Hampden House
Coordinates: 51°42′50″N 0°46′26″W / 51.714°N 0.774°W
Hampden House is a country house in the village of Great Hampden, between Great Missenden and Princes Risborough in Buckinghamshire. It is named after the Hampden family. The Hampdens (later Earls of Buckinghamshire) are recorded as owning the site from before the Norman conquest. They lived continually in the house until 1938.
The core of the present house is Elizabethan. However the south wing known, for some anachronistic reason, as King John's tower dates to the 14th century. This tower is constructed of clunch, a building material peculiar to Buckinghamshire, which is a combination of chalk and mud. The tower has traceried Gothic windows and the remains of the original spiral staircase.
A legend, relevant to this part of the house, is that King Edward III and the Black Prince stayed at Hampden House. During the stay the prince and his Hampden host were jousting, when a quarrel arose, during which the prince was punched in the face by his host. This act of lèse majesté caused the king and Prince to quit the place in great wrath, and cause their host to forfeit some of his estates to the crown. There is, however no documentary evidence for this act, or of the subsequent revenge although the Black Prince is known to have possessed land in nearby Princes Risborough during his life.
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