Wigginton, Hertfordshire

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude=51.7833
longitude=-0.6387
official_name= Wigginton
population=
shire_district= Dacorum
shire_county = Hertfordshire
region= East of England
constituency_westminster= South West Hertfordshire
post_town= Tring
postcode_district = HP23
postcode_area= HP
dial_code= 01296/01442
os_grid_reference= SP939102

Wigginton ("Wigentone" - 1086) is a large village running north-south and perched at 730ft on the edge of the Chiltern Hills in the county of Hertfordshire and aside the border with Buckinghamshire. The nearest towns are Tring in Hertfordshire (1.5m NW) and across the other side of the A41, Chesham (6m S) and Wendover (6m W), both in Buckinghamshire. In the 11^th century, Wigginton was under the control of a half-brother of William I, Robert, Count of Mortain. However, in 1086 the Domesday Book indicates that Wigginton had not been gifted to him but was probably acquired by force by Robert from two adjacent estates close to Tring one of which had previously been in the hands of Edith of Wessex. During the 13^th century Wigginton formed part of the estate at Little Gaddesden passing first to the de Broc family and then, through marriage to the de Lucys. After the death of Sir William Lucy in 1466 it was in the ownership of the Corbets for over 130 years. The manor was then the subject of successive legal challenges fought out in the Court of Chancery until it came into the possession of Sir Richard Anderson of the manor of Pendley during the 1650s. Elizabeth Spencer (nee Anderson) inherited Wigginton and became the third wife of Simon Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt 1703. The manor remained in the Harcourt family until the 1860s. Colonel Charles Harcourt had died in 1831 leaving the manor to his three daughters, Sarah, Elizabeth and Alice who jointly sold it to Rev. James Williams in 1868.

Adjacent to the main village is the settlement of Wigginton Bottom where a number of farmworkers cottages were built.

The Champneys (also recorded as "Champneys and Forsters") estate was originally a separate manor associated with Tring and was recorded in the Court Rolls of 1514. It was owned by successive landowning families in the Wigginton and surrounding area between the 14^th and 19^th centuries, although for a short period around 1535 it is recorded as owned by the then Archbishop of Canterbury one Thomas Cranmer. In 1902 Champneys was sold to Lady Rothschild by the Rev. Arthur Sutton Valpy, a descendant of Richard Valpy who had inherited it in 1871. He replaced the original building by the current house in 1874 which stood in extensive grounds of around 200 acres which his late wife Emily Anne Sutton had acquired, prior to their marriage, largely from the vicars of Tring. It is now known as a health spa.

St Bartholomews Church was first recorded in 1217 and is thought to have had connections with the Knights Hospitalers. Much of the main building dates from 15^th century and major restoration was undertaken in 1881. Today there is a C of E Primary School of the same name. Wigginton Common was enclosed in 1854 and was subsequently incorporated into the Tring Park Estate owned at the time by the Rothschild Family. Although there is evidence of Nonconformist worship during the 1700s a Baptist chapel was only opened in the village in 1904.

External links

* [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=43284&strquery=wigginton|British History Online - Victoria History of the County of Hertford: volume 2 (1908), pp. 314-17 - Wigginton]