Buckden - a Huntingdonshire Village

57 Pilgrim, Ernest was an unfortunate man from Saffron Walden who was found by Pc Wallage wandering about Buckden one wet winter evening in an exhausted state. With the kindness that occasionally characterised Buckden policemen faced with respectable-looking men behaving oddly, Pc Wallage took Mr Pilgrim home for a cup of tea, only to discover that he was labouring under the delusion that he owned Buckden Towers. Pc Wallage therefore thought it wise to escort him down to St Neots police station, whence he was taken to the workhouse (where, it turned out, he had once worked as a porter). Having no visible means of support he was brought before the magistrates – who gave him the money for his fare back to Saffron Walden. See also patients, mental, passing through Buckden. pinders were for many centuries among the most important local officials in England; the post dates back to at least the early 13thC. It was their job to protect lives, property and bloodlines by rounding up stray ‘beestes’, mainly horses and farm livestock, and taking them to the local pinfold or pound to await collection by their owners – for a fee. They were the forerunners of today’s vehicle impounders, and about as popular. In Buckden in 1827, pinder Samuel Saunders alleged that he had been horsewhipped and threatened by William Cope, publican, the owner of two pigs Saunders was driving to the pound (they had been found trespassing in the garden of one of Buckden’s two Mr Henry Wallers). The case went to court, but unfortunately research has not yet revealed the outcome. Perhaps there were other such incidents, because within a few years Saunders had exchanged the life of a pinder for the comparative comfort of an agricultural labourer in Wyton. The Buckden pinder was appointed not by the parish authorities but by the Bishop of Lincoln’s manorial court. The expenses of the post were met from the income generated by the letting of a piece of land known as Pinder Lane. See also pond. Pipe family. In October 1945 Arnold Sydney Pipe and his wife Sylvia Joan came to Buckden and rented a shop at 49 Church Street from Mr Hinsby Senior, who also had a tobacconist’s shop directly across the road at 1 Silver Street. Mr and Mrs Pipe carried on a grocery business at number 49, but right from the start Mr Pipe introduced radios and electrical equipment into the shop and with the help of the PYE television agency introduced televisions to Buckden when they reappeared after the war. He also worked as an electrician; for example he wired the house of the late Alice Whitmee in Silver Street. His friend Mr Gerald Finch worked for the business for some thirty years and later became caretaker for the school. He was also godfather to Mr and Mrs Pipe’s son, Colin. The tobacconist’s at 1 Silver Street was managed by Mr Hinsby’s wife until her death in 1962, when the Pipes took it over. However, when Mr Hinsby senior died in 1973 his son, Spencer, disposed of all the family's Buckden properties. As a result, the tobacconist's closed in 1974, and has since been a private house. The following year, Mr and Mrs Pipe and Colin were able jointly to buy the freehold of 49 Church Street. Mr Pipe continued with his electrical business until he retired in 1981. After his death in 1984, the grocery side of the business was greatly expanded (Mrs Pipe was deservedly well-known for her home-cooked ham) and an off-licence added. Customers who did not know of Mr Pipe’s previous enterprise might be surprised by the range of electrical fittings to be found in the shop. Pipes Stores continued successfully until 1996, when Mrs Pipe retired and she and Colin left Buckden. Since then the shop has been the Beauty Room. For many years a small bow-fronted window in a tiled gable on the first floor survived as a reminder that the building had once housed the village Reading Rooms. Unfortunately, while the roof was being refurbished in 1983, it was found that the gable was rotten throughout and beyond any economic repair. In 1970, the family moved in to a newly built bungalow on the corner of Manor Gardens and Church Street. Mr Pipe had bought the land in 1962, on the death of the previous owner, Miss Sybil Smith of the Manor House. It had been used for pigs and as an orchard in its time. Piper, John (1903–1992) was a Neo-Romantic a rtist and designer, one of whose best-known works is ‘Buckden in a Storm’, a striking picture of The Towers and St Mary’s Church. It exists in several versions (some known as ‘Buckden Palace, Cambridgeshire)’, both as a painting and as a screenprint, and has found its way into locations as diverse as the Tate Gallery and the Chartered Accountants’ Great Hall in London, as well as on to greeting-cards. See plate PB2.6.1. Pitt the Younger, William (1759–1806) , politician, lawyer and duellist, was a son of William Pitt the Elder. Each served as Prime Minister, the son from 1783 to 1801 and again from 1804 to 1806; many regard him as the most successful parliamentary leader Britain has ever had. Some of his success he owed to his tutor at Cambridge, the Rev. Dr George Pretyman (q.v.)(later Sir George Tomline), who remained his friend and political adviser for life. In return, Pitt appointed him Bishop of Lincoln in 1787, and would come to visit him at Buckden from time to time. After Pitt’s early death – he always enjoyed port but never good health – Pretyman was his executor and partial biographer. ( Partial in that he was both uncritical of his subject and failed to finish the biography.) plane, the Buckden. The grounds of Buckden Towers can boast several impressive trees. Among them is a large Platanus x hispanica or London plane, believed to have been planted in about 1660 by Bishop Sanderson, who had been charged with restoring the bishop’s palace and its surroundings after the depredations of the Commonwealth. If true, this makes it one of the earliest planted in this country. In 2000, it was measured at nearly 114 feet high and 23 feet in circumference. Mrs Pipe and Colin 1996