There is evidence of prehistoric settlement, possibly dating from the
Iron Age, in the form of
Grim's Ditch, with a short length of the Chilterns Hills section remaining just south of the village settlement. In the 11th century, Wigginton was under the control of
Robert, Count of Mortain, a half-brother of
William I. However, in 1086 the
Domesday Book indicated that Wigginton had not been gifted to him but was probably acquired by force by Robert from two adjacent estates close to Tring, one of which had previously been in the hands of
Edith of Wessex. During the 13th century Wigginton formed part of the estate at
Little Gaddesden passing first to the de Broc family and then, through marriage to the
de Lucys. After the death of
Sir William Lucy in 1466 it was in the ownership of the Corbets for over 130 years. The manor was then the subject of successive legal challenges fought out in the
Court of Chancery until it came into the possession of
Sir Richard Anderson of the manor of
Pendley during the 1650s. Elizabeth Spencer (née Anderson) inherited Wigginton and became the third wife of
Simon Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt 1703. The manor remained in the Harcourt family until the 1860s. Colonel
Charles Harcourt had died in 1831 leaving the manor to his three daughters, Sarah, Elizabeth and Alice who jointly sold it to Rev. James Williams in 1868. Wigginton Common was enclosed in 1854 and was subsequently incorporated into the
Tring Park Estate owned at the time by the
Rothschild Family. The
Champneys (also recorded as
Champneys and Forsters) estate was originally a separate manor associated with Tring and was recorded in the Court Rolls of 1514. It was owned by successive landowning families in the Wigginton and surrounding area between the 14th and 19th centuries, although for a short period around 1535 it is recorded as owned by
Thomas Cranmer, the then
Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1902 Champneys was sold to Lady Rothschild by the Rev.
Arthur Sutton Valpy, a descendant of Richard Valpy who had inherited it in 1871. He replaced the original building by the current house in 1874 which stood in extensive grounds of around which his late wife Emily Anne Sutton had acquired, prior to their marriage, largely from the vicars of Tring. It is currently a
health spa. ==Religion==