Place:Bledlow, Buckinghamshire, England

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source: Family History Library Catalog

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Bledlow is a village in the civil parish of Bledlow-cum-Saunderton in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated about a mile and a half WSW of Princes Risborough, and on the border with Oxfordshire. The village's name is Anglo-Saxon and means Bledda's burial mound. In the 10th century the village was recorded as Bleddanhloew; in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Bledelai.

The village is situated on the ancient road Icknield Way and is the location where several springs form a small pool called the Lyde. The water from the springs is said to wear away the chalk on which the village stands, giving rise to the simple local medieval nursery rhyme:

The brook running from the pool into the nearby valley (called the Lyde Brook) provided water power for two mills for many years.^[1] The village's watermill is a tourist attraction.

Above the village, carved into the chalk of Wain Hill is a large cross, similar to that found at Whiteleaf.^[1] There is also a round barrow on the hill. It is thought that this is the barrow or burial mound referred to in the village name.

Within the parish boundary of Bledlow-cum-Saunderton lie several hamlets, as is common with most villages in this area. The principal hamlet is Bledlow Ridge. The others are Forty Green (not to be confused with Forty Green near Beaconsfield), Pitch Green, Rout's Green, Skittle Green and Holly Green.

The parish church is dedicated to the Holy Trinity. It stands in a splendid position overlooking the Vale of Aylesbury and is built on an unusual plan. There are two aisles and the nave arcades include capitals of about 1200. Other features of interest are the font, some fragments of mural paintings, and the south doorway and porch (13th-14th cent.)

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