Ludgershall, Buckinghamshire

infobox UK place
country = England
static_

static_image_caption= The old schoolhouse in Ludgershall, now a private dwelling
latitude= 51.8539
longitude= -1.0622
population= 402 [ [http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=7&b=792062&c=Ludgershall&d=16&e=15&g=424229&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1216513534887&enc=1&dsFamilyId=779 Neighbourhood Statistics 2001 Census] ]
official_name= Ludgershall
shire_district= Aylesbury Vale
shire_county = Buckinghamshire
region= South East England
constituency_westminster= Buckingham
post_town= AYLESBURY
postcode_district = HP18
postcode_area= HP
dial_code= 01296
os_grid_reference= SP661174

Ludgershall is a village and civil parish in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire, England. It is near the border with Oxfordshire, about five miles east of Bicester, four miles west of Waddesdon. In 2001, the population of the parish was 402.

The name of the village is Anglo Saxon in origin, and is said to mean "nook with a trapping spear" [Tengstrand, E, "Genitival Composition in Old English Place-names", Uppsala, 1940, p 219] , but this is disputed [Ekwall, Eilert, "The Consise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names" (4th Ed), OUP, 1960, ISBN 0-19-869103-3, p 306-7] . It occurs in more than one place in England (see Ludgershall). In the Domesday Book of 1086 the village was recorded as "Litlegarsele".

Henry II granted land within the village to the priory of Santingfield in Picardy, France. It is possible that a hospital was founded on this land, although it is uncertain. In the reign of Henry VI, when all foreign church possessions were seized by the Crown, this land was given to King's College, Cambridge. [ [http://met.open.ac.uk/genuki/big/eng/BKM/Ludgershall/Index.html#Descriptions "Magna Britannia" quoted on Genuki] ] [cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=40327 |title='Hospitals: Ludgershall', "A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 1 (1905)" |accessdaymonth=30 October |accessyear=2007 |publisher=British History Online |pages=pp. 395 ] [cite web |url=http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/library/archives/college/hlfproject/estates/manors/ludgershall.doc |title=King’s College Estates Records |accessdaymonth=30 October |accessyear=2007 |format=Microsoft Word document |publisher=King's College, University of Cambridge ]

Ludgershall was at one time home to the theologian John Wyclif.

References