Great
Missenden [and Thomas
Goostrey]
Great Missenden was
described in 1806
in "Magna Britannia" as follows:
GREAT-MISSENDEN, in the
hundred of Aylesbury and deanery
of Wendover,
lies about half-way between Wendover and Amersham, on the road to
London.
At this place was an abbey of black canons, the history of the
foundation
of which is involved in some uncertainty. An inquisition taken on oath,
in the year 1331, states that it was founded in 1293, by Sir William de
Missenden; although it might be supposed that there could be a little
doubt
of the authority of so solemn a record of a fact, then so recent,, yet
there is good reason for supposing that the abbey existed at an earlier
period. An old register of the convent dates its foundation in 1133. An
ancient court-book of the manor says that it was founded by the
Doyleys,
and augmented by the Missendens, pursuant to a vow, made on escaping
from
shipwreck. It is probable therefore that the benefactions of Sir
William
de Missenden, in 1293, were of such importance, and the former income
of
the convent so small, that it was looked upon as a second foundation,
and
that he was even in his own time called and deemed the founder, as
bishop
Rotheram is even now called the second founder of Lincoln College, in
Oxford.
Sir William de Missenden, among other benefactions, gave the manor of
this
place to the abbey, and his family were its patrons. The patronage was
afterwards in the Brudenells. The revenues of Missenden abbey were
estimated,
in 1534, at 261 l. 14s. 6 1/4d. clear yearly value. It appears that
John
Otewell, the last abbot, upon quitting the monastic life, renounced the
state of celibacy, for by his last will, bearing date 1558, he makes
his
wife margaret Otewell, alias Westwick, sole executrix, and bequeaths
legacies
to his son Samuel, and his daughter Lettice. The abbot had a pension of
50 l. per annum assigned him, at the dissolution of the monastery;
Thomas
Barnard, one of the monks, had the vicarage of Missenden given him in
lieu
of a pension; John Slythurst had a pension of 8 l. per annum, on
condition
of undertaking to officiate at the chapel of the Lee. The site of
Missenden
abbey, with the manor of Missenden and other lands, were granted on
lease
to Richard Greneway, and afterwards to Richard Hampden esq. clerk of
the
king's kitchen. In 1553, the fee was granted to John Duke of
Northumberland,
and in 1573, (having reverted to the crown by the duke's attainder) to
Robert Earl of Leicester. Not long afterwards, this estate was
purchased
by Sir William Fleetwood, recorder of London, an antiquary and
historian,
who made Missenden abbey his residence. It continued in his male
descendants
till the beginning of the last century, after which, it passed by
female
heirs to the families of Ansell and Goostrey. After the death
of
the late Thomas Goostrey esq. it was purchased under a decree
of
chancery, in the year 1787, by the present proprietor, J. Oldham Oldham
esq. by whom the house has been modernized, and nearly rebuilt. Browne
Willis mentions some arches belonging to the conventual buildings,
which
appeared to have been part of the Chapter-house. These arches, or a
part
of them, have been used in forming a recess at each end of a
green-house.
They have groined roofs, with rich ornaments in the center. The pillars
have scalloped capitals.
Peterley-House, in this
parish, an ancient seat of the
Dormer family,
is still the property of Lord Dormer, but has not been inhabited by the
family for many years. It is now occupied as an academy. Lord Dormer
gives
a deputation for his lands in Peterley and Stone. Mr. Oldham also gives
a deputation for the manor of Peterley and Stone, which belonged to
Missenden
abbey, and for the manors of Netherbury and Overbury, which were also
part
of their possessions. Netherbury was granted to the abbey in 1383.
The parish church of
Missenden is a handsome Gothic
building. On the
north side of the chancel, about seven feet from the ground, is a row
of
pointed arches, with small pillars, detached from the wall. There are
several
monuments of the family of Boys, one of which exhibits a bust of the
deceased,
under a circular arch, composed of books. Among some ancient brass
plates,
which in 1801 had been removed, during the repairs of the chancel, was,
one of Thomas Clement, Woolman, and Butcher, 1445. Mr. Oldham is
impropriator
of the great tithes, which belonged to Missenden abbey, and patron of
the
vicarage.
John Randal, an eminent
divine in the reign of James I.
was a native
of this place.