The Soulbury Parish covers some 4,226 acres and has a population of 804. It contains the hamlets of Hollingdon, Chelmscote, Bragenham and Stockgrove. Interestingly it gave its name to the Solebury township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
A glacial erratic lies in a road in the parish. The stone originated in Derbyshire, and was deposited by the retreat of glaciers at the end of the last ice age. Oliver Cromwell is said to have used the stone as a podium during an attack on the village church during the English civil war. Local tradition holds that the stone is the petrified foot of the devil.
There is a public greenspace, the Soulbury Millennium Green, which is owned and run by a local charitable trust and was created as part of the celebrations for the turn of the Millennium in the year 2000. It is one of 245 such Millennium Greens throughout England and the only one in Buckinghamshire. For further information please click here.
THE TRUSTS OF SOULBURY
The Stapleford Trust: This was set up in the village to provide coal to those who needed support of this kind at Christmas time. The Trust owns farmland which is rented, the proceeds of which provide the funds for the Trust’s work. Things have moved on to the present day and now the Trust provides Christmas hampers to anyone who is over 65 and has lived in Soulbury for more than a year. A reminder about this Trust is included in the Soulbury Parish News in time for anyone becoming eligible to advise the organisers.
The Soulbury Endowed School Trust: In 1710 The Reverend John Sambee received a bequest of £300 from Robert Lovett to be used for the best advantage of the parish of Soulbury. By November 1728 a school and house (Lovett House) had been built and land purchased to maintain the income. The trustees were instructed to use the money to help children’s education. Today the fund is still operating and any child in Soulbury between the ages of 14 and 18 on 31st December can apply for a grant towards items to help with their education.
CONSERVATION AREA
