Liberty in Midsomer

On this blog I've occasionally mentioned that the popular TV series Midsomer Murders is filmed where I live. The nice little towns and villages in this part of South Buckinghamshire and some bits of Oxfordshire and Berkshire are the backdrop to the series. In fact, the reason I started watching the show was because one episode featured a house I once nearly bought. 

The exterior of the fictional Causton Police Station is filmed in Thame and, over the years, I've spotted Old Amersham, Maidenhead, Marlow, Coombe Hill, Denham Village, Little Missenden, Penn, High Wycombe, Mop End, Hambledon and many other local places.

But the 'capital city' of Midsomer is a tiny village called The Lee. I think more scenes have been filmed there than anywhere else. And the local pub (actually called The Cock and Rabbit though it frequently has its name changed for filming) has become a shrine to the series with a 'Midsomer wall' of memorabilia.

The village has a fascinating history. There had been a small settlement there for hundreds of years. But then, in 1900, Arthur Lasenby Liberty - of London Liberty store fame - bought the manor from John Plaistowe and built a new manor house on the outskirts of the village. The old manor house became three attached properties which remain today. 

As Lord of the Manor, Liberty extended the estate to cover over three thousand acres, stretching well beyond the parish boundaries. The estate eventually comprised twelve working farms, many houses and cottages. He also did much to improve the village including building new cottages and pumping fresh water from Missenden valley. He also created a village green, cricket pitch, football ground and, in 1911, made improvements to the Parish Church. 

In 1907 he had the old village pub taken down and a new one – the present ‘Cock and Rabbit‘ – built in a more suitable position next to the new village green. In the same year a large sarcen stone was excavated from Lee Gate and erected on the village green where it remains to this day. He also built a house near The Lee – called ‘Pipers’ – for his nephew and eventual heir, Ivor Stewart-Liberty. At the entrance to this house is a wooden figurehead of Admiral Lord Howe taken from the Navy’s last wooden warship, HMS Impregnable (previously called HMS Howe). 

In 1921 the ship was broken up and used for the mock Tudor extension to the Liberty store in London. A second warshio, the HMS Hindustan, was also bought and brojken up and the length of the longest wooden beams of the ship dictated the width of the Liberty store shop front on Great Marlborough Street.

After Arthur liberty died in 1917, Ivor Stewart-Liberty and his family continued to have a major influence on the parish, continuing the work that Arthur had started. In the 1930’s the estate employed around one hundred people directly or indirectly and almost every household was dependant in some way on The Lee Manor estate. 

Ivor Stewart-Liberty’s death in 1952 marked the beginning of yet another chapter in the history of the parish. In 1952, Arthur Stewart-Liberty, Ivor’s successor, sold one third of the estate including the manor house, moving himself to Pipers. In many cases the sale of farms and cottages went to the tenants, thereby creating the beginning of a new period for many in the parish. In 1980, Chiltern District Council created a conservation area around the Old Church, the village green and the manor house. The Liberty and Stewart-Liberty families have had a strong influence throughout the 20th century in shaping both the physical and institutional character of the Parish. 

The Liberty family still live in the village.