Poundon

Poundon is a small village about 2 miles to the west of Twyford.

A short description of Poundon from “A History of the County of Buckingham”: Volume 4. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1927.

Poundon (Powendone, xiv cent.) is a small hamlet about a mile and a quarter south-west of Twyford. Here, there is a Church of England mission room. The residence of Mr. John Pemberton Heywood Heywood Lonsdale, the principal landowner, is a modern stone house.

The hamlet of Poundon is named in the early 14th century as forming part of the vill of Twyford. It appears to have descended with the Giffard manor of Twyford during the time of subdivision, since Thomas Giffard ratified in 1430 a transfer of lands there made by John and Isabel Stokes. On the death of the last Viscount Wenman in 1800, the Poundon estate distinguished as POUNDON MANOR passed to his elder nephew, William Richard Wykeham and descended with Haddenham Manor to Mr. Wenman Aubrey Wykeham-Musgrave. He has lately sold this property to Mr. John Pemberton Heywood Heywood-Lonsdale.

Poundon has a pub called the Sow and Pigs.

Poundon House was built in 1908 and is currently owned by the Roscoe family and used as a wedding venue. The gardens were designed by the renowned landscape gardener, T H Mawson. The original owner was Col John Heyward-Lonsdale who married a Miss Parker-Bowles.

Poundon was the site of a radio receiving station used by the SoE (precursor to MI6) during the second world war. After the war, the site was used by GCHQ and finally closed in 1998.

The Sow and Pigs

Poundon is well known for its excellent pub, the Sow and Pigs.

The picture of the building with the name of Fred Thorpe, the landlord, above the door was probably taken in about 1932 looking at the style of dress on the ladies. Fred died in 1933 and was the father of Bernard Thorpe (born in 1930) who lived in Church Street for many years. Fred’s wife, Bertha, lived with Bernard in Twyford after Fred’s death. The two girls in front of the pub are probably, Bertha (nee Allen) on the left and Edna Allen, her niece, on the right. She was later to become Edna Hodges

In the 1911 census, Fred was living with his parents in Chilton Place, Twyford. In the 1939 census, Bertha was living with Bernard in Church Street, Twyford.

Fred Thorpe’s son, Bernard, who was born at the Sow and Pigs, used to regularly ride his bicycle in all weathers from Twyford to get to his work on the railways. He eventually wore it out which was such an unusual event, that Raleigh presented him with a new one free of charge.

Bernard was renowned for his tidiness and no leaf that fell in the Autumn was allowed to rest outside his house for more than 10 minutes before he swept it up.