Chalfont St Giles

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.
"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: Marlow and area, Volume 12", Peter Quick.

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

• Monumental Inscriptions for the Methodist chapel are in the library* of the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.
• War memorials in Chalfont St Giles 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

War Memorials

War memorials in Chalfont St Giles have been transcribed by Peter Quick, and published in a booklet entitled "War Memorials and War Graves: Marlow and area, Volume 12", available from the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.

In 1642 there were 12 people named in the tax returns for contributions for Ireland. Between them they were assessed at £29.7.8 of which sum Mr Russell jun contributed £2.10.0

In 1798 the Posse Comitatus listed 185 men between the ages of 16 and 60 in Chalfont St Giles.

In the earliest government census of 1801, there were 762 inhabitants in 152 families living in 143 houses recorded in Chalfont St Giles.

* = 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.

• Rectors of the Parish Church of St Giles

Details of the stained glass in the church can be found on the following web sites (the site includes many photos):

• Buckinghamshire Stained Glass

The original copies of the parish registers for St Giles, Chalfont St Giles 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 Chalfont St Giles showed the following numbers:

• Buckinghamshire Church Photos by Kevin Quick.
• Buckinghamshire Village Photos by Kevin Quick.
• Buckinghamshire Records and Local Studies Service - large collection of old photos of Buckinghamshire

• Geograph
• Flickr

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Chalfont St Giles to another place.

Chalfont St Giles was described in 1806 in "Magna Britannia" as follows:

CHALFONT-ST. GILES, in the hundred and deanery of Burnham, lies nearly four miles from Amersham, on the road to London, and seven miles from Uxbridge, in Middlesex. The principal manor in this parish is called the Vache, from a family of that name, who possessed it in the reign of Edward I.; it had been before in the Fitz-Alan's. [Footnote: The manor of Chalfont-St. Giles was restored to John Fitz-Alan, by Pat. 51 Hen. III.] A female heir brought it to the noble family of Grey, of Wilton: from them it passed by purchase to the Gardiners, and from the Gardiners to Thomas Fleetwood, treasurer of the mint, who died in 1570. Mr. Noble, in his memoirs of the Cromwell family, says, that this Mr. Fleetwood had 32 children by two wives; supposing the number to be accurate, the writer is mistaken in supposing that James Fleetwood, who died bishop of Worcester in 1683, was one of them; the bishop was grandson of Thomas Fleetwood, being a son of Sir George Fleetwood, who succeded his father at the Vache, which continued in the family for more than a century. Francis Hare, bishop of Chichester, having married the heiress of the Claytons, who were the next proprietors, became possessed of the Vache, where he died in the year 1740, and was buried in the church of Chalfont-St. Giles. The late Admiral Sir Hugh Palliser purchased the Vache of Bishop Hare's representatives, in or about the year 1771, and made it his seat. In 1773 he was created a baronet: on his death, which happened in 1796, the title descended to his great nephew, Hugh Palliser Walter, now Sir Hugh Palliser Palliser bart. The Vache is under the admiral's will, the property of his natural son George Palliser esq.

The baronial family of Wolverton had a manor in this parish, a purparty, or fourth part of which passed by a female heir to the Wakes, in the reign of Edward III.

During the great plague oin 1665, Milton retired to Chalfont, where he finished his admirable poem of Paradise Lost. The idea of his Paradise Regained, is said to have been suggested by a conversation which passed at this place, between the poet and his friend Elwood, a quaker. The house in which Milton resided is now occupied by a farmer: it was built by some of the Fleetwood family, as appears from their arms over the door.

In the parish church are some monuments of the Fleetwoods and Claytons, and that of the late Sir Hugh Palliser, who lies there buried: there is no memorial for bishop Hare. The bishop of Lincoln is patron of the rectory, the advowson of which belonged formerly to the priory of Bradwell. Sir Hugh Palliser founded a school at this place for the education of 20 boys and 20 girls, and endowed it with 30 l. per annum.

• Further historical facts can be found on John Dodd's Chalfont St Giles History web site.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SU989934 (Lat/Lon: 51.63073, -0.572503), Chalfont St Giles 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.

Early records of Chalfont St Giles and Chalfont St Peter show the name recorded as Ceadeles funtan (949 AD), and this means 'Caedel's spring'. The two parishes take their names from the dedication of their parish churches.