Middle Claydon is listed in the Domesday Book as a settlement in the hundred of Waddesdon in the County of Buckinghamshire. It had a recorded population of 21 households in 1086, apparently putting it in the largest 40% of settlements recorded in Domesday. It is recorded as having 16 villagers, 2 smallholders and 3 slaves. Middle Claydon is the oldest of the villages now known collectively as the Claydons, and the largest by area.

Claydon was given to William ’the Elder’ Peverel who was bornabout 1050 at Peverel in Normandy, France. William ’the Elder’ was reputed to bea favourite of William the Conqueror. He was greatly honoured after the Norman Conquest, receiving over a hundred holdings in central England from the king. In 1086, the Domesday Book records William with substantial landholdings (162 manors) mainly in the North of England and collectively called the Honour of Peverel. Several castles were included: Bolsover Castle, which became the seat of the Peverel family, and Nottingham Castle among them.

Our parish now has an area of nearly 2,640 acres, of which more than half is arable land, the remainder being divided between meadow and woodland. The height of the land above the ordnance datum varies from 287 ft. to a maximum height of about 410 ft. at Runt's Wood in the south-east of the parish. The ancient Three Points Lane, running north-west to north of Runt's Wood, is part of the eastern boundary of the parish, and Claydon Brook bounds it on the north-west. The soil is clay loam with beds of sand and gravel; the subsoil is clay.

The village of Middle Claydon lies to the north of Claydon House Park with the old rectory and the almshouses, which originally stood to the north-west of the churchyard but were removed by Ralph, 2^nd Earl Verney, to their present position. North-east of the village is Home Farm and the cemetery, dating from 1877. To the west of the park was a brick and tile works. Rectory Farm lies in the north-west of the parish, and Muxwell Farm, a 17^th-century brick house with a thatched roof, just within its eastern borders; Knowlhill Farm is at the end of Three Points Lane, near Home Wood.

An important feature in the parish is Claydon House, seat of the Verney family since 1620. It is now a National Trust property, open to the public during the summer months, and celebrated for its connection with Florence Nightingale. The original house was rebuilt by Ralph 2^nd Earl Verney between 1757 and 1771. The house as it stands today is a fraction of its original planned size. What remains today is the 'west wing'; this at one time had an identical twin. Following the death of Ralph in 1792, his estate was inherited by his niece Mary Verney, who had the house reduced to its present size. On Mary’s death, her cousin Sir Harry Calvert inherited and changed his surname by Royal Licence to Verney.

The parish church, All Saints, is close to Claydon House and is also open to visitors during the year.The first Rector is reputed to have been John de Blarewich with the date 1231, so that worship has been has taken place on this site for over 780 years. The church has many monuments commemorating the various families associated with Claydon. The architect Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878) was commissioned to record and carry out internal alterations. He commented that the church was a fine example of ‘good 14^th-century work’. The church is aligned to the sunrise on All Saints Day, 1^stNovember, so that it can be seen through the East window.

There are several settlements in the parish, the two larger ones being Sandhill and Verney Junction, which are both associated with 19^thcentury development. The reinstatement of the Oxford to Cambridge railway, currently due to terminate in Bedfordshire, will bring a new feature to the parish.

Steeple Claydon Village is the nearest shopping centre and Winslow will be the nearest railway station when it is finally commissioned in about 2024.

A Hundred is a measure of land area used in local government and taxation, valid into the 19^th century. The term probably derives from an equivalence to 100 ‘hides’; each was roughly enough land to support a peasant family.

Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) is celebrated for her work to improve nursing standards during the Crimean War and later in England. Her older sister Parthenope was the second wife to Sir Harry Verney, the English soldier and Liberal politician (1801-1894).