Brief History of the Ecclesiastical Parish

Boarstall, 7 miles N.W. of Thame, a parish in the hundred of Ashendon and the deanery of Wendover in the county of Buckinghamshire, was part of Bernwood Forest.

Boarstall is not mentioned in Domesday and was part of Brill at that time.

Boarstall was formerly a chapel to Oakley: it was made parochial in 1418. The living is a perpetual curacy, annexed to that of Brill, in the diocese of Oxford. The Church is dedicated to Saint James.

The great tithes of this parish were given by the Empress Matilda (1102 - 1167), known as Maud, to the monks of St. Frideswide, in Oxford.

The Current Parish (as a secular arm of government)

Boarstall covers quite a large area, yet, because Boarstall village was almost totally demolished in 1645, during the British Civil War, today it has a small population living in just over fifty dwellings. Just over one hundred parishioners are registered on the electoral roll.

Because Boastall is small, it has a Parish Meeting rather than a Parish Council.

The district council is Aylesbury Vale District Council.

The county council is Buckinghamshire County Council. Aylesbury Vale District Council, Chiltern District Council, South Bucks District Council, Wycombe District Council and Buckinghamshire County Council are together developing a new website Bucks online which will provide access to local information.