Hughenden

Quite a number of prehistoric artefacts have been found in Hughenden parish. Mostly these have been found on the surface, either by chance or in fieldwalking surveys, such as the flakes and burnt flint found near Gomms Wood, east of Grange Farm and west of Hatches Farm. Others have been found gardening, such as the Neolithic to Bronze Age flint fabricator found on Pipers Lane, or the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age barbed and tanged arrowhead and four Mesolithic blades found at the allotments in Naphill.

Roman pottery has also been found in the allotments at Upper North Dean. The earliest find of Roman artefacts was a coin hoard, found in the eighteenth century on Piggott Common. Other Roman artefacts were found in the nineteenth century, such as the Roman urn found at the vicarage, and the possible Roman building associated with pottery, tile and quern fragments at Hazlemere Turnpike. Other Roman objects have been found more recently, such as the eleven sherds of Roman pottery found in a fieldwalking survey on Naphill Common. The only hint of Saxon activity in the parish was the find of a possible stone coffin or cist containing Saxon metalwork that was found in the nineteenth century at Deadman Danes Bottom.

There are historical records of medieval sites in Hughenden parish, such as a watermill at Flint Mill in Hughenden Park and another at Hughenden Mill recorded in the thirteenth century. There are also historical records of a medieval settlement of Pirenore, the location of which is now unknown. There are records that Rockhalls, though it is now a nineteenth century house, had a medieval predecessor. Some earthworks in the parish are thought to be medieval, such as the enclosure in Millfield Wood; the horse-shoe shaped earthwork on Naphill Common; the moat at Rockhalls Farm, presumably the site of the manor house, and the cultivation terraces at Upper North Dean. Some medieval pottery fragments have been found in Piggott’s Wood and at Grange Farm, where there are also earthworks of a possible deserted medieval village. The oldest building in the parish is Grange Farm, which is a fifteenth to sixteenth century timber-framed cruck-built house. St Michael and All Angel’s church was rebuilt in the nineteenth century, but the previous church dated to the fourteenth century.

A few of the other listed buildings in the parish are timber-framed sixteenth century builds, though most have had later alterations. They include Little Moseley Farm, Moseley Lodge, Coombe Farm and The Old House. Some seventeenth century buildings are also timber-framed such as Church House, which were built as almshouses. Many of the other buildings are eighteenth and nineteenth century, including Hughenden Manor itself, the seat of Benjamin Disraeli.

The nineteenth and twentieth centuries brought a little industry to the area with brick and tile-works being set up at Walter’s Ash Farm and other brickworks at Wells Brickfield and Bristow’s Yard. A lime-kiln was also set up at Kingshill. One modern installation that strays into Hughenden parish is Strike Command, which was set up as Bomber Command in 1940.