Great Kimble, Buckinghamshire England UK
Church of England (Anglican)
The church dates from the 1100s, with the nave extended and the north and south aisles and nave arcades added in the middle of the 1200s. The chancel arch was added and the chancel rebuilt in the early 1300s. The church was completely restored from 1876-1881; the flint and stone exterior is from that time and the aisles were rebuilt. Unlike most churches, the altar is to the north and the tower to the south, giving the 13th century church a north/south axis, not an east/west one. Two 'Childtern strip parishes' make up the parish, Great and Little Kimble with Marsh and Clanking. Long, narrow strip parishes were established in Saxon times, running at right angles to the hills. This was done so each parish had all types of land that would provide 1) flints for building from the hilltops, 2) timber and firewood from the soodland scarp slopes, 3) cropland from the marl at the foot of hills, 4) fresh water from the spring line, 5) and pastureland from the Gault clay of the Vale of Aylesbury.