Report

ROYAL COMMISSION ON THE ANCIENT AND HISTORICAL MONUMENTS AND CONSTRUCTIONS OF ENGLAND.

REPORT TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.

1. May It Please Your Majesty,

We, the undersigned Commissioners, appointed to make an Inventory of the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions connected with or illustrative of the contemporary culture, civilization and conditions of life of the people in England, excluding Monmouthshire, from the earliest times to the year 1700, and to specify those which seem most worthy of preservation, humbly submit to Your Majesty the following Third Interim Report on the work of the Commission since its appointment.

2. We desire in the first place to submit to Your Majesty our humble thanks for the renewed encouragement given to the work of the Commission by the gracious words which accompanied Your Majesty's acceptance of our Inventory of South Buckinghamshire.

3. The subject of the present Report is the Northern half of the County of Buckingham, which contains 126 parishes and 1,222 monuments as compared with 102 parishes and 1,535 monuments in the Southern half.

4. We append to the Report a list (Schedule A) of the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions in this portion of Buckinghamshire which may be reasonably accredited to a date anterior to 1700.

5. We further append a list (Schedule B) of those of the Monuments in the County which, in our opinion, are especially worthy of preservation.

6. The Inventory of North Buckinghamshire, which concludes our Review of the County, is preceded by an Historical Summary dealing with Buckinghamshire as a whole, for which the Commission is principally indebted to Mr. W. Page, F.S.A., one of the Assistant Commissioners; and by a Sectional Preface confined to the Monuments of the Northern half of the County which is the work of our investigators.

7. The index in this volume has been combined with the index of the volume on South Buckinghamshire in order to secure greater ease of reference.

8. We desire to call special attention to the assistance given to the work of the Commission by the members of the Buckinghamshire Archæological Society, who have revised and checked our lists of Monuments in the County.

9. We have pleasure in acknowledging the courtesy and hospitality extended to ourselves and to our investigators by the clergy and owners of houses in the County.

10. We desire further to acknowledge our indebtedness,

(1) To Mr. W. Page, F.S.A., General Editor of the Victoria County Histories and an Assistant Commissioner, for his special work in connection with the Historical Summary.

(2) To Mr. C. R. Peers, M.A., F.S.A., Official Inspector of Ancient Monuments under Your Majesty's Office of Works, Secretary to the Society of Antiquaries, and an Assistant Commissioner, who has served as a member both of the Ecclesiastical and Secular Sub-Commissions, and has himself visited the principal Ecclesiastical and Secular Monuments recorded in our Inventory.

(3) To Mr. D. H. Montgomerie, F.S.A., an Assistant Commissioner, who has supervised the Reports on the Earthworks of the County.

(4) To the Rev. E. E. Dorling, M.A., F.S.A., who has supervised the heraldry of our Inventory.

(5) To Mr. Oswald Barron, F.S.A., who has supervised the descriptions of costume, the spelling of names and the records of families.

(6) To the late Bishop of Oxford, who courteously gave us a general intro duction by letter to all the clergy in his diocese.

(7) To the clergy, who have freely opened their churches to our inspection.

(8) To the parochial schoolmasters, who have given us special assistance in the revision of our preliminary lists.

(9) To Mr. H. E. Luxmoore, M.A., for his assistance in preparing the account of the Church and College of the Blessed Mary of Eton, both for the purposes of the Inventory of South Buckinghamshire and the Historical Summary in this volume.

(10) To the members of the Buckinghamshire Archæological Society for the loan of a complete set of the valuable records of the Society and to Mr. W. Bradbrook, Honorary Secretary of the Society.

11. We desire further to express our acknowledgment of the good work accomplished by our executive staff in the persons of Mr. J. Murray Kendall, Mr. J. W. Bloe, Mr. C. C. Durston, Mr. W. Byde Liebert; and to Miss G. Duncan, Miss E. M. Keate, and Miss M. V. Taylor.

12. The work in London under the supervision of Mr. Philip Norman, LL. D., F.S.A., and Mr. Walter Godfrey has proceeded steadily during the year, and during the winter a portion of it has been checked and prepared for publication by the Staff of the Commission.

13. Our investigating staff is now engaged on the Monuments of Essex.

14. We have once more to record our unanimous acknowledgment of the high services rendered to the Commission by our Secretary, Mr. George Herbert Duckworth, whose energy, ability and resourcefulness have never failed us in his ever increasing responsibilities.

Signed:

BURGHCLERE (Chairman).

PLYMOUTH.

CRAWFORD AND BALCARRES.

DILLON.

SCHOMBERG K. McDONNELL.

HENRY H. HOWORTH.

J. F. F. HORNER.

J. G. N. CLIFT.

F. HAVERFIELD.

E. J. HORNIMAN.

LEONARD STOKES.

GEORGE H. DUCKWORTH (Secretary).

18th July, 1913.