A village just west of London on the River Thames has been rated one of the country’s poshest. Medmenham, in south west Buckinghamshire, is about three and a half miles south west of Marlow and three miles east of Henley-on-Thames.
The historic settlement has been ranked as one of The Daily Telegraph’s ’48 poshest villages’ in the UK. The average house price in the village is a grand ÂŁ1,462,199.
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Meanwhile, in October 2023, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the average price of a house in London was way less than half of that – ÂŁ516,000.
Medmenham is the only remaining riverside village in Buckinghamshire and it’s complete with a 12th-century church and 14th-century pub. Its first church, though, was established in the middle of the seventh century, and was rebuilt some 500 years later in 1150 under the patronage of Hugh II, Baron de Bolebec of Buckinghamshire.
The structure still stands proudly today as St Peter and St Paul Church. Medmenham also contains several slightly older buildings from the 17th century, including the Dog and Badger Inn and its post office.
The location is also ideal for families, as the local primary school is rated as ‘Oustanding’ by Ofsted in April, 2023.
Medmenham is located on the Thames, but it ‘isn’t the busy London river as you might know it’, reports The Telegraph. Instead, it is a haven for swimmers, kayakers and houseboats who make good use of the ‘peaceful’ stretch of waterway.
Military history buffs may be interested to know that RAF Medmenham, a former Royal Air Force station, is located nearby at Danesfield House.
But, under the surface, all is not what it seems. Medmenham Abbey is said to have been a place where men used to ‘indulge in debauchery’. The Hellfire Club, who styled themselves the Monks or Friars of Medmenham, was founded during the 1740s.
Although, Ancient Origins warns that, as it was a secret society, the club’s activities have never been established with certainty. They are therefore based mainly on hearsay and imagination.
How to get there
From Paddington, it would take around two hours to get there by train and bus to get there. Via the M4, it takes around an hour to drive there.
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