Jordans, Buckinghamshire

Jordans is a village located in Chalfont St Giles parish in Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the civil parish of Hedgerley.Jordans is a notable centre for Quakerism. The village is the burial place of William Penn, founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, making it a popular tourist attraction with Americans. Jordans is also the location of the Mayflower Barn, made from the timbers of a ship, which some sources have claimed came from the Mayflower.The village has about 245 households and 700 residents, with a nursery, primary school, youth hostel, village hall, and community shop. Of these, 40 houses and cottages and 21 flats are owned and maintained by a non-profit society that manages the village and its amenities.HeritageOne of several suggestions for the origin of the name Jordans appears in a seminal book on the history of the village: "Little is known of Jordans Farm before the seventeenth century.... It has been suggested that the name comes from some connection with a manorial family of Jourdemain... but a more probable origin is in an early owner or occupant called Jordan." Jordans Farm is known as Old Jordans today, and that building together with the Mayflower Barn date back to the 16th century.QuakerismIn the 17th century the village became a centre for Quakerism. It has one of the oldest Friends meeting houses in the country, whose cemetery is the burial place of William Penn, founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, as well as other notable Quakers. Close by is Old Jordans, originally a farmhouse, sold by the Quakers for development in March 2006. Old Jordans was used during World War I as a training centre for the Friends' Ambulance Unit.