History of Little Kingshill
The origins of the village date back to around 900 AD when a monastery was founded where
Ashwell Farm (Kingshall) now stands. William the Conqueror gave a Manor and lands to a Saxon nobleman, the Earl of Aufrics,
but the lands reverted back to the Crown after the Earl's death. The road through the village was used by drovers of cattle
being taken to market in London in medieval times and soldiers protected their progress and had barracks here. As well as
Ashwell Farm there is a Tudor house, The Grange, next to the Common, Aufrics Farm of Elizabethan period, and Boot Farm dating back to 1660.
The coming of the Railway through Great Missenden at the end of the 19th century was a turning point, as people were
able to go to business in London, and country houses began to be built for them. The village school too was built in 1887, and is still in use for pre-school children.
The country around was famous for its cherry orchards and older residents will
remember the guns banging off and wooden clappers clattering at dawn 'bird starving'.
The Bucks black cherries are dark and small and perfectly delicious especially when
cooked in cherry turnovers, the local specialty. Many people went cherry picking and casual
labour was employed.Nearly all the orchards have been cut down to make room for the explosion of new houses
built since the Second World War.
War Memorial
The village of Little Kingshill paid a heavy price in the First World War, and eleven men lost their lives
in action. They were
Sgt F. Adams, Sgt R. Adams, Tpl J. Batchelor, Pte C. Hawes, Sgt E. Hill, Pte P. Langston,
Cpl G. Long, Pte J. Manley, Gnr H. Sprake, Pte H. Ware and Pte W. Ware.
After the war a Thanksgiving Fund was established and a considerable amount of money raised from local residents.
The Trustees built the first Memorial Hall, the predecessor of the present Village Hall, and also built a war memorial
on Windsor Lane and planted eleven maples along the roadside of the Common in memory of the eleven servicemen who had
died. Three of these trees have recently been replaced by a whitebeam, rowan and hornbeam, but the number of eleven
trees remains as a permanent living memorial of those brave men.
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