstone and Hartwell, at parish and unitary authority level: Stone with Bishopstone and Hartwell Parish Council and Buckinghamshire Council. The parish council meets at both the Jubilee Pavilion in Stone and at Bishopstone Village Hall.

Stone was an ancient parish. In 1986 the parish merged with the neighbouring parish of Hartwell to form a new civil parish called Stone with Bishopstone and Hartwell. At the 1971 census (one of the last before the abolition of the parish), Stone had a population of 2138.

References

• History and topography of Buckinghamshire: comprising a general survey of the county, preceded by an epitome of the early history of Great Britain Author James Joseph Sheahan, Publisher Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1862, Stone pages 198–204 -

References

1. "2021 Census Parish Profiles". Office for National Statistics.
2. "Parliamentary 2024 Constituency Map for Mid Buckinghamshire".
3. ''Magna Britannia: Buckinghamshire'', [[Samuel Lysons. Lysons S.]] and [[Daniel Lysons (antiquarian). Lysons D.]], 1806
4. The Stone observatory included both a transit room and a {{convert. 14. ft
5. Wood (2004)
6. "Stone Church of England Combined School – Inspection Reports". [[Ofsted]].
7. "Stone Church of England Combined School – Key Stage 2 achievement and attainment Tables 2007". [[Department for Children, Schools and Families]].
8. "St John's Hospital, Stone". The National Archives.
9. (2003). "Camp 36 - Hartwell Dog Track Camp, Hartwell, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire". English Heritage.
10. (1 November 2003). "Prisoner of War Camps (1939 - 1948) - Twentieth Century Military Recording Project".
11. "POW Camps in UK - 1 to 50".
12. "Unlocking Buckinghamshire's past – Prisoners of war".
13. "Heritage Portal: Monument record 0668300000 - Hartwell Dog Track – including RAF aerial photo: Images (1)".
14. "Stone with Bishopstone and Hartwell Parish Council".
15. "The Aylesbury Vale (Parishes) Order 1985". The National Archives.
16. "Aylesbury Vale Registration District". UKBMD.
17. "Population statistics Stone through time". [[A Vision of Britain through Time]].