Bledlow
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Bledlow is a village in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated about a mile and a half WSW of Princes Risborough, and on the border with Oxfordshire.
The village's name is Anglo Saxon and means Bledda's burial mound. In the 10th century the village was recorded as Bleddanhloew; in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Bledelai.
The village is situated on the Roman road Icknield Way and is the location where several springs form a small pool called the Lyde. The water from the springs is said to wear away the chalk on which the village stands, giving rise to the simple local medieval nursery rhyme:
- "They who live and do abide
- Shall see Bledlow Chuch fall into the Lyde."
The brook running from the pool into the nearby valley (called the Lyde Brook) provided water power for two mills for many years.
Above the village, carved into the chalk of the nearby hill is a large cross, similar to that found at Whiteleaf. It is thought that this is the barrow or burial mound referred to in the village name.
Within the parish boundary of Bledlow lie several hamlets, as is common with most villages in this area. The principal hamlet, Bledlow Ridge, was made into a separate parish in its own right in 1868. The others are Forty Green, Pitch Green, Rout's Green, Skittle Green and Holly Green.
The parish church is dedicated to the Holy Trinity.