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Ellesborough is a village in Buckinghamshire, England. It is at the foot of the Chiltern Hills, about two miles from Wendover and nestles between the villages of Butlers Cross and Little Kimble. It is the location of the Prime Minister's country residence Chequers and is also home to racing driver Jackie Stewart. Famous British TV actor David Jason also lives in the village.
The village name is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means 'hill where asses are pastured'. In the Domesday Book of 1086 it was recorded as Esenberge. The road from Wendover to Princes Risborough, which makes a very clearly defind detour around the hill on which Ellesborough Church stands, follows the route of the Icknield Way, an ancient trackway of neolithic man (3,000 to 1,800 B.C.) which ran from Norfolk to Avebury in Wiltshire.
The parish church, dedicated to St Peter and St Paul, stands separate from the rest of the village, high on the hill overlooking the rest of Ellesborough. Prime Ministers have normally attended this church for Sunday morning worship when in residence at Chequers. Tony Blair, however, followed his wife and children to their Roman Catholic church in Great Missenden. Margaret Thatcher was famously known to pray at the church finding comfort during the Falklands War.
Towering over the village is the dominanting Beacon Hill, with its grassy mound and lone tree iconic amongst the Chiltern Hills when viewed from within the Aylesbury Vale. It is also the site of Cymbeline's Mount, referred to in the Shakespeare play of that name. Inreality it refers to the British King Cunobelinus who battled against the Roman Invasion of the sacred British Isles at the site along with his sons.
(Source: Wikipedia) |