# Great Missenden

Great Missenden is a village and civil parish in the Misbourne Valley in the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England, situated between the towns of Amersham and Wendover. It adjoins the village of Little Kingshill, and is a mile from Little Missenden and the village of Prestwood.
The narrow and historic High Street is bypassed by the main A413 London to Aylesbury Road. It is located in the centre of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The source of the Misbourne is to be found just north of the village, although the upper reach of the river runs only in winter and the perennial head is in Little Missenden. The village is now best known as home to the late Roald Dahl, the world-famous adult and children's author.

## Etymology

The name Missenden is first attested in the Domesday Book as Missedene, with other early attestations including the spellings Messedena and Musindone. The -den element probably comes from Old English denu, meaning "valley", but the etymology of the first element is uncertain. It is thought to occur in the name of the River Misbourne, which rises in Great Missenden, and also in the Hertfordshire place-name Miswell. Frank Stenton and Allen Mawer guessed that it came from a hypothetical Anglo-Saxon personal name Myrsa, which they also supposed to be found in the name of Mursley.
Eilert Ekwall suggested that the name Missenden came from a lost Old English word related to English moss, and to Danish mysse and Swedish missne (which denote plants of the genus Calla, such as water arum). Recent researchers have tentatively preferred Ekwall's guess, in which case the name Missenden would once have meant something like "valley where water-plants/marsh-plants grow".

## History

Great Missenden lay on a major route between the Midlands and London. Several coaching inns, particularly the Red Lion (now an estate agency) and The George (with new owners), provided rest and refreshment for travellers and their horses. The first railway line in the area was, however, routed alongside the Grand Union Canal to the east. Once the coaches stopped running Great Missenden declined in importance and prosperity, becoming an agricultural town. Following the arrival of the Metropolitan Railway, (later the London Underground's Metropolitan line) in 1892. Great Missenden became a village where writers, entertainers and even Prime Ministers resided. Great Missenden railway station is now on the Chiltern Railways line and offers fast connecting services running into London Marylebone; it is the first station on the line that does not fall into a London Zone.
The village is overlooked by the medieval Church of England parish church, the Church of St Peter and St Paul, whereas the High Street itself is home to the Catholic Church of The Immaculate Heart of Mary, one of the largest Catholic churches in the Chiltern District. The position of the parish church away from the town centre suggests an earlier settlement around the church with a move of the village's heart to its present location in the early Middle Ages. In the twelfth century Great Missenden was granted a charter allowing it to hold an annual Fair in August. Missenden Abbey, founded in 1133 as an Augustinian monastery, was ruined following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and the remains were incorporated into a Georgian mansion which is now a conference centre.
Gipsy House in Great Missenden was the home of author Roald Dahl from 1954 until his death in 1990, and still remains in the family, and many local scenes and characters are reflected in his work. Dahl is buried at St. Peter and St. Paul's Church and children still leave toys and flowers at his grave. In June 2005 the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre opened in Great Missenden to honour the work of Dahl.
Robert Louis Stevenson, the writer of famous works such as Treasure Island and the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, stayed a night at The Red Lion, now 62 High Street, in Great Missenden in October 1874, which he wrote in an essay called "An Autumn Effect".
The espionage novelist David Cornwell, who wrote as John le Carré, noted in a posthumously published introduction to a 2021 reissue of his first novel, Call for the Dead, that "I lived in Great Missenden in those days and commuted to Marylebone station".
The village is home to the private Gateway School, Great Missenden Combined School and The Misbourne secondary school. Many children attend the local grammar schools in nearby Amersham, Chesham, Little Chalfont and High Wycombe, as well as leading local preparatory schools such as Chesham Prep, which consistently makes The Tatler list of Best Prep Schools in the UK.
Given its quaint and historic high street, the village has been used extensively as a filming location for TV drama Midsomer Murders. During 1980, Hammer Film Productions filmed a small series of horror films for television, many of them filmed in and around Great Missenden. Of note is the episode "Rude Awakening" starring Denholm Elliott who plays an Estate Agent trapped in a recurring nightmare.

## Demography

At the 2001 UK census, the Great Missenden electoral ward had a population of 2,192. The ethnicity was 98.1% white, 0.7% mixed race, 0.5% Asian, 0.5% black and 0.2% other. The place of birth of residents was 90.6% United Kingdom, 1.5% Republic of Ireland, 2.8% other Western European countries, and 5.1% elsewhere. Religion was recorded as 77.7% Christian, 0% Buddhist, 0.2% Hindu, 0.1% Sikh, 0% Jewish, and 0.1% Muslim. 14.2% were recorded as having no religion, 0.3% had an alternative religion and 7.4% did not state their religion.
The economic activity of residents aged 16–74 was 35.7% in full-time employment, 11.3% in part-time employment, 14.9% self-employed, 1.9% unemployed, 1.9% students with jobs, 3.8% students without jobs, 19% retired, 8% looking after home or family, 2% permanently sick or disabled and 1.6% economically inactive for other reasons. The industry of employment of residents was 13.3% retail, 11.6% manufacturing, 5.5% construction, 24.1% real estate, 9.7% health and social work, 8.8% education, 4.7% transport and communications, 3.6% public administration, 4.2% hotels and restaurants, 4.3% finance, 1.9% agriculture and 8.3% other. Compared with national figures, the ward had a relatively high proportion of workers in agriculture and real estate. There were a relatively low proportion in public administration, transport and communications. Of the ward's residents aged 16–74, 35.8% had a higher education qualification or the equivalent, compared with 19.9% nationwide.

## Parish

* Ballinger, located northeast of Great Missenden, between Lee Common and Ballinger Common
* Ballinger Bottom, located northeast of Great Missenden, near South Heath
* Ballinger Common, located northeast of Great Missenden, near Ballinger
* Bryant's Bottom, located west of Prestwood, near Speen
* Frith-hill, located east of Great Missenden
* Heath End, located near the border with Hughenden parish, near Great Kingshill
* Hotley Bottom, located north of Prestwood
* Hyde End, located between South Heath and Hyde Heath
* Hyde Heath, located near Little Missenden
* Little Wood Corner, located south of South Heath
* Mobwell, located in Great Missenden
* Prestwood, large village west of Great Missenden
* South Heath, located northeast of Great Missenden

## Governance

There are two tiers of local government covering Great Missenden, at parish and unitary authority level: Great Missenden Parish Council and Buckinghamshire Council.
Great Missenden is within the Mid Buckinghamshire parliamentary constituency, represented since 2024 by Greg Smith, (Conservative Party).

## Notable people

* Clement Attlee, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
* Adam Carse, composer, lived at Winton, Martin's End Lane until his death in 1958
* David Cornwell (John le Carré), English novelist
* Jamie Cullum, English musician
* Roald Dahl, British novelist
* Patricia Neal, American actress
* Geoffrey Palmer, English actor
* Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish novelist
* Harold Wilson, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom