•  Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire

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In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Beaconsfield like this:

BEACONSFIELD, a small town, a parish, and a subdistrict, in the district of Amersham, Bucks. The town stands on an eminence anciently used for beacon-fires, 3 miles NE of Woburn-Green r. station, and 5¾ S by W of Amersham. It has a post office,‡-B. Bucks; and is a seat of petty sessions, and a polling-place. ...

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It consists of four streets, which meet at the centre in a spacious market-place; and it contains the parish church and three dissenting chapels. The church is built of flint and squared stones; comprises nave, chancel, and side aisles, with a western tower; belonged to an Augustinian monastery, founded at Burnham, in 1165, by Richard, Earl of Cornwall; and contains the remains of Edmund Burke, whose seat was in the neighbourhood; and a marble monument to the poet Waller, who owned the manor, is in the churchyard. A weekly market recently ceased; but fairs are held on 13 Feb. and 10 May.—The parish includes also part of Coleshill hamlet. Acres, 4,541. Real property, with the rest of Coleshill, £9,619. Pop., 1,662. Houses, 342. The property is divided among a few. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford. Value, £545. Patron, Magdalene College, Oxford. Charities, £114.-The subdistrict comprises two parishes and a chapelry. Acres, 9,401. Pop., 3,092. Houses, 65

Beaconsfield through time

Beaconsfield is now part of South Bucks district. Click here for graphs and data of how South Bucks has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Beaconsfield itself, go to Units and Statistics.

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