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General
The origins of the name Hanslope are uncertain and could mean 'Heama's slippery/muddy place' but it could also mean 'hemmed in land at the slope' from the old English hamm. In the Domesday Book it appears as Hamescle. In the 2001 Census the parish population was 2,217.
Just southeast of the village is Hanslope Park which is owned by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and is home to Her Majesty's Government Communications Centre (HMGCC). It is here that the mathematician Alan Turing worked developing ideas that led to his Automatic Computing Engine, the first computer design.
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Watts Arms
The Watts Arm spublic house was said to have been haunted by the bare-knuckle boxer Alex McKay who had stayed at the pub. McKay, known as the Highland Hercules, was the Champion of Great Britain when he came to Salcey Green to fight Simon Byrne, the Emerald Gem. The fight took place just across the border in Northamptonshire (so as to avoid the Buckinghamshire Constabulary) and resulted in the death of McKay. Byrne won the fight and McKay was brought back to the Watts Arms on stretcher, at the time he was still alive but died later in the pub.
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