Recent Publications

The Society’s six

most recent publications

 

Sarah Fyge Egerton

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE’S FIRST FEMINIST POET:
THE LIFE OF SARAH FYGE EGERTON 1668-1723

– by David Noy
‘My daring pen will bolder sallies make, and like my self, an uncheck’d freedom take.’
The writer of those words did her best to  live up to them. She published a long feminist poem at the age of seventeen in defiance of her father – who then exiled her from her childhood home. Twenty years later in 1703 her life story reveals a middle-class woman struggling against the constraints imposed by her family, gender and economic position, while making bold stabs at independence. Sarah lived most of her life in Buckinghamshire, at Shenley, Adstock and finally Winslow. Her poetry languished in obscurity before its rediscovery by 1970s feminists. This new book combines the autobiographical nature of her poetry with historical research to tell her life story. Published May 2026.
£16 plus £3.90 post and packing (UK) or non-uk options
    

Records of Buckinghamshire

2026 – VOLUME 66
Articles in the society’s annual journal for 2026 range from the cross-ridge dykes of the Chilterns escarpment to  the history of the A40 main road at Dashwood Hill, from Sir John Vanbrugh’s architectural contributions to Stowe House to the archaeology of the deserted site of Quarrendon on the border of Aylesbury – plus accounts of town fires in Buckingham 1725 and Stony Stratford 1736 and 1742, and their broader context, both past and present. Published May 2026.
£25.00 including postage
 

Notley Abbey

FROM ITS FOUNDATION BY A NORMAN EARL
TO ITS DISSOLUTION BY A TUDOR KING:
A BUCKINGHAMSHIRE HOUSE OF AUGUSTINIAN CANONS

– by William Strange
For almost four centuries Notley Abbey was a major presence in Buckinghamshire, but its story has been largely forgotten – until now. This book brings together for the first time the daily lives of the canons in the county’s wealthiest monastery, its interactions with local people, its acquisition of lands and rights, its nationally known shrine – and what happened to its people, buildings, lands and valuables when Henry VIII’s agent came calling in 1538.  Published July 2024.
£18 plus £4.50 post and packing.
    

The Kings at Brill

THE EARLY HISTORY OF A BUCKINGHAMSHIRE VILLAGE
IN THE FOREST OF BERNWOOD

– by Michael Farley
Before 1066 King Edward the Confessor built a hall at Brill. For the next 230 years his successors came for the hunting – but Henry III made it a court fit for his new Queen. This book gathers all the evidence from medieval royal documents to modern archaeology to paint a vivid picture of life in Brill’s royal manor.  Published May 2022.
£18.00 plus £4 post and packing.
 

Finding Quarrendon:

TRACING A LATE MEDIEVAL BUCKINGHAMSHIRE VILLAGE THROUGH ITS DOCUMENTS

– by Garry Marshall
Once it was a thriving village surrounded by its open fields; today there are only grassy earthbanks. But this booklet brings Quarrendon alive again. This vivid demonstration of the art of historical research traces the villagers through the annual harvest, the sale of wool, repairs to the manor after gales – and the bridges after floods. Here we see the lives of Buckinghamshire people across a gap of 600 years.  Published May 2021.
£3.50 plus £1 post and packing.
 

How one man transformed a town

WINSLOW 1640-1770 AND WILLIAM LOWNDES

– by David Noy
William Lowndes left Winslow at the age of 15 when his father went bankrupt. He returned to pay his father’s debts,
build Winslow Hall and change the town forever. David Noy has mined the documentary record to tell this extraordinary story. Published November 2020.
£11 plus £3.50 post and packing.

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