About the town » Penn, Buckinghamshire, England, Great Britain

Penn is a village and civil parish in Chiltern district in Buckinghamshire, England, about 3 miles north-west of Beaconsfield and 4 miles east of High Wycombe. It is 3,991 acres in area. The village name is originally Brythonic and means simply hill: the village stands on a particular promontory of the Chiltern Hills, and from the tower of the Holy Trinity Church in the village it is supposedly possible to see into not less than eight other counties. There is also a beacon hill with a signal post on it in the village boundary. Segraves Manor, the principal manor in Penn, historically belonged to the Penn family. Sybil Penn, wife of David, was dry nurse and foster mother to King Edward VI and Lady of the Bed Chamber to his sister Queen Elizabeth I. William Penn erroneously believed himself to be a descendant of this family. However in 1735 the manor passed from the unmarried Roger Penn to his only heir and sister, who was married to Lord Curzon. The village of Penn Street also lies within the parish boundary about a mile from the main village, and refers to the road that leads to Penn from nearby Amersham. Penn Street remains home to Earl Howe of the Penn-Curzon-Howe dynasty and the family's long historic influence on the village is evident all around Penn Street church. The church yard contains a number of items from Gopsall, Lord Howe's other country house in Leicestershire. The Lych gate and Countess Howe memorial was moved from Congerstone 1919 when the family sold the Gopsall Estate. Penn Street looks out on a large village green, where cricket is played in summer. Refreshments are served in The Squirrel, a pub with a garden facing directly on to the green. The area is a very beautiful part of the Chiltern Hills, and is very popular with London executives due to its proximity to road and rail links into the city. In 1983, Penn became the burial place of the British spy Donald Maclean. Ernest Saunders, one of the Guinness Four, was also a resident. The actor and singer Stanley Holloway, lived in Penn with his wife and son for many years during the fifties and sixties. Violinist Peter Tanfield was born there. Celebrity chef and television personality Mary Berry also lives in Penn. The philosopher Professor Sir Karl Popper lived in Manor Road, Penn, for many years. The Cottage Bookshop in Penn has been used as one of the filming locations for the A Tale of Two Hamlets episode of the ITV television program Midsomer Murders. It was also used to film an episode called "Bookshop Chuckles" of the children's television show ChuckleVision. The tree acre set for Nanny McPhee was also constructed there. Medical pioneers Dr. Louisa Garrett Anderson and Dr. Flora Murray are buried in the grounds of the Holy Trinity Church.