Medmenham is a village in
Buckinghamshire,
England. It is located on the River Thames, about three and a half miles southwest of Marlow, three miles east of
Henley-on-Thames.
The village name is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means 'middle-sized homestead'. It was recorded in the Domesday Book of
1086 as
Medmeham.
There was a Cistercian abbey founded in Medmenham in the 12th century, under the ownership of Woburn Abbey, though it was not officially recognised by royal charter until
1200. In
1547 at the Dissolution of the Monasteries the abbey was seized and given to the Moore family, and then sold privately to the Duffields. It was while in the possession of the Duffields that the abbey became infamous as the location of The Hellfire Club, formally called the
Monks of Medmenham.
In
1755, when Sir Francis Dashwood acquired the ruins of the ancient abbey from the Duffield family he and John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich attended a church service at St Peter's church in Medmenham where Sandwich let loose a small monkey into the church. The regular devotees fled in horror, sure that
Satan himself had invaded their place of worship.
Today the abbey remains in ruins and is not open to the public. Medmenham, however, is an attractive, prosperous village on the banks of the Thames. It is popular with many executives who work in
London and the nearby towns of
Maidenhead and Reading.
See also
* RAF Medmenham
External links
*
Medmenham information from Wycombe District Council
*
UK & Ireland Genealogy — Medmenham historical information
*
Cistercian Abbeys: Medmenham *
Medmenham, Buckinghamshire *
The Medmenham Monks, aka The Hell-Fire Club *
St Peter and St Paul Church, Medmenham *
Category:Monasteries in England
Category:River Thames
Category:Villages in Buckinghamshire
