Wingrave was described in 1806 in "Magna Britannia" as follows:
WINGRAVE, in the hundred of Cotslow and deanery of Muresley, lies nearly six miles north-east of Aylesbury. When this parish was inclosed by act of parliament in 1797, separate and distinct manors were claimed by the Prince of Wales, as Duke of Cornwall; the Mercers' Company, the Rev. John Deacle as impropriator, the Earl of Chesterfield, and John Tirel-Morin esq. Lord Chesterfield's manor was anciently the property and seat of the Pipards, from whom it passed by a female heir to the Lisles: the marriage between Thomas Lord Berkeley, and Margaret the heiress of that noble family, was celebrated in their manor-house at Wingrave: by subsequent alliances this manor passed to the Beauchamps and Nevilles; in 1531 it was purchased by the Hampdens, and in 1607 by the Dormers, from whom it passed by a female heir to the Stanhopes.
The great tithes of this parish were appropriated to the abbey of St. Albans. A dispute between John de Wedon and the abbot of St. Albans, about the patronage of this church, was determined in favor of the abbot in 1250. The impropriate rectory having since the reformation been successively in the families of Duncombe, Wilford, Abraham, Deane, and Balinger, has now been for a considerable time in the family of Deacle. The Earl of Bridgwater is patron of the vicarage.
Rowsham, a large hamlet in this parish, had formerly a chapel of ease. Sir John Cobham gave the manor to the crown in the reign of Edward III: it has long been annexed to Wingrave.
The parish of Wingrave, including the hamlet of Rowsham, has been inclosed as above-mentioned; allotments of land were made to the impropriator and vicar in lieu of tithes.
[Correction/Addition at the end of Magna Britannia states "Mr. Tirel-Morin's manor has lately been sold to Mr. Lucas of Northampton, Gray?s Inn-lane."]
During the Second World War The Old Manor House, home of the Countess of Essex, was used as a residence for the chief officials of the President of Czechoslovakia Edvard Benes, who lived at Aston Abbotts.
