Bierton

The following reference sources have been used in the construction of this page, and may be referred to for further detail. Most if not all of these volumes are available in the Reference section of the County Library in Aylesbury.

"Buckinghamshire Contributions for Ireland 1642", Wilson J., 1983.
"Buckinghamshire Returns of the Census of Religious Worship 1851", Legg E. ed., 1991, ISBN 0 901198 27 7.
"Magna Britannia: Buckinghamshire", Lysons S. and Lysons D., 1806.
"Royal Commission on Historical Monuments - An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Buckinghamshire", H.M.S.O, 1912/3.
"The History and Antiquities of the County of Buckingham", Lipscomb G., 1847
"The Place-Names of Buckinghamshire", Mawer A. and Stenton F.M., 1925.
"The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Buckinghamshire", Page W. ed., 1905-1928
"War Memorials and War Graves: Aylesbury Hundred part two - Town and Environs, Volume 8", Peter Quick

• Parish Church of St. James the Great

The following Monumental Inscriptions are available as publications or as part of a Society library:

• Monumental Inscriptions for St James the Great church are in the library* of the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.
• Monumental Inscriptions for the Strict Baptist chapel are in the library* of the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.
• Monumental Inscriptions for the Wesleyan chapel are in the library* of the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.
• War memorials in Bierton have been transcribed by Peter Quick and published by the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.

* = material held in a Society library is generally available for loan to all members either via post, or by collection at a meeting

In 1642 there were 82 people named in the tax returns for contributions for Ireland. Between them they were assessed at £7.19.4 of which sum Mr William Abraham contributed £2.

In 1798 the Posse Comitatus listed 85 men between the ages of 16 and 60 in Bierton and 22 in Broughton.

In the earliest government census of 1801, there were 518 inhabitants in 113 families living in 110 houses recorded in Bierton.

* = No names were recorded in census documents from 1801 to 1831.
** = Census documents from 1911 to 2001 are only available in summary form. Names are witheld under the 100 year rule.

Microfilm copies of all census enumerators' notebooks for 1841 to 1891 are held at the Local Studies Libraries at Aylesbury and Milton Keynes, as well as centrally at the PRO. A table of 19th century census headcount by parish is printed in the VCH of Bucks, Vol.2, pp 96-101.

Availability of census transcripts and indexes.

• 1851 - Full transcripts and indexes for Buckinghamshire are available on CD-ROM, hard copy and microfiche from the Buckinghamshire Family History Society.
• 1861 - Available on CD-ROM with advanced search and mapping capabilities etc. from the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.
• 1881
  • Available on CD-ROM from the Church of the Latter Day Saints, as part of the National 1881 Census Index.
  • Available on CD-ROM for Buckinghamshire, with advanced search and mapping capabilities etc. from Drake Software.
• 1891 - Available on CD-ROM with advanced search and mapping capabilities etc. from the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.

St. James the Great

The Parish church of St James is in the middle of the village of Bierton, on the south side of the road. It was built in the 14th century to a cruciform plan and is of limestone rubble.

The Chancel and the Central Tower are the earliest parts and these are deflected slightly towards the north from the axis of the nave, this may possibly indicate the existence of an earlier building, but there is no trace remaining of this in the fabric, although there is a font dating from the 12th century.

The Nave and North South Aisles appear to have been finished before the Transepts. In either the 15th or early 16th century, the high pitched roofs were changed to flat, and the North and South walls of the Aisles were heightened with clearstorey windows inserted in them.

The plan of the church has remained entirely unaltered except for the addition of a modern North Porch. The whole building was restored in 1853 when external repairs took place.

There are six modern bells and the sanctus, 1678, which is by Richard Chandler. In the South Transept there are brackets, for holding images, moulded with two roughly carved heads in mail coifs of early 14th century and on the south wall of the South Aisle is a plain moulded, 15th century bracket. In the North Aisle, near the doorway, there are two indents for brasses, badly worn, they appear to be of a man and a woman of the 15th or 16th century. In the Chancel there is one elaborately carved chair and one of a plainer style, circa 1600. The late 12th century font is a circular tub-shaped bowl with cable mouldings. There are two 14th century niches in the chancel, one on either side of the East window, with chamfered cinquefoiled heads. Another niche in the North wall of the Chancel with a chamfered trefoiled head was possibly a 14th century Easter Sepulchre. There are traces of late 16th century paintings on the South wall of the South Aisle of a man's head and an indented border. There is a 14th century Piscina in the Chancel, with shafted jambs, pointed head, moulded label and cinquefoil bowl.

• Vicars of St. James the Great

The original copies of the Bierton parish registers have been deposited in the Buckinghamshire Record Office in Aylesbury, and they hold the following years:

Copies or indexes to the parish registers are available from societies as follows:

* = material held in a Society library is generally available for loan to all members either via post, or by collection at a meeting

An ecclesiastical census was carried out throughout England on 30 March 1851 to record the attendance at all places of worship. These returns are in the Buckinghamshire Record Office and have been published by the Buckinghamshire Record Society (vol 27). The returns for Bierton showed the following numbers:

• Buckinghamshire Church Photos by Kevin Quick.
• Buckinghamshire Village Photos by Kevin Quick.

• Geograph
• Flickr

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Bierton to another place.

In 1927 "The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Buckinghamshire" states as follows:

Bierton parish lies in the Vale of Aylesbury, to the north-east of Aylesbury parish. It contains 2476.5 acres, which are mainly laid down in permanent grass, only about 369 acres being arable land. The population is mainly employed on grazing farms; duck-breeding is also carried on to a very considerable extent. The subsoil is Portland Beds and Kimmeridge Clay, the surface clay. The land lies for the most part between 200 ft. and 300 ft. above the Ordnance datum, the highest point point being only 214 ft. The parish is well watered; Thistle Brook forms the northern boundary, and various streams rise near the hamlet of Broughton, flowing northwards. There is a moat at Manor Farm. The Aylesbury branch of the Grand Junction Canal also crosses the parish. The village of Bierton lies about a mile and a half from Aylesbury, on the main road to Leighton Buzzard. A branch road turns off at the north end of the village to Hulcott. The village spreads along the road, and is composed of modern houses, with one or two of an older date, which are not of any particular interest. The church lies at the south-west end of the village, and is surrounded by a small churchyard, with a detatched portion, now used, to the east. The hamlet of Burcott almost forms a part of the village, and consists of a few cottages and farm houses. Broughton, another hamlet, comprises a row of small cottages. The Aylesbury branch of the London and North-Western Railway crosses the parish, and the nearest station is at Aylesbury. The most important house is Bierton House, the residence of Mr. J. W. Grist. Various neolithic implements and a British urn have been dug up at different times. The parishes of Bierton and Hulcott were inclosed under the same Act of Parliament, and the award is dated 15 July 1780. [© copyright of the editors of The Victoria Histories of the Counties of England]

Bierton was described in 1806 in "Magna Britannia" as follows:

Bierton, or Burton, in the hundred of Aylesbury and deanery of Wendover, lies about a mile and a half north-east of the town of Aylesbury: Sir John Pakington had a manor in this parish, which has been, from time immemorial, an appendage to that of Aylesbury, and was purchased with it in 1801, by the Marquis of Buckingham. Another manor, called from a family who possessed it in the reign of Edward II. Bierton-Stonors, with Wandesford, is also the property of the Marquis of Buckingham. A third manor has always passed with that of Hulcot, and is now the property of John Baker esq.

The dean and chapter of Lincoln are patrons of the vicarage, which is in their peculiar jurisdiction. Sir George Lee is lessee of the rectory, under the dean and chapter.

In this parish is a large hamlet called Broughton. The manor of Broughton formerly belonged to the Lords Lovell and Holland, and, at an earlier period, probably to the family of Staveley, it being called the manor of Broughton-Staveley, otherwise Broughton-Hollands. It has been of late years in the Pakingtons, and was sold by Sir John Pakington, in 1801, to the Marquis of Buckingham. The manor of Broughton-Abbots, which extends into the parish of Hulcot, belongs to the trustees of the grammar-school at Aylesbury.

The parishes of Bieton and Hulcot have been inclosed by an act of parliament, passed in 1779, when allotments of land were assigned in lieu of the rectorial and vicarial tithes. Rent charges were allotted in lieu of the tithes of the Aylesbury school inclosure, and an allotment of land was given to the poor as a compensation for their rights.

A street map of Bierton and a County map of Buckinghamshire can be found on the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society pages.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SP840157 (Lat/Lon: 51.833605, -0.782345), Bierton which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

Earlier forms of the village name such as Bortone, Burton point to the name being an example of the common burh-tun, meaning in this case a farm by Aylesbury, or simply a fortified town. It has been speculated that the later variations of the village name indicate a deliberate intention to change it, and that this may have been to overcome possible confusion with Bourton near Buckingham.