COLNBROOK, a chapelry (formerly a market
town) partly in the parish of STANWELL, hundred of
SPELTHORNE, county of MIDDLESEX, but chiefly in the
parishes of HORTON, IVER, and LANGLEY-MARSH, in
the hundred of STOKE, county.of BUCKINGHAM, 46
miles (S. E. by S.) from Buckingham, and 17 (W. by S.)
from London, on the road to Bath. The population is
returned with the several parishes. This place, which
is of great antiquity, is supposed to have been the station
Ad Ponies of Antoninus: it derives its name from
the river Colne, by which it is. separated from Middlesex,
and is intersected by different branches of that river,
over each of which is a small bridge. The town consists
principally of one long street; the houses are in
general neatly built and of respectable appearance.
The trade principally arises from its situation as a great
thoroughfare, which has made it a considerable posting
town. The market has been long discontinued, and the
market-house and the chapel, which were inconveniently
situated in the narrower part of the town, have been removed
by the commissioners of the turnpike roads, who
have rebuilt the chapel, a neat modern edifice, dedicated
to St. Mary, on the opposite side of the road, in the parish
of Horton. Fairs are held on April 5th and May 3rd,
for cattle and horses. The government, by charter of
Henry VIII., which was renewed in the reign of
Charles I., is vested in a bailiff and burgesses. The
living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry of
Buckingham, and diocese of Lincoln, and in the patronage
of the Trustees of the late George Townsend,
Esq., for Fellows of Pembroke College, Oxford. There
is a place of worship for Baptists; and there are several
charitable bequests for distribution among the poor.