England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Grendon Underwood St Leonard

The Parish

The parish of Grendon Underwood lies in western Buckinghamshire not too far from its border with neighbouring Oxfordshire. Grendon Underwood (the name apparently being a shorted version of Grendon under Bernwode, the latter being the ancient hunting forest that formerly lay close by) is a curiously linear village which is located about 6 miles east of the Oxfordshire market town of Bicester. Grendon Underwood sits about a mile north of the busy A41 road which connects Bicester with Aylesbury and which follows the line of the Roman Road of Akeman Street. Much of Grendon Underwood is built, covering just over a mile in linear length, along a lane running parallel with the A41. Whilst the economy would have been underpinned by farming, in this case a mixed farming regime on the heavy Oxford clay soils, the women of the parish also engaged extensively in the making of lace. Grendon Underwood is drained westwards by the River Ray which merges with the Cherwell at Islip and shortly after the Thames at Oxford, thence through the capital to the North Sea in the other direction. Grendon Underwood is sited at around 70 metres above the sea in the rather gently undulating countryside, local heights rise barely 20 metres higher with a couple of miles. Grendon Underwood parish was fairly typically sized for the western part of the county, it would have covered around 2,600 acres and would have supported a population of just under 400 parishioners. In Domesday times Grendon Underwood was a fairly small place, held by Henry de Ferrers it could offer just 8 ploughs together with meadows and woodlands.

The Church

St Leonard's church sits at the extreme northwest of the village where the above-mentioned lane meets its "T" junction with Edgcott Road. The earliest features of the church are 13th century, the southern doorway from the middle of that century whilst the chancel is slightly later. These two features cover the commencement of the Decorated style fashionable for that period, whilst the western tower is later still and Perpendicular. The nave roof was also replaced during the 15th century and the whole church extensively and quite sensitively restored during the 1860s. Given the church's junction setting it is best to park away along Main Street before approaching on foot there being no dedicated parking at the site. A set of wooden gates faces Main Street and forms the main entrance to a churchyard which is open and with no obstructions to photography.