Aylesbury

St Mary the Virgin's Church, Aylesbury's parish church.

The town name is of Old English origin. It is first recorded in the form Æglesburg in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a text which took its present form in the later ninth century. The word Ægles is a personal name in the genitive case, meaning "Ægel's" and burg means "fortification". Thus the name once meant "Fort of Ægel" — though who Ægel was is not recorded.[7] Nineteenth-century speculation that that the name contained the Welsh word eglwys meaning "a church" (from Latin ecclesia)[8] has been discredited.

Market Square, Aylesbury. Town Hall Arches (left) and Old County Hall (right)

Excavations in the town centre in 1985 found an Iron Age hill fort dating from the early 4th century BCE.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle portrays Aylesbury as being captured from the Britons by one Cuthwulf following the Battle of Bedcanford; the historicity of this event is doubtful, but the portrayal at least indicates that in the early Middle Ages the settlement was thought to be of some strategic importance.[9] During the early medieval period, Aylesbury became a major market town, the burial place of Saint Osgyth, whose shrine attracted pilgrims. Aylesbury was a royal manor with eight attached hundreds in 1086, and some historians have supposed that it was already a royal manor before the Norman conquest.[10]^: 32 Some lands here were granted by William the Conqueror to citizens upon the tenure that the owners should provide straw for the monarch's bed, sweet herbs for his chamber and two green geese and three eels for his table, whenever he should visit Aylesbury.[9]

The town includes an Early English parish church, St. Mary the Virgin's (which has many later additions).

In 1450, a religious institution called the Guild of St Mary was founded in Aylesbury by John Kemp, Archbishop of York. Known popularly as the Guild of Our Lady it became a meeting place for local dignitaries and a hotbed of political intrigue. The guild was influential in the outcome of the Wars of the Roses. Its premises at the Chantry in Church Street, Aylesbury, are still there, though today the site is used mainly for retail.

Aylesbury was declared the new county town of Buckinghamshire in 1529 by King Henry VIII: Aylesbury Manor was among the many properties belonging to Thomas Boleyn, the father of Anne Boleyn, and it is rumoured that the change was made by the King to curry favour with the family.[n 1] The plague decimated the population in 1603/4.[11]

Statue of John Hampden in Aylesbury's Market Square

The town played a large part in the English Civil War when it became a stronghold for the Parliamentarian forces, like many market towns a nursing-ground of Puritan sentiment and in 1642 the Battle of Aylesbury was fought and won by the Parliamentarians. Its proximity to Great Hampden, home of John Hampden has made of Hampden a local hero: his silhouette was used on the emblem of Aylesbury Vale District Council and his statue stands prominently in the town centre. Aylesbury-born composer, Rutland Boughton (1878–1960), possibly inspired by the statue of John Hampden, created a symphony based on Oliver Cromwell.

On 18 March 1664, Robert Bruce, 2nd Earl of Elgin in the Peerage of Scotland was created 1st Earl of Ailesbury[n 2].

The grade II* listed Jacobean mansion of Hartwell adjoining the southwest of the town was the residence of Louis XVIII during his exile (1810–1814). Bourbon Street in Aylesbury is named after the king. Louis's wife, Marie Josephine of Savoy died at Hartwell in 1810 and is the only French queen to have died on English soil. After her death, her body was carried first to Westminster Abbey, and one year later to Sardinia, where the Savoy King of Sardinia had withdrawn during Napoleonic occupation of Turin and Piedmont; she is buried in the Cathedral of Cagliari.

Aylebury's heraldic crest[12] displays the Aylesbury duck, which has been bred here since the birth of the Industrial Revolution, although only one breeder of true Aylesbury ducks, Richard Waller, remains today.[13]

The town also received international publicity in 1963 when the culprits responsible for the Great Train Robbery (1963) were tried at Aylesbury Rural District Council Offices in Walton Street and sentenced at Aylesbury Crown Court. The robbery took place at Bridego Bridge, a railway bridge at Ledburn, about six miles (9.7 km) from the town.

Gentlemen of the Jury, an 1861 painting by John Morgan of a jury in Aylesbury

A notable institution is Aylesbury Grammar School which was founded in 1598. The original building is now part of the County Museum buildings in Church Street and has grade II* architecture;[14] other grammar schools now include Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School and Aylesbury High School. Other notable buildings are the King's Head Inn, (which, with the Fleece Inn at Bretforton, is one of the few public houses in the country owned by the National Trust and still run as a public house) and the Queens Park Centre.

James Henry Govier, the British painter and etcher, lived at Aylesbury and produced a number of works relating to the town including the church, canal, Walton, Aylesbury Gaol, the King's Head Inn and views of the town during the 1940s and 1950s, examples of which can be seen in the Buckinghamshire County Museum in Aylesbury.[n 3]

The town is the birthplace of the Paralympic Games. During the 1948 Olympics in London, German-British neurologist Sir Ludwig Guttmann, set up a small sporting event for World War II veterans known as the World Wheelchair and Amputee Games (WWAG) at Stoke Mandeville Hospital Rehabilitation Facility in Aylesbury. This eventually led to the growth of the phenomenon of the modern Paralympic Games that has been held immediately after every Summer Olympic Games since 1988, and the WWAG was held most years at Stoke Mandeville until 1997, when it has been held in other countries and cities ever since. During the 2012 Paralympics, the official mascot was called 'Mandeville' after Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

The Rothschild Family acquired many large country estates and stately homes around and near the town, including Waddesdon Manor in nearby Waddesdon Village, Halton House near Wendover and Tring Park in Tring across the border in Hertfordshire, although today most of these properties belong to the National Trust. They have brought in increased tourism to the town and the surrounding areas.

In the 18th century selective breeding of white common ducks led to a white domestic duck, generally known as the English White. Since at least the 1690s ducks had been farmed in Aylesbury, and made Aylesbury known throughout England and beyond. They were bred and brought up by poor people, and sent to London by the weekly carriers. They went on to be known as the Aylesbury duck.

Prize-winning Aylesbury ducks. The illustrated Book of Poultry, 1873.

The duck business in Aylesbury went into decline in the 19th century. By the time Beatrix Potter's 1908 The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck—about an Aylesbury duck although set in Cumbria—caused renewed interest in the breed, the Aylesbury duck was in steep decline. The duckers of Buckinghamshire had generally failed to introduce technological improvements such as the incubator, and inbreeding had dangerously weakened the breed. Meanwhile, the cost of duck food had risen fourfold over the 19th century, and from 1873 onwards competition from Pekin and Pekin cross ducks was undercutting Aylesbury ducks at the marketplace. The First World War devastated the remaining duckers of Buckinghamshire. By the end of the war small-scale duck rearing in the Aylesbury Vale had vanished, with duck raising dominated by a few large duck farms. Shortages of duck food in the Second World War caused further disruption to the industry, and almost all duck farming in the Aylesbury Vale ended. A 1950 "Aylesbury Duckling Day" campaign to boost the reputation of the Aylesbury duck had little effect; by the end of the 1950s the last significant farms had closed, other than a single flock in Chesham owned by Mr L. T. Waller, and by 1966 there were no duck breeders remaining in Aylesbury. As of 2021 the Waller family's farm in Chesham remains in business, the last surviving flock of pure Aylesbury meat ducks in the country. Although, there are still many hobbyists who keep the breed.

The Aylesbury duck is currently a Rare Breed.

The Aylesbury duck remains a symbol of the town of Aylesbury. Aylesbury United F.C. are nicknamed "The Ducks" and include an Aylesbury duck on their club badge, and the town's coat of arms includes an Aylesbury duck and plaited straw, representing the two historic industries of the town. The Aylesbury Brewery Company, now defunct, featured the Aylesbury duck as its logo, an example of which can still be seen at the Britannia pub. Duck Farm Court is a shopping area of modern Aylesbury located near the historic hamlet of California, close to one of the main breeding grounds for ducks in the town, and there have been two pubs in the town with the name "The Duck" in recent years; one in Bedgrove that has since been demolished and one in Jackson Road that has recently been renamed.

An illustration of Jemima Puddle-Duck from The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck by Beatrix Potter.

The town's population has grown from 28,000 in the 1960s to almost 72,000 in 2011[1][15] due in the main to new housing developments, including many London overspill housing estates, built to ease pressure on the capital. Indeed, Aylesbury, to a greater extent than many English market towns, saw substantial areas of its own heart demolished in the 1950s/1960s as 16th–18th century houses (many in good repair) were demolished to make way for new, particularly retail, development.

Aylesbury's population in the ten-year period since 2001 has grown by two thousand primarily related to the development of new housing estates which will eventually cater for eight thousand people on the north side, between the A41 (Akeman Street) and the A413 and the expansion of Fairford Leys estate.

According to the 2011 Census, the religious groupings in Aylesbury were: Christianity (55.7%), no religion (26.9%), Islam (8.3%), Hinduism (1.4%), other (0.4%). 6.7% of respondents did not state their religion.[2]

Aylesbury Library

The town centre is home to many pubs and bars. The Queens Park Centre, which is the UK's largest independent arts centre is also based in the town centre.[20]

The local newspaper is the Bucks Herald, which started publishing in January 1832.

Local radio stations was named Mix 96, which first broadcast in April 1994, and eventually ceased operations in September 2020, being replaced by Greatest Hits Radio. One of the more prominent buildings in Aylesbury is the "Blue Leanie" office block, home to Lloyds Bank. When first built it was thought to be a potential hazard to passing motorists, due to the sun reflecting off its large mirrored surface. As a result, a line of mature trees was planted alongside the main road to prevent dazzling.[21]

BBC local radio station that broadcast to the town is BBC Three Counties Radio on 94.7 FM.

Local news and television programmes is provided by BBC South and ITV Meridian. Television signals are received from the Oxford TV transmitter.

Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, a new £42 million theatre,[22] with 1,200-seat auditorium, opened in October 2010.[23][24] In addition to this, the surrounding area has been redeveloped a £100 million project known as the 'Waterside project'.[25] When this is completed, there will be 260,000 sq ft (24,000 m²) of new retail floor space and 1,100 new jobs created, although when this will be completed now is unclear. A Waitrose supermarket opened opposite the theatre in August 2013,[26] along with a Travelodge Hotel.[27] Branches of Wagamama and Nando's restaurants opened on 'The Exchange' in February 2014, next to the Odeon cinema on Exchange Street. This included luxury and high-end studio apartments, new restaurants including Zizzi, The Grill Steakhouse and Rococo Lounge, as well as a new public square including metal statues that represent Aylesbury as the home of the Paralympics, as well as poetry covering the ground. Prior to this a Wagamama restaurant and a Nando's restaurant have also opened on the site of the new square at the Exchange, known officially as 'Festival Square'.[28] Also, a new campus of the [Bucks New University] opened on the Waterside site next to the Waterside Theatre.

The Bourg Walk Bridge (also called the Southcourt Bridge or the Roberts Bridge after a local councillor) opened in March 2009 connecting Southcourt to Aylesbury town centre. The focus of the footbridge is a central concrete pillar with four suspension cables supporting the structure. This bridge forms a central part of the Aylesbury Hub project. Bourg Walk was nominated and won the Engineering Excellence Award 2009 awarded by the Institution of Civil Engineers – South East England branch.[29]

Arms of Aylesbury Town Council
Crest	On a Wreath Argent and Gules issuant from a Wreath of plaited Straw a Mount thereon an Aylesbury Duck all proper.
Blazon	Gyronny of six Gules and Sable a Mute Swan rousant proper on a Chief Or a Saxon Crown Gules.
Supporters	On the dexter side a Buck proper gorged with a Chain Or pendent therefrom a Hexagon Argent charged with a Garb Gules banded Or and on the sinister side a Stag also proper gorged with a Chain pendent therefrom a like Hexagon charged with a Crescent Sable.
Motto	Semper Prorsum
Badge	An Oval gyronny of six Gules and Sable charged with a Saxon Crown Or issuant therefrom a Mount thereon an Aylesbury Duck proper the whole environed by a Garland of Beech Leaves Vert.
Granted to borough council on 5 April 1964. Transferred to successor parish council on 3 April 2002.[30]

There are two tiers of local government covering the town, at parish and unitary authority level: Aylesbury Town Council, based at Aylesbury Town Hall at 5 Church Street, and Buckinghamshire Council, which is also based in Aylesbury, having its headquarters at The Gateway on Gatehouse Road.

Aylesbury Town Council is the parish council for the town. As at May 2021 it comprises 25 councillors, 20 of whom are Liberal Democrats and 5 Conservative. The council represents only the constituents of Aylesbury town itself. Surrounding villages and some recent developments on the outskirts of Aylesbury like Fairford Leys & Watermead have their own parish council. In 2010 the district council decided that the new developments of Berryfields and Weedon Hill, both to the north of Aylesbury, should also join to form a new parish as of May 2011.[31]

The town council also elects the town mayor from the serving town councillors every year. The process culminates in a formal "Mayor Making" ceremony where the new mayor takes over from the preceding mayor. The role of mayor is mainly a ceremonial role representing the town at various events and acting as an ambassador for the town.

Aylesbury is home to one college of general further education (Aylesbury College[34] on Oxford Road), three grammar schools, two community upper schools, an academy, a university technical college and a host of primary schools. The secondary schools are:

• Aylesbury Grammar School (boys only)
• Aylesbury High School (girls only)
• The Aylesbury Vale Academy
• Buckinghamshire University Technical College
• The Grange School
• Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School
• Mandeville School

There are also the following special schools:

• The PACE Centre
• Pebble Brook School
• Stocklake Park Community School, formerly Park School

The Aylesbury Vale Secondary Support Centre[35] is a Pupil referral unit (PRU), which caters for permanently excluded pupils.

Aylesbury Music Centre is a large educational establishment, which has its own premises adjoining Aylesbury High School and rivals the Royal College of Music, having produced members of national orchestras.

Stoke Mandeville Hospital is a large National Health Service hospital to the south of the town centre. Its National Spinal Injuries Centre is one of the largest specialist spinal units in the world, and the pioneering rehabilitation work carried out there by Sir Ludwig Guttmann led to the development of the Paralympic Games. Stoke Mandeville Stadium was developed alongside the hospital and is the National Centre for Disability Sport in the United Kingdom.[36]

Royal Buckinghamshire Hospital is a private hospital specialising in spinal cord injury.[37]

Aylesbury has provisions for mental health therapy and treatments at the Tindal Centre on Bierton Road. The Tindal Centre closed in early 2014 and Mental Health therapy and treatments along with Adult and Older Adult Mental Health Team's moved across the road to the new purpose-built hospital the Whiteleaf Centre. The former site of Tindal Centre has been transformed into a new housing development Bierton Place which has maintained the architecture of the original building and enhanced its beauty

Bucks County Hall taken from the Grand Union Canal

Traditionally the town was a commercial centre with a market dating back to the Saxon period. This is because it was established on the main Akeman Street which became an established trade route linking London to the southwest. In 1180 a gaol was established in the town[n 6] .

20th century – motor manufacture

Twenty Cubitt 16/20s in c.1922 publicity image at the Cubitt Car Factory, Great Southern Works, Bicester Road, Aylesbury.

From 1919 until 1925 the Cubit Engineering Works on Bicester Road was a volume manufacturer of motor vehicles. Approximately 3,000 cars were built, but a somewhat slow and heavy design could not survive the onslaught from cheap American competition. Their robust design and high ground clearance made them popular in less developed parts of the British Empire which lacked paved roads like Australia and South Africa.[38] The works have been demolished for a domestic housing development. The marque is commemorated by Cubitt Street (and Edge Street) which traverses the old works.

By the late 20th century, the printers and bookbinders, Hazell, Watson and Viney and the Nestlé dairy were the two main employers in the town, employing more than half the total population. These factories have long since been demolished and replaced by a Tesco supermarket which opened in 1994, and a housing development, respectively.

Aylesbury has two local semi-professional football teams, Aylesbury Vale Dynamos F.C. which plays at Haywood Way and Aylesbury United F.C. which currently shares a ground with Chesham United. There is a strong cricket club in the town, that was formed in 1837 with success in the 1950s and 1980s and is again emerging as one of the strong clubs in mid- to north Buckinghamshire. Since 2013, Aylesbury has been host to a free 5 km run called the Aylesbury Parkrun. Aylesbury is represented in Rugby Union by Aylesbury Rugby Football Club, situated at Ostler's Field in the nearby village of Weston Turville; 'The Ducks' play in the 7th tier of English Rugby.

Aylesbury's recent sporting success comes in Gymnastics with the Aylesbury Gymnastics Academy, training out of the lynx gym centre, producing two Olympians and both coming away with bronze medals in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games for Great Britain. [41]

Aylesbury is or has been home to a whole range of notable people. In the latter part of the 20th century, the main maternity unit in the district was located in Aylesbury at the Royal Buckinghamshire Hospital; hence a large number of people were born in Aylesbury who may not have had any other association with the town. For a full list see People from Aylesbury. In alphabetic order of surname, those who live, or have lived in Aylesbury include:

John Hampden MP

Andrea Leadsom MP, 2020

Nicholas Parsons, 2007

• Michael Apted (1941–2021), film director and producer [53]
• Benjamin Bates (1716–1790), physician, art connoisseur and socialite.[54]
• Lynda Bellingham (1948–2014), actress, broadcaster and author.[55]
• Nick Blood (born 1982), actor
• Rutland Boughton (1878–1960), English composer and communist, born in the town[56]
• Ernest Bullock (1890–1979), organist, composer and teacher; died in Aylesbury[57]
• Brendan Cole (born 1976), New Zealand ballroom dancer
• Mathilde Carré (1908–2007), a French Resistance agent and double agent detainee at Aylesbury Prison[58]
• Barns Courtney (born 1990), singer and songwriter, born in Aylesbury
• Sir Alexander Croke (1758–1842), British judge and Colonial Administrator in Nova Scotia [59]
• Catherine Anne Davies (born ca.1990), stage name The Anchoress, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter; grew up in Aylesbury from age 4.
• Greg Day (born 1957), playwright, born in Aylesbury [60]
• Liam Gillick (born 1964) artist, born in Aylesbury
• Martin Grech (born 1982), singer, songwriter and musician [61]
• John Hampden (ca.1595–1643), politician and Parliamentarian during the English Civil War, lived in Hartwell House.
• John Junkin (1930–2006), TV performer and scriptwriter, died in Aylesbury [62]
• Andrea Leadsom (born 1963), Conservative MP for South Northamptonshire; Minister of State for Energy at the Department of Energy and Climate Change; candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party in 2016
• Samantha Lewthwaite (born 1983), terrorist, grew up in Aylesbury [63]
• Constance Markievicz (1868–1927), Irish politician, revolutionary nationalist, suffragette and socialist; inmate Aylesbury prison in 1916.[64]
• John Otway (born 1952), singer-songwriter[65]
• Nicholas Parsons (1923-2020), TV presenter and actor, lived in Aylesbury and died at Stoke Mandeville Hospital.[66]
• Charles Pearson (1847–1917), a pioneer Anglican missionary in Uganda [67]
• Sir James Clark Ross (1800–1862), Arctic naval explorer, died in Aylesbury [68]
• Vernon Scannell (1922–2007), a poet and author and former boxer [69]
• William of Sherwood (ca.1200 – ca.1272), medieval English scholastic philosopher, logician and teacher & rector of Aylesbury.[70]
• Mike Smith (1943–2008), musician, of the Dave Clark Five lived in Aylesbury [71]
• Pete Trewavas (born 1959), musician, member of Marillion
• John Wilkes (1725–1797), a radical journalist and politician; MP for Aylesbury 1757 & 1761, lived at Prebendal House in the town [72]

Sport

Ludwig Guttmann

• Emmerson Boyce (born 1979), footballer, born in Aylesbury
• Jennifer Gadirova & Jessica Gadirova, (twins, born 2004), Team GB gymnasts, won Bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.[73]
• Ludwig Guttmann (1899–1980), neurologist , founded the Stoke Mandeville Games, became the Paralympic Games, lived and died in the town
• Matt Phillips (born 1991), footballer, born in Aylesbury [74]
• Mark Webber (born 1976), former Formula 1 driver who raced for Red Bull Racing, Jaguar Racing and Williams F1, with nine career wins. Born in Queanbeyan, Australia; resides in Aston Clinton[75]
• Ellen White MBE (born 1989), England women's national football team, former Chelsea Ladies, Arsenal Ladies, Notts County Ladies, Birmingham City, and Manchester City football player was born and brought up in Aylesbury.

Statue of David Bowie in different guises in Aylesbury, the town where he debuted Ziggy Stardust.[76]

A live music nightclub in Aylesbury was prominent in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s and renamed the Friars' Club in 1969. The venue hosted many of the top artists of the time, including Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, Cream, Otis Redding, the Clash, Hawkwind, Queen, Genesis, U2, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Marillion and the Ramones. Friars' Club celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2009 by holding three special concerts that reflected the various phases of the club's musical history. The first concert in June featured the Edgar Broughton Band, the Groundhogs and the Pretty Things.

The rock band Marillion have a close association with Aylesbury. They originally formed there, with the band's first single, 1982's "Market Square Heroes", taking its title inspiration from Aylesbury's Market Square. The band continue to be based in the area, with their Racket Records studio still close to Aylesbury, and in 2007 the band performed together with their original lead singer, Fish, for the first time in 19 years at Aylesbury.[77]

The Buckinghamshire County Museum contains the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery

Aylesbury Methodist Church holds an annual organ recital, which attracts prominent national organists. The Roald Dahl Children's Gallery in Church Street, Aylesbury, is a children's museum in honour of novelist Roald Dahl that opened on 23 November 1996.[78] Aylesbury hosts the Roald Dahl Festival, a procession of giant puppets based on his characters, on 2 July.

Comedian and actor Ronnie Barker (1929–2005) began his acting career in the town in the late 1940s and in September 2010, almost five years after his death, a bronze statue of him was unveiled by actor David Jason and Barker's one time co-star Ronnie Corbett (the other half of the Two Ronnies) on a new public place in Exchange Street.[79]

Aylesbury is twinned with the French town of Bourg-en-Bresse, 267 mi (430 km) east of Paris.[81]

• 
  Church of St Mary, Aylesbury – Grade I listed church[82]
• 
  The Old Grammar School, now museum and other buildings, Church Street, Aylesbury
• 
  Church Street – detail
• 
  Bucks 'New' County offices
• 
  Blue Leanie, office block of Lloyds Bank.
• 
  15th century King's Head Inn
• 
  Beer garden of King's Head Inn
• 
  Hobgoblin Inn
• 
  Aylesbury railway station
• 
  Part of Aylesbury Vale taken from the top of Coombe Hill, looking towards Aylesbury – the town's shape is visible.

The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Town of Aylesbury.

• Architecture of Aylesbury
• Aylesbury (UK Parliament constituency)

Notes

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aylesbury.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Aylesbury.

• Aylesbury Town Council
• Aylesbury Vale District Council Archived 11 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine
• "Aylesbury" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 72.
• Aylesbury in the Domesday Book
• Aylesbury.info Regional Website