Mursley


Mursley is a small village in and also a civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district Buckinghamshire, England. It is located about three miles east of Winslow and four miles south west of Fenny Stratford.
The village name is Old English in origin, and is thought to mean 'Myrsa's woodland clearing'. In the Domesday Book of 1086 the village was recorded as Muselai, with the form Murselai being attested from the thirteenth century.
The village was at one time a more important place; it was once a market town, by virtue of a royal charter granted in 1230, and the centre of the local deanery. The size of the place has been much reduced since then, most likely by the bubonic plague of the 17th century.
There was at one time a manor in the locality called "Salden", within which stood a manor house built by the Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir John Fortescue, which was visited by King James I. This house has since disappeared.
Actor David Tomlinson, who played George Banks in Mary Poppins and Mr. Emelius Browne in Bedknobs and Broomsticks, lived and raised his children in Mursley until his death on 24 June 2000. Tomlinson became notorious around the village for flying very low in his Tiger Moth and on one occasion he crash landed in a field near his house and was tried for, but acquitted of, reckless flying.
The Beechams estate in the village draws its name from Sir Thomas Beecham who resided in Mursley Hall which used to exist on the site of this estate.
Mursley Church of England School is a Victorian, Church of England primary school. It is a voluntary controlled infant school, which has approximately 45 pupils from the age of four through to the age of seven.

Sport & Leisure

Mursley has a Non-League football team Mursley United F.C. who play at The Playing Field in Station Road.