Turville is a small village in the Chiltern Hills of Buckinghamshire, at the head of the Hambleden Valley near the Oxfordshire border. Its lands were given to St Albans Abbey in 796, and its 12th-century church of St Mary the Virgin is best known as St Barnabas in The Vicar of Dibley. The village is free to walk around, with the Bull and Butcher pub beside the small green and Cobstone Windmill, the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang windmill and now a private house, on the hill above.
History of Turville
Turville’s Anglo-Saxon Origins
Turville’s name comes from the Anglo-Saxon for “dry field”, according to the Hambleden Valley Group of Churches, which records that Egfrid, son of King Offa of Mercia, gave lands in Turville to St Albans Abbey in 796 AD. An account of the church’s restoration published in Records of Buckinghamshire in the early 1900s placed the village at the head of the Hambleden Valley, close to the Oxfordshire border. It described about 100 inhabitants, most of them employed turning chair legs and rails for the Wycombe chair factories, and some twenty brick-and-flint cottages with tiled roofs alongside the church, vicarage and school.
St Mary the Virgin Church, Turville
St Mary the Virgin Church in Turville dates from the 12th century, and the Hambleden Valley Group of Churches says its oldest part is the early 12th-century nave. Its first recorded vicar, in 1228, was Elias, a Benedictine monk from St Albans. The church is built mainly of flint, with corners shaped from clunch, a chalk-and-clay stone from nearby Watlington. A rebuilding in 1340 added the squat, brick-topped tower and enlarged the chancel. In 1733 a north aisle was added to hold a grander pew for the lord of the manor, William Perry, great-grandfather of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and the Records of Buckinghamshire account notes a brick at its north-east corner inscribed “R.G., 1733”. Perry is commemorated by a marble monument in the north aisle and by two armorial glass windows in the south wall.
Later work raised the chancel floor in 1875, added the vestry in 1901, repaired the roof in 1972 and installed a new bell frame in 1996. The four bells date from 1670 and 1744. During the 1901 restoration a stone coffin was found beneath the pulpit containing two skeletons, and the church says the later, 16th-century one had a hole in its skull and is thought to be that of a murder victim. A stained glass window by John Piper commemorates St Saviour’s, the small church at Turville Heath that closed in 1972, and three dead boards, inscribed wooden planks used instead of headstones, stand in the churchyard west of the south door.
Cobstone Windmill and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Cobstone Windmill is a smock mill of the late 18th or early 19th century overlooking Turville, according to its Historic England listing. It was listed at Grade II in 1955 and stands in the neighbouring civil parish of Ibstone. The Hambleden Valley Group of Churches notes that it was used in the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Historic England records that the mill was restored and converted into a house around 1975 for the actress Hayley Mills, and it remains a private home.
The Vicar of Dibley in Turville
The Vicar of Dibley, the BBC One sitcom written by Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer, starred Dawn French as Geraldine Grainger, a female vicar sent to the fictional Oxfordshire village of Dibley. The British Comedy Guide records that it was first broadcast on 10 November 1994. The National Churches Trust says St Mary the Virgin is best known for playing St Barnabas in the series, and the Hambleden Valley Group of Churches notes that Turville is regularly used as a film location, most notably for the show. Dibley itself is fictional.
For more places with a story behind them, browse our Landmarks & Monuments guides or explore the England hub.
Visiting Turville: Practical Information
Admission: No charge. Turville is a working village rather than a ticketed attraction.
Church address: St Mary the Virgin, Turville, Henley-on-Thames, RG9 6QX.
Church services: Communion at 9.30am on the fourth Sunday of the month and at 10.15am every Wednesday.
Church access: The church has a disabled access door, which also leads to a toilet.
Bull and Butcher: Holloway Lane, Turville, RG9 6QU. Telephone 01491 638283. Brakspear, which runs the pub, dates it to 1542 and lists food, a garden, parking and a dog-friendly, family-friendly welcome.
Pub opening hours: Monday to Friday 12pm to 2.30pm and 5.30pm to 11pm. Saturday 12pm to 11pm. Sunday 12pm to 10pm.
Pub kitchen hours: Monday to Friday 12pm to 2.30pm and 6pm to 9pm. Saturday 12pm to 3pm and 6pm to 9pm. Sunday 12pm to 4pm and 6pm to 8pm.
By car: Brakspear says the village is easily reached from the M40.
On foot: The National Trust’s 10.2-mile circular walk starts in Hambleden, climbs the west side of the valley, drops into Turville and Fingest, and returns along the valley floor. It starts from the pay and display car park in Hambleden village (grid ref SU785865).
Cobstone Windmill: A private house, not open to visitors. View it from the village.
Managed by: No single body. St Mary’s belongs to the Hambleden Valley Group of Churches (Church of England), and the Bull and Butcher is a Brakspear pub.
Nearby: Fingest, with St Bartholomew’s Church and The Chequers pub, and Hambleden, with its church of St Mary the Virgin, both on the National Trust trail.
Prices last checked: October 2026. Opening hours last checked: October 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Turville is in the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, at the head of the Hambleden Valley close to the Oxfordshire border. Its addresses use Henley-on-Thames postcodes.
Yes. Turville stood in for Dibley, and its church of St Mary the Virgin played St Barnabas in the BBC One sitcom.
No. Dibley is fictional. The sitcom sets it in Oxfordshire, but it was filmed in Turville, which is in Buckinghamshire.
It overlooks Turville. Cobstone Windmill is a Grade II listed former smock mill in the neighbouring parish of Ibstone.
No. It was converted into a house around 1975 and is a private home, so view it from the village.
See the 12th-century church of St Mary the Virgin, eat at the Bull and Butcher, and walk the National Trust’s 10.2-mile Hambleden Valley trail through Turville and Fingest.
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