IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Little Ham Lane, PRINCES RISBOROUGH, HP27 9JW

Monks Risborough and Princes Risborough were originally separate communities but are now joined together by suburban housing.

Monks Risborough, an old village, is now mostly a northern suburb of its much larger partner, Princes Risborough.

A northbound Chiltern Railways train from Princes Risborough heading for Aylesbury is about to cross the pedestrian crossing from Westmead to Alscot Farm.

Princes Risborough expanded significantly between about 1950 and 1980 including these houses here, which probably date from the late 1960s/early 1970s - part of an estate effectively joining Princes Risborough to Monks Risborough.

The dovecote is thought to date from the 16th century, and was originally a building on Place Farm, which was demolished in the 1970s for housing development. Dovecotes were built by landowners to house rock pigeons. The pigeons would breed between April and October and the young birds, called squabs, would be taken when about four weeks old to be cooked and eaten. The design of dovecotes has always tried to appeal to pigeons and to discourage birds of prey, although modifications were sometimes needed to cope with the later threat posed by brown rats which could burrow into dovecotes and attack nests close to the ground. This particular dovecote was constructed of chalk and originally would have had about 200 nestboxes. (Notes loosely transcribed, with thanks, from the nearby information board written by the Princes Risborough Area Heritage Society.) Image is in the background. From a cartographic point of view the dovecote somewhat surprisingly merits its own pale orange "building" on the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 scale mapping.

Typical congestion at 3pm on a school day!

Viewed from the pedestrian crossing over the railway at the rear of Westmead.

The bridge carries the Princes Risborough to Aylesbury line over Mill Lane. Image is to the right.

Monks Risborough is the oldest recorded parish in England. Oldest parts of this present building date back to around 1150, structurally the Church hasn't changed much since around 1470.

The parish celebrated its 1100th anniversary in 2003, with its boundaries having been witnessed by royalty and bishops in a charter dated 903. The Church's website is here http://www.stdunstanschurch.com/ There is a comprehensive description of the church in the British History website here http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=62768