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Shalstone

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"The area of Shalstone or Shalston, with Old Wick, is 1320 acres; population, 246; rateable value, £1260. The soil is a tenacious cold clay, with limestone. The Village is remarkably neat, and near its centre is a spring which serves as a drinking fountain, and was covered with stone in 1851. It is distant from Buckingham 4 miles N.W." [History and Topography of Buckinghamshire, by James Joseph Sheahan, 1862]

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Bibliography

The following reference sources have been used in the construction of this page, and may be referred to for further detail. Most if not all of these volumes are available in the Reference section of the County Library in Aylesbury.

"Buckinghamshire Returns of the Census of Religious Worship 1851", Legg E. ed., 1991, ISBN 0 901198 27 7.
"History and Topography of Buckinghamshire", Sheahan, James Joseph, 1862
"Magna Britannia: Buckinghamshire", Lysons S. and Lysons D., 1806.
"The Place-Names of Buckinghamshire", Mawer A. and Stenton F.M., 1925.
"The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Buckinghamshire", Page W. ed., 1905-1928
"War Memorials and War Graves: Buckingham Hundred, Volume 7", Peter Quick.

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Cemeteries

War Memorials

War memorials in Shalstone have been transcribed by Peter Quick, and published in a booklet entitled "War Memorials and War Graves: Buckingham Hundred, Volume 7", available from the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.

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Census

In 1798 the Posse Comitatus listed 37 men between the ages of 16 and 60 in Shalstone.

In the earliest government census of 1801, there were 158 inhabitants in 35 families living in 32 houses recorded in Shalstone.

Census YearPopulation of Shalstone
1801*158
1811*183
1821*201
1831*198
1841201
1851247
1861246
1871232
1881186
1891172
1901205

* = No names were recorded in census documents from 1801 to 1831.
** = Census documents from 1911 to 2001 are only available in summary form. Names are witheld under the 100 year rule.

Microfilm copies of all census enumerators' notebooks for 1841 to 1891 are held at the Local Studies Libraries at Aylesbury and Milton Keynes, as well as centrally at the PRO. A table of 19th century census headcount by parish is printed in the VCH of Bucks, Vol.2, pp 96-101.

Availability of census transcripts and indexes.

  • 1851 - Full transcripts and indexes for Buckinghamshire are available on CD-ROM, hard copy and microfiche from the Buckinghamshire Family History Society.
  • 1861 - Available on CD-ROM with advanced search and mapping capabilities etc. from the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.
  • 1881
    • Available on CD-ROM from the Church of the Latter Day Saints, as part of the National 1881 Census Index.
    • Available on CD-ROM for Buckinghamshire, with advanced search and mapping capabilities etc. from Drake Software.
  • 1891 - Available on CD-ROM with advanced search and mapping capabilities etc. from the Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society.
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Church History

Details of the stained glass in the church can be found on the following web sites (the site includes many photos):

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Church Records

The original copies of the parish registers for St Edward the Confessor & King, Shalstone have been deposited in the Buckinghamshire Record Office in Aylesbury, and they hold the following years:

EventDates covered
Christenings1538 - 1992
Marriages1538 - 1961
Burials1538 - 1991

Copies or indexes to the parish registers are available from societies as follows:

Event
Society Library*
Dates covered
Society
Marriages
1708 - 1812
Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society

* = material held in a Society library is generally available for loan to all members either via post, or by collection at a meeting

An ecclesiastical census was carried out throughout England on 30 March 1851 to record the attendance at all places of worship. These returns are in the Buckinghamshire Record Office and have been published by the Buckinghamshire Record Society (vol 27). The returns for Shalstone showed the following numbers:

ChurchAttendance
Shalstone,
St Edward the Confessor & King
60 - Morning General Congregation
20 - Morning Sunday Scholars
80 - Morning Total

50 - Evening General Congregation
20 - Evening Sunday Scholars
70 - Evening Total

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Description & Travel

You can see pictures of Shalstone which are provided by:

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Gazetteers

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History

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

SHALLESTON, in the hundred and deanery of Buckingham, lies about four miles north-west of Buckingham near the road to Brackley. The manor was anciently in the Doyleys, afterwards (as early as the year 1202) in the Baynells, from whom it passed by heirs female to the families of Ayete and Purefoy. The last-mentioned family, after possessing this manor more than 350 years, became extinct in 1762, by the death of Henry Purefoy esq. Under Mr. Purefoy's will it is now the property of the Rev. George Huddleston Purefoy Jervoise, who is patron also of the rectory, and incumbent. He resides in the manor-house.

[Correction/Addition at the end of Magna Britannia states "The Rev. G.H.P. Jervoise died Nov. 3, 1805."]

In the parish church, a neat modern structure, are some monuments of the Purefoys, among which is that of Henry Purefoy above-mentioned, and of his mother, who, surviving him, died in 1765 at the age of 92. The parish of Shalleston has been inclosed by an act of parliament passed in 1767, when an allotment was assigned to the rector in lieu of all tithes excepting those of an estate then belonging to Mr. Taylor, which, under the act, was to continue titheable.

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Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SP642365 (Lat/Lon: 52.023212, -1.065774), Shalstone which are provided by:

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Names, Geographical

The name Shalstone is thought possibly to derive from the old english sceald + tun, and would mean 'farmstead at the shallow place or stream'.