Saunderton is a village in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located in a valley of the Chiltern Hills, about three and a half miles north west of High Wycombe, four miles south of Princes Risborough. It is on the main road, and is also a station stop on the Chiltern Line between the two towns.
The village name is Anglo Saxon in origin, although its original meaning is unclear. It was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Santesdune, leading some scholars to believe that the village name derives from 'saint's hill'.
In the Eighteenth century a workhouse was founded in Saunderton, which in the Victorian period became the main workhouse for the union of High Wycombe. It became one of the safest houses in the region and regular abscondees from other workhouses were often transferred here on account of its remote location. Inmates got a free ride to the workhouse, courtesy of a constable, but if they wanted to leave they had a long walk ahead of them.
