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

ADSTOCK, in the hundred and deanery of Buckingham, lies nearly three miles to the north-west of Winslow, on the north side of the road leading from Aylesbury to Buckingham. The manor of Adstock was given by the Conqueror to his illegitimate son, William Peverell; and on the attainder of William Peverell the younger, was granted by King Henry II to William Avenell, from whose family it has passed by marriage to the Vernons and the Bassets: it was afterwards, as Brown Willis supposes, divided into two manors, one of which passed by marriage to the Fortescues. Sir Francis Fortescue sold the demesnes of this estate in the early part of the 17th century, reserving the manor which his son conveyed to Thomas Egerton, rector of Adstock; from his family it passed by purchase to the Verneys. Lord Fermanagh was in possession of this manor in 1735: it is probable that they have been purchased, since Browne Willis's publication, by some proprietor of the other manor, formerly called Hansted manor, in Adstock, which that writer traces from the Bassets, either by purchase or alliance, through the families of Hansted, Newenham, Cope, Smith, Tomlins, and Greaves. The family of Greaves were in possession in 1677; soon after which it passed by marriage to the Whitehalls. It is now the property of J.C. Turney esq.

The advowson of the rectory of Adstock was given in the reign of Henry II by William Avenell, to the abbey of Leicester; but about the year 1443, was again (probably in consequence of some exchange) annexed to the manor. Sir John Fortescue, about the year 1635, sold it to Robert Sharrock, rector of Drayton Passelew, whose grandson bequeathed it to the Bishop of Lincoln and his successors for ever, recommending them to appoint a resident rector. This parish has been inclosed by act of parliament, passed in 1797, when an allotment of land was given to the rector, in lieu of tithes; the parish is described in the act, as consisting of 47 yard lands.

Samuel Lewis's 1831 "Topographical Dictionary of England" describes the village of Adstock as:

ADSTOCK, a parish in the hundred and county of BUCKINGHAM, 3 miles (N.W.) from Winslow, containing 393 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Buckingham, and diocese of Lincoln, rated in the king's books at £13. 16. 3., and in the patronage of the Bishop of Lincoln. The church is dedicated to St. Cecilia. In the time of the plague, in 1665, the contagion having extended to Buckingham and Winslow, a market was held at this place.

Writing in 1910 in "Highways and Byways of Buckinghamshire", Clement Shorter commented on Adstock.

To the right, a little further north, is Adstock, with a pretty church and some picturesque thatched cottages. Here we come across two names in Sir Walter Scott's novels: "Peverel" and "Avenal". The former, William Peverel or Peverell (Scott spells it "Peveril"), a natural son of the Conqueror, had large estates in Buckinghamshire. He assisted in poisoning Randolph, Earl of Chester, in the reign of King Stephen, and had to flee the country. Henry the Second gave his lands, including Adstock, and large estates in Derbyshire, to William Avenal. The church, dedicated to St. Cecilia, is partly Norman. The chancel roof bears the date of 1597.

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

• English Heritage are responsible for the care and repair of many buildings of historic importance. The Historic England Archive  (previously the National Monuments Record) is English Heritage's public archive and is the home of around 10 million items covering England's buildings, archaeology and maritime sites. English Heritage's ambitious Images of England initiative aims to put a photograph of every listed building in England on the internet.
• The Badger's Heritage website features many pen and ink drawings of churches, schools, pubs, hotels, bridges, locks, mills, cottages & villages in Berkshire, Hampshire, Middlesex, Oxfordshire, Surrey, West Sussex and Wiltshire.
• Destination England from Lonely Planet.
• There are many links on the (Internet Archive snapshot from 2018) England's Buildings webring.
• ViewFinder - an online image resource for England's history provided by Historic England.
• The England in Particular website from Common Ground encourages the study of our own localities.

• Descriptions of the county and its towns and parishes from different periods can be found in trade directories from the early 19th century onwards - see Directories.
• Travel Writing - transcriptions of a number of books describing early travels in Britain, from Vision of Britain.
• The U.K. Database of Historic Parks and Gardens provided by Landscapes & Gardens at the University of York.
• The complete texts of Defoe's Tour of Great Britain (1778), Thompson's Tour of England and Scotland (1785) and Stebbing's Tour of the west of England. Made available by The Center for Retrospective Digitization, Göttingen State and University Library.
• Geograph British Isles - "aims to collect a geographically representative photograph for every square kilometre of the British Isles".
• Historical Aerial Photography - "an unsurpassed collection of information about old aerial photographs of the UK, from the 40's to the 90's..."
• Britain From Above - "the unique Aerofilms collection of aerial photographs from 1919-1953".
• Round the Coast scanned photographs from "An album of pictures from photographs of the chief seaside places of interest in Great Britain and Ireland" (George Newnes Ltd., 1895)" provided by by Rosemary and Stan Rodliffe.
• A modern map of the United Kingdom.