Denham

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", E.S. Roscoe, London Methuen & Co Ltd, 1935.
"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 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: Burnham and area, Volume 13", Peter Quick.

War Memorials

War memorials in Denham have been transcribed by Peter Quick, and published in a booklet entitled "War Memorials and War Graves: Burnham and area, Volume 13", available from the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.

In 1798 the Posse Comitatus listed 204 men between the ages of 16 and 60 in Denham.

In the earliest government census of 1801, there were 796 inhabitants in 164 families living in 150 houses recorded in Denham.

* = 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 Mary

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 Mary, Denham 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 Denham 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 Denham to another place.

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

DENHAM, in the hundred of Stoke and deanery of Burnham, lies two miles from Uxbridge in Middlesex, near the road to High Wycombe. The manor was given to the abbot and convent of Westminster in 1299. After the reformation it was granted to the family of Peckham, who continued in possession of it till after the death of Sir George Peckham, in 1586, when it was seized for a debt to the crown. In 1596, the manor, Denham-Court, Denham-Place, and the advowson of the rectory, were all demised to William Bowyer esq. to whom they were afterwards granted in fee. Sir Roger Hill, who was sheriff of the county in 1673, purchased the manor, Denham-Place, and the advowson, of the Bowyers; they are now by female descent the property of Benjamin Way esq.

Denham Place, the seat of Mr. Way, is a large brick mansion, built by Sir Roger Hill, on the site of an old house belonging to the Peckhams. The chapel is fitted up with mantled wainscot and carving, in the style which prevailed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The windows are ornamented with coats of arms in stained glass. In the library is a very curious picture of the house of commons, with portraits of the members. The dresses are of the age of Charles II. and it is probable that it represents the parliament of 1679, in which Sir Roger Hill was one of the members for Amersham: William Williams was then speaker.

Denham-Court continues in the Bowyer family; William Bowyer the grantee, afterwards Sir William Bowyer knt. Was one of the tellers of the Exchequer; his grandson, of the same name, was created a baronet in 1660. The present proprietor of Denham-Court is Sir George Bowyer, in whom two titles are united, for his father, the late gallant Admiral, who possessed Radley in Berkshire by inheritance from the Stonhouses, was created a baronet in 1794, in the life-time of his elder brother, the late Sir William Bowyer. The manor of Denham-Durdants, formerly the property of an ancient family of that name, who were settled at Denham from the year 1259, till 1414, or perhaps later, and afterwards belonging to the Savoy hospital, was given by King Edward VI. to the citizens of London, towards the endowment of St. Thomas's Hospital.

In the parish church are several monuments, both ancient and modern, among the former are some brass plates of the Durdant family above-mentioned; that of Agnes Jordan, the last abbess of Syon; an altar tomb, in memory of Sir Edmund Peckham, who died in 1570 with the effigies of himself and his lady, and that of his son Sir Robert Peckham, privy counsellor to Queen Mary, who married one of the coheiresses of the last Lord Bray, and died in 1569, being then on his travels, and was buried in the church of St. Gregory at Rome: his heart was deposited at Denham, pursuant to his own request. Among the more modern monuments is a series of plain mural tablets, in memory of the Bowyer family, including the late baronet, who died in 1799. The earliest is that of Sir William Bowyer knt. Grantee of the manor, who dies in 1616. There are monuments also for the families of Hill, Lockey, and Way, connected by marriage.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference TQ040867 (Lat/Lon: 51.56959, -0.50083), Denham 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.

The name Denham derives from the words denu and ham and means 'Valley homestead'.