Radnage is a village and civil parish in the Wycombe district of Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is in the Chiltern Hills

Chiltern Hills

The Chiltern Hills form a chalk escarpment in South East England. They are known locally as "the Chilterns". A large portion of the hills was designated officially as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1965.-Location:...

 about two miles north east of Stokenchurch

Stokenchurch

Stokenchurch is a village and civil parish within Wycombe district in Buckinghamshire England. It is in the Chiltern Hills, about south of Chinnor in Oxfordshire and west of High Wycombe. The village is a popular place to live, due to its rural location and ease of access to London and Birmingham...

 and six miles WNW of High Wycombe

High Wycombe

High Wycombe , commonly known as Wycombe and formally called Chepping Wycombe or Chipping Wycombe until 1946,is a large town in Buckinghamshire, England. It is west-north-west of Charing Cross in London; this figure is engraved on the Corn Market building in the centre of the town...

.

The village's toponym

Toponymy

Toponymy is the scientific study of place names , their origins, meanings, use and typology. The word "toponymy" is derived from the Greek words tópos and ónoma . Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds...

 is derived from the Old English for "red oak". It was recorded in manorial

Manorialism

Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...

 rolls of 1162 as Radenhech, which is when the village was given by the king to the Knights Templar

Knights Templar

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...

.

The Church of England parish church

Church of England parish church

A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative region, known as a parish.-Parishes in England:...

 of Saint Mary

Mary (mother of Jesus)

Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...

 has a central tower. This design is common for churches associated with the Knights Templar

Knights Templar

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...

. The wall paintings inside the church are of note, as they have been there since the 16th century. The church was used extensively as a location in the film A Month in the Country

A Month in the Country (film)

A Month in the Country is a 1987 British film directed by Pat O'Connor. The film is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by J. L. Carr, and stars Colin Firth, Kenneth Branagh, Natasha Richardson and Patrick Malahide...

.

The man who reputedly killed the last bear in England is buried in Radnage, 20 yards to the left of the church door. His gravestone is denoted by a man hunting a bear with a bow and arrow.

The parish is quite spread out over a wide area and incorporates a number of smaller hamlets

Hamlet (place)

A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

. These include The City, Bennett End, Sprigs Alley and Waterend.

The village is twinned with Radenac

Radenac

Radenac is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France.-People:Cyclist Jean Robic, who won the Tour de France in 1947, spent his childhood in Radenac, where his father owned the local cycle shop...

 in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

Templar links

Radnage, also called Radeneach, Rodenache etc in old documents, meaning ‘red oak’. In 1215 Radnage Manor was granted by charter to the Templars by King John. A confirmation of the grant is documented in 1227. A single mention of the manor occurs in the cartulary of the Hospitallers, recording the election in 1522 of Andrew and Edmund Windsor as stewards of the manors of 'Radnache, Temple Wycombe and Marlow’ and granting a salary of 26s. 8d. On the abolition of the order the manor was handed over to the Knights Hospitallers. The parish church of St Mary's on Church Lane was built by the Templars and is said to still have its original (central) tower, though other parts may have been refurbished or rebuilt over the years. A record shows that the church of St Mary was granted (or re granted) to the Order in 1231.