Wotton Underwood is a village and civil parish in the Aylesbury Vale District of Buckinghamshire, about 7 miles (11 km) north of Thame in neighbouring Oxfordshire.
The toponym is derived from the Old English for "farm near a wood". It is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of AD 848 as Wudotun and in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Oltone. The affix "Underwood" was added later to distinguish the village from other places also called Wotton. The affix means "near the wood" and refers to the village's nearness to the ancient Bernwood Forest.
The present manor house in the village, Wotton House, dates from the early eighteenth century but has been much altered since, notably by John Soane in the 1820s.
South Pavilion, the former home of actor John Gielgud, was bought by Tony and Cherie Blair for £4m, in 2008.
Read more about Wotton Underwood: Railways, Notable Residents
Famous quotes containing the words wotton and/or underwood:
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When father carves the duck.
Then all of us prepare to rise,
And hold our bibs before our eyes,
And be prepared for some surprise,
When father carves the duck.”
—Ernest Vincent Wright Wotton (1872–1939)
“For winter’s rains and ruins are over,
And all the seasons of snows and sins;
The days dividing lover and lover,
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Blossom by blossom the spring begins.”
—A.C. (Algernon Charles)