HITCHENDEN, in the hundred of Desborough and deanery of Wycombe, lies scarcely two miles north of High-Wycombe. The manor having been part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, half-brother to William the Conqueror,was granted by Henry I. to his chamberlain, Geffrey de Clinton, and by him given to the prior and convent of Kenilworth. In 1540 it was granted by King Henry VIII. to Sir Robert Dormer, from whose family it passed by a female heir to the Stanhopes. About the year 1738, Sir William Stanhope sold the manor and advowson of Hitchenden to Charles Savage esq. whose niece, Ellen, Countess Dowager of Conyngham, is the present proprietor, and resides in the manor-house. The manor of Ravensmere in this parish, which lies in the hundred of Aylesbury, was anciently in the family of Albini, from whom it descended, through heirs female, to the Fitzalans, Arundels, and Dormers: it is now the property of Lord Dormer. The manor of Overhall and Pigots in Hitchenden, belonged successively to the families of Morton, Sydenham, and Hampden; it is now the property of Lord Hampden. The abbot and convent of Missenden had a manor in this parish; what became of it after the dissolution, we have not been able to ascertain: it is not improbable that it was the manor of Uphall, which belonged to the Lanes, in the early part of the last century; we could not learn who is the present proprietor of this estate. A manor within the manor of Hitchenden, belonging to Mr. Lloyd, was advertised for sale in the month of November 1804.
In the parish church are some ancient tombs, with figures in basso-relievo, supposed to have been intended for some of the posterity of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, who assumed the name of Wellesbourn. The arms on the shields are, 1. Gul. A lion rampant, with two tails, Arg. Devouring a man-child, Mountfort, Earl of Leicester. 2. Arg. A lion rampant, devouring a child, within an orle of cross-crosslets, Sable. - Mountfort of Warwickshire. 3. Bendy of ten. Or and Gul. Mountfort of Beldesert. 4. Gul. A Griffin segreant devouring a child Or, - A chief Checky, Or and Az. Over all a bend Ermine - Wellesbourn. One of the figures is very fair, and represents a crusader in a coat of mail: the others are of ruder workmanship; one of these represents an armed man, with a sword in one hand and a cross in the other. The descendants of Simon de Mountfort are said by tradition to have lived at a house in this parish, called Wreck-hall, in the windows of which were formerly the same coats of arms which occur on the tombs in the church. Under an arch in the south wall of the chapel, in which are the above-mentioned tombs, lies an emaciated figure, in a shroud, on an altar tomb: the shields on this monument are all plain.
The great tithes, which were appropriated to the prior and convent of Kenilworth, are now the property of Lady conyngham, who is patroness of the vicarage.
