Latimer, Buckinghamshire


Latimer is a village that sits on the border between Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, England. In 2013, the civil parish of Latimer was renamed, Latimer and Ley Hill. The parish, forming part of the Buckinghamshire district of Chiltern, includes the villages of Latimer, Ley Hill and Tyler's Hill.
Latimer was originally joined with the adjacent village of Chenies. Both were anciently called Isenhampstead, at a time when there was a royal palace in the vicinity. However, in the reign of King Edward III of England the lands were split between two manorial barons: Thomas Cheyne in the village that later became known as 'Chenies', and William Latimer in this village. Latimer came into possession of the manor in 1326.
At the time of the English Civil War Latimer belonged to the Earl of Devonshire. When Charles I was captured by the Parliamentarian forces he was brought to Latimer on his way to London.
The small village includes 17th- and 18th-century cottages around a triangular village green with a pump on it. The church of St Mary Magdelane was rebuilt by Sir George Gilbert Scott in 1867. The rectory was built in the 18th century in grey and red brick.
The parish includes a common, the Crown pub, the Swan pub and a Methodist Chapel. Tyler's Hill is also in Latimer & Ley Hill parish and includes St George's Anglican Church. The graveyard at Tyler's Hill which serves Ley Hill and Tyler's Hill is run by Latimer parish council.
Chalfont & Latimer station is situated in the nearby town of Little Chalfont which is on the Chiltern Line between Aylesbury and London Marylebone with London Underground services between Baker Street and Amersham.
Latimer was the location used in the Department S episode, "The Pied Piper of Hambledown." The episode first aired: Sept/30/1969
Latimer House is an historic country house just outside the village.