Little Marlow

Little Marlow
St John the Baptist Church, Little Marlow
Population
OS grid reference	SU873881
Civil parish	Little Marlow
District	Wycombe
Shire county	Buckinghamshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	MARLOW
Postcode district	SL7
Dialling code	01628
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Buckinghamshire
Ambulance	South Central
UK Parliament	Beaconsfield

Little Marlow is a village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England.

It is on the north bank of the River Thames, about a mile east of Marlow. The village name 'Marlow' is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means 'land remaining after the draining of a pool'. In 1015 it was recorded as Merelafan.

The village cottages are set around a large space, surrounded by lime trees, that is used as a cricket ground and village green where an annual fête is held.

The parish church of St John the Baptist lies at the heart of the village a short walk from the river and next to the manor house. The original construction of the church is Norman, dating from the final years of the 12th century. Most of the building was constructed during the 14th and 15th centuries.

Little Marlow was once the site of a Benedictine convent dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The convent belonged to Bisham Abbey. In 1547 it was seized by the Crown in the Dissolution of the Monasteries and was eventually demolished in 1740. Today the village is in a scenic location on the River Thames, although home to a large sewage works and gravel extraction plant.

Melanie Brown of the Spice Girls pop group lived in the village for a while and it became the focus of a national news story in 1998 when she married the dancer Jimmy Gulzar in the village church and invited many celebrity guests to the wedding reception.

There are two nice pubs in the village called the Queens Head and the Kings Head. Both are friendly and welcoming.

Hamlets in the parish of Little Marlow include Coldmoorholme, Fern, Handy Cross, Sheepridge, and Winchbottom.