The 15th century church (restored by the Victorians) has the Bedford Chapel of 1556 attached which is considered to be the richest single storehouse of funeral monuments in any parish church in England, with Bedford family monuments from the 16th century onwards. I play the organ there for weddings and special services.



The adjacent Manor House, built about 1530, was visited by King Henry VIII and of course Queen Elizabeth 1st slept there. We can only visit occasionally as it is only open two afternoons a week.

The wide High Street has buildings going back to the 15th century but is mainly 17th and 18th. In the centre is the Town Hall of 1682. The first house has a warning for musicians!


The Victorian Methodist Chapel is rather out of place among such ancient buildings but has foundation stones laid by my great-aunts Mrs.Benjamin & Mrs.Henry Goodearl.

This delightful church is basically Anglo-Saxon about 1000 years old with Norman and 14th century additions. Fortunately the Victorians did little harm here. There is an exquisite wall painting of Saint Christopher from the late 13th century. I play the organ here once a month.

We descend to the Vale of Aylesbury from the top of the Chilterns at Pulpit Hill where there is an Iron Age fort. In June some fields there are purple with a carpet of wild orchids.

Ancestor William's mother Mary Blackwell was born here and christened in the old church which has a splendid medieval painted rood screen. There are several thatched cottages nearby.

Beneath Whiteleaf Cross cut in the chalk on the hillside, recently restored to a pristine white which is visible for miles, we pass the site of the last Goodearl furniture factory.

We reach Bradenham where the ancestors lived from about 1778. The family cottage-probably new then is shown here, but a full description of the village is given under Photos of Bradenham.


The family were christened, married and buried at the church where William's father George - the first ancestor who could read and write - was parish clerk and sexton.

The architectural historian Pevsner describes it as "a village in which (except for the Methodist Church of 1894) nothing is visually wrong" It is mostly owned by the National Trust.


Up to the church at the top of the hill with its golden ball and the view of High Wycombe along West Wycombe Road.

Through narrow lanes to Lane End where William and the family lived from about 1834 to the 1870's. We do not know exactly where they lived, but the original and newer Methodist chapels they attended are there.

Passing Victoria Street chapel attended by the family from its opening in 1878 to closure in 1975 we pass the sites of the West End Road and Mendy Street factories to the wide 18th century High Street dominated by the Guildhall of 1757 and the nearby Market House of 1761.



The Parish Church is one of the largest in Bucks.

In the graveyard of the Friends' Meeting House of 1688 we see the headstones of William Penn of Pennsylvania and his family, while the nearby Mayflower Barn is built of timbers from that vessel.

We pass Milton's Cottage where John Milton lived during the 1665 plague.

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