Buckinghamshire

Map of Bucks (1904)

The name Buckinghamshire is Anglo-Saxon in origin and means The district (scire) of Bucca's home. Bucca's home refers to Buckingham in the north of the county, and is named after the Anglo-Saxon landowner, Bucca. The county has been so named since about the 12th century; however, the county has existed since it was a subdivision of the kingdom of Mercia (585–919).

The history of the area predates the Anglo-Saxon period and the county has a rich history starting from the Brittonic and Roman periods, though the Anglo-Saxons perhaps had the greatest impact on Buckinghamshire: the geography of the rural county is largely as it was in the Anglo-Saxon period. Later, Buckinghamshire became an important political arena, with King Henry VIII intervening in local politics in the 16th century, and just a century later the English Civil War was reputedly started by John Hampden in mid-Bucks.[3]

Historically, the biggest change to the county came in the 19th century, when a combination of cholera and famine hit the rural county, forcing many to migrate to larger towns to find work. Not only did this alter the local economic situation, it meant a lot of land was going cheap at a time when the rich were more mobile, and leafy Bucks became a popular rural idyll: an image it still has today. Buckinghamshire is a popular home for London commuters, leading to greater local affluence; however, some pockets of relative deprivation remain.[4]

The expansion of London and coming of the railways promoted the growth of towns in the south of the county such as Aylesbury, Amersham and High Wycombe, leaving the town Buckingham itself to the north in a relative backwater.[5] As a result, most county institutions are now based in the south of the county or Milton Keynes, rather than in Buckingham.

The county can be split into two sections geographically. The south leads from the River Thames up the gentle slopes of the Chiltern Hills to the more abrupt slopes on the northern side leading to the Vale of Aylesbury and the City of Milton Keynes UA, a large and relatively level expanse of land that is the southern catchment of the River Great Ouse.

Canals

The River Thames at Medmenham

The main branch of the Grand Union Canal passes through the county as do its arms to Slough and Aylesbury, as well as the disused arms to Wendover and Buckingham. The canal has been incorporated into the landscaping of Milton Keynes.

Suburban housing, Chesham

The administration of Buckinghamshire is further sub-divided into civil parishes.

Today Buckinghamshire is ethnically diverse, particularly in the larger towns. At the end of the 19th century some Welsh drover families settled in north Bucks and, in the last quarter of the 20th century, a large number of Londoners in Milton Keynes. Between 6 and 7% of the population of Aylesbury are of Asian or Asian British origin.[10] Likewise Chesham has a similar-sized Asian community,[11] and High Wycombe is the most ethnically diverse town in the county,[4] with large Asian and Afro-Caribbean populations.[4] During the Second World War there were many Polish settlements in Bucks, Czechs in Aston Abbotts and Wingrave, and Albanians in Frieth. Remnants of these communities remain in the county.

Offices, Milton Keynes

Ercol furniture factory, Princes Risborough

Buckinghamshire has a modern service-based economy and is part of the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire NUTS-2 region, which was the seventh richest subregion in the European Union in 2002.[20] As well as the highest GDP per capita outside Inner London, Buckinghamshire has the highest quality of life, the highest life expectancy and the best education results in the country.[21] The southern part of the county is a prosperous section of the London commuter belt. The county has fertile agricultural lands, with many landed estates, especially those of the Rothschild banking family of England in the 19th century (see Rothschild properties in England). The county has several annual agricultural shows, with the Bucks County Show established in 1859. Manufacturing industries include furniture-making (traditionally centred at High Wycombe), pharmaceuticals and agricultural processing. Pinewood Studios in Iver Heath is a principal centre of operations for film and TV production in the UK.

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Buckinghamshire at current basic prices published by the Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds sterling (except GVA index).[22]

Stowe Landscape Garden

The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre, Great Missenden

Buckinghamshire is notable for its open countryside and natural features, including the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Stowe Landscaped Gardens near Buckingham, and the River Thames.[28] The Ridgeway Path, a long-distance footpath, passes through the county. The county also has many historic houses. Some of these are opened to the public by the National Trust, such as Waddesdon Manor, West Wycombe Park and Cliveden.[29] Other historic houses are still in use as private homes, such as the Prime Minister's country retreat Chequers.[30]

Claydon House (near Steeple Claydon), Hughendon Manor (near High Wycombe), Stowe Landscaped Gardens, and Waddesdon Manor (near Aylesbury) are in the care of the National Trust.

Mentmore Towers, a 19th-century English country house built by the Rothschilds is located the village of Mentmore. It is the largest of the English Rothschild houses and is known for its Jacobean-styled architecture designed by Joseph Paxton.[31]

Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes is the site of World War II British codebreaking and Colossus, the world's first programmable electronic digital computer. Together with the co-located National Museum of Computing, it is a nationally important visitor attraction.

Examples of historical architecture in the Chiltern region are preserved at the Chiltern Open Air Museum, an open-air folk museum near Chalfont St Giles. The 45-acre (180,000 m²) site contains reconstructed buildings which might otherwise have been destroyed or demolished as a result of redevelopment or road construction.[32][33]

The market town of Olney, in the Milton Keynes UA, is home to Cowper and Newton Museum which celebrates the work and lives of two famous figures: William Cowper (1731–1800) a celebrated 18th-century poet; and John Newton, a prominent slave trade abolitionist who was curate in the local church. Together, Cowper and Newton wrote the Olney Hymns, including one of the world's most popular hymns, Amazing Grace.

Buckinghamshire is the home of various notable people in connection with whom tourist attractions have been established: for example the author Roald Dahl who included many local features and characters in his works.[34] Artists William Callow and Harriet Anne Smart Callow produced many paintings of the area in the late 19th century.[35]

Sports facilities in Buckinghamshire include half of the international Silverstone Circuit which straddles the Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire border, the Adams Park Stadium in the south and Stadium MK in the north, and Dorney Lake (named 'Eton Dorney' for the event) was used as the rowing venue for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

The county is covered by three overlapping TV regions

• BBC South and ITV Meridian, covering the western side of the county,
• BBC East and ITV Anglia, covering the north and east of the county, and
• BBC London & ITV London, covering the south of the county.

For the full list of towns, villages and hamlets in Buckinghamshire, see List of places in Buckinghamshire. Throughout history, there have been changes to the Buckinghamshire boundary.

The Gateway Building, Buckinghamshire New University, High Wycombe.

Artist and composer Harriet Anne Smart started a school in Buckinghamshire in the 1850s to teach local labourers how to read.[40] Today, education in Buckinghamshire is governed by two Local Education Authorities, Buckinghamshire Council and Milton Keynes City Council. Buckinghamshire Council is one of the few remaining LEAs still using the tripartite system, albeit with some revisions such as the abolition of secondary technical schools. It has a completely selective education system: pupils transfer either to a grammar school or to a secondary modern school or free school depending on how they perform in the Eleven-Plus exam and on their preferences. Pupils who do not take the test can only be allocated places at secondary modern schools or free school. There are 9 independent schools and 34 maintained (state) secondary schools, not including sixth form colleges, in the county council area. There is also the Buckinghamshire University Technical College which offers secondary education from age 14. The unitary authority of Milton Keynes operates a comprehensive education system: there are 8 maintained (state) secondary schools in the City Council area.

Buckinghamshire is also home to the University of Buckingham, Buckinghamshire New University, the National Film and Television School, and the Open University. The University of Bedfordshire has a campus in Milton Keynes.

John Milton's cottage, Chalfont

Cliveden

Buckingham church seen from across the Ouse

Buckinghamshire is the birthplace and/or final resting place of several notable individuals. St Osyth was born in Quarrendon and was buried in Aylesbury in the 7th century[41] while at about the same time Saint Rumbold (or Rumwald) was buried in Buckingham.[42] In the medieval period, Roger of Wendover and Anne Boleyn also owned property in the same town.[43][44] It is said that King Henry VIII made Aylesbury the county town in preference to Buckingham because Boleyn's father owned property there and was a regular visitor himself.[45] Other medieval residents included Edward the Confessor, who had a palace at Brill,[46] and John Wycliffe who lived in Ludgershall.[47]

Buckinghamshire later became home to some notable literary characters. Edmund Waller was brought up in Beaconsfield and served as Member of Parliament (MP) for both Amersham and Wycombe. Mary Shelley and her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley lived for some time in Marlow, attracted to the town by their friend Thomas Love Peacock who also lived there.[48] John Milton lived in Chalfont St Giles and his cottage can still be visited there[49] and John Wilkes was MP for Aylesbury.[50] Later authors include Jerome K. Jerome who lived at Marlow,[51] T. S. Eliot who also lived at Marlow,[52] Roald Dahl who lived at Great Missenden,[53] Enid Blyton who lived in Beaconsfield[54] and Edgar Wallace who lived at Bourne End[55] and is buried in Little Marlow.[56] Modern-day writers from Bucks include Terry Pratchett who was born in Beaconsfield,[57] Tim Rice who is from Amersham[58] and Andy Riley who is from Aylesbury.

During the Second World War a number of European politicians and statesmen were exiled in England. Many of these settled in Bucks as it is close to London. President Edvard Beneš of Czechoslovakia lived at Aston Abbotts with his family while some of his officials were stationed at nearby Addington and Wingrave.[59] Meanwhile, Władysław Sikorski, military leader of Poland, lived at Iver[60] and King Zog of Albania lived at Frieth.[61] Much earlier, King Louis XVIII of France lived in exile at Hartwell House from 1809 to 1814.

Also on the local political stage Buckinghamshire has been home to Nancy Astor who lived in Cliveden,[62] Frederick, Prince of Wales who also lived in Cliveden,[63] Baron Carrington who lives in Bledlow,[64] Benjamin Disraeli who lived at Hughenden Manor and was made Earl of Beaconsfield,[65] John Hampden who was from Great Hampden and is revered in Aylesbury to this day[3] and Prime Minister Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery who lived at Mentmore.[66] Also worthy of note are William Penn who believed he was descended from the Penn family of Penn and so is buried nearby[67] and the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, who has an official residence at Chequers. John Archdale, the colonial governor of North Carolina and South Carolina, was born in Buckinghamshire.[68]

Other notable natives of Buckinghamshire include:

Notable celebrities living in Buckinghamshire include:

• Architecture of Aylesbury
• Bucks County, Pennsylvania
• Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies—Archives, Record Office, Local History and Family History
• Duke of Buckingham
• Safety Centre
• Wendover Woods

• Baynes, T. S., ed. (1878), "County of Buckingham" , Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 4 (9th ed.), New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, pp. 415–417
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911), "Buckinghamshire" , Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 4 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, pp. 728–731

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Buckinghamshire.

• Buckinghamshire County Council
• Buckinghamshire County Museum and Roald Dahl Children's Gallery
• Buckinghamshire Libraries
• Buckinghamshire Tourist Guide
• Bucks County and District Councils Portal
• Photographic Archive of Buckinghamshire
• Images of Buckinghamshire at the English Heritage Archive