{{Short description|Village in Buckinghamshire, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} {{Use British English|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox UK place |country= England |official_name= The Lee |static_image_name= The Lee, Bucks.JPG |static_image_caption= The Green at The Lee |coordinates = {{coord|51.7299|-0.6825|display=inline,title}} |civil_parish= The Lee |population= 698 |population_ref= (2011 Census)<ref>[http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=3&b=11129521&c=the+lee&d=16&e=62&g=6404296&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1359815551461&enc=1 Neighbourhood Statistics 2011 Census], Accessed 2 February 2013</ref> |unitary_england = [[Buckinghamshire Council|Buckinghamshire]] |lieutenancy_england = [[Buckinghamshire]] |region= South East England |constituency_westminster= [[Mid Buckinghamshire (UK Parliament constituency)|Mid Buckinghamshire]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Location of Mid Buckinghamshire |url= https://members.parliament.uk/constituency/4175/location |website=parliament.uk |date=July 2024 |access-date=5 July 2025}}</ref> |post_town= GREAT MISSENDEN |postcode_district= HP16 |postcode_area= HP |dial_code= 01494 |os_grid_reference= SP900042 }} '''The Lee''' (formally known as just '''Lee''') is a village and [[civil parish]] in [[Buckinghamshire]], England. It is located in the [[Chiltern Hills]], about {{convert|2|mi|km}} north east of [[Great Missenden]] and {{convert|3|mi|km}} south east of [[Wendover]]. Within the parish is the hamlet of '''Lee Clump''', named for a small group of houses separate from the main village. In 2011 the parish had a population of 698. From 1974 to 2020 it was in [[Chiltern District|Chiltern]] district.

==Early history== The village name is [[Old English language|Anglo Saxon]] in origin and means 'woodland clearing'. In the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086 it was recorded as ''Lee'' and was, following the [[Norman Conquest]], granted by [[William I of England|William I]] to [[Odo of Bayeux|Odo, Bishop of Bayeux]]. Its early history is closely tied up with that of [[Weston Turville]] and a [[chapel-of-ease]] was established in this connection. It and also had associations with the [[Earl of Leicester]] who, in the early part of the 12th century, charged Ralph de Halton to oversee the lands. At the end of that century the Turville family took over this role. Soon after this [[Earl of Leicester|Robert, Earl of Leicester]] granted the land to [[Missenden Abbey]]. After the dissolution of the abbey The Lee stayed in the possession of the Crown until 1547 when [[Edward VI]] granted a lease on the estate to [[John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford]].

The events that led to [[Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford]] initially leasing the lands at The Lee to William Plaistowe in 1635 and later selling the land to the Plaistowe family are obscure; either they were mortgaged to pay off debts or were sequestrated as a consequence of the Russells' involvement on the "wrong" side of the [[English Civil War]]. Thomas Plaistowe, who died in 1715, was the first of the family to be the outright owner of The Lee and his namesake in 1785 passed ownership to his daughter Elizabeth, who married Irishman Henry Deering. Deering bequeathed the estate in 1827 to his friend [[John Peter Gandy]], the architect, who [[Name_change#Historical_usage|changed his name]] to that of his benefactor.<ref name="dnb">{{cite DNB|wstitle=Deering, John Peter|last=Burnet|first=George Wardlaw|authorlink=|volume=14}}</ref> The Plaistowes owned the village for another 50 years.

==Twentieth century== In 1900, [[Arthur Lasenby Liberty]] bought the manor from John Plaistowe and built a new [[manor house]] on the outskirts of the village. The old manor house became three [[terraced house|attached properties]] which remain so today. Outside the new manor house he sited a [[Figurehead (object)|figurehead]] depicting [[Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe|Admiral Richard Howe]] taken from [[HMS Howe (1860)|HMS ''Howe'']]. The figurehead was moved to outside Pipers where the family moved in 1953.

The ship, which had subsequently been renamed ''Impregnable'', was scrapped by the [[Royal Navy]] in 1919, and purchased by Liberty in 1926. He used the timbers of this ship to refurbish, in [[Tudor Revival architecture|Tudor revivalist style]], the interior and frontage of his famed [[Liberty (department store)|Liberty's department store]] in central London. The Liberty family still live at The Lee.<ref>[http://www.thelee.org.uk/200806/NL0806%20lord%20howe.html Liberty Family The Lee Village website], accessed 16 April 2013</ref>

==Churches== [[Image:The Lee Old Church.JPG|thumb|left|The 'Old Church' at The Lee]] [[Image:St John the Baptist Church The Lee.JPG|thumb|left|St John the Baptist Church, The Lee]] The parish church in the village [[John the Baptist|St John the Baptist]] is unusual in that it consists of two buildings: the ancient chapel of ease built in the 12th century which includes a window depicting [[Oliver Cromwell]] and [[John Hampden]] as 'champions of liberty', and the more modern [[Victorian era|Victorian]] construction that was built of red brick in 1867. Both sit within an oval churchyard, common in places of importance in the pre-[[Roman Britain|Roman]] period.

There is a Methodist chapel at Lee Common, which was built in 1839 as a Primitive Methodist chapel. It is one of the oldest Methodist chapels in Bucks. There is a small churchyard attached to it. The Methodist church is part of the Amersham Methodist Circuit.

Formerly there was also a Strict Baptist chapel at Lee Clump, and Mission Halls at Swan Bottom and Potter Row.

==Hamlets== [[Hamlet (place)|Hamlets]] in the parish of The Lee include '''Lee Clump''', '''Lee Common''', '''Lee Gate''', '''Hunt's Green''', '''Potter Row''' and '''Swan Bottom'''.{{cn|date=September 2022}}

==Locations== The village has been used as the backdrop for a number of television programmes including several episodes of ''[[Midsomer Murders]]''.

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.thelee.org.uk The village's website] {{Commons category-inline|The Lee}}

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[[Category:Villages in Buckinghamshire]] [[Category:Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire]]