Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 1.djvu/417

Rh BUCKINGHAM. 407 BUCKINGHAMSHIRE; with gas. It has a-n abundant supply of water, and there are several baths. The Ouse is here crossed by three bridges, two of s tone and one of brick. The two former are ancient, the latter was erected at the time of the construction of the railway which passes through the town, to replace a third stone bridge removed by the rail- way company. Thereisatownhall, erectedaboutl685,aud a gaol for the borough, built by Lord Cobham in 1748. The latter is a handsome building, with square embattled towers, and a tablet bearing an inscription which records the restoration of the summer assizes to this town in 1758. In 1721 a great portion of tho town was consumed by fire. The business of the town is chiefly agricultural, though some of the inhabitants are engaged in the leather trade, and in making pillow lace, which manufacture has lately much declined. There are several flour-mills on the river. ].im<'.stono is quarried in the neigh- bourhood, and marble exists, but not of good quality. A vigorous endeavour is making to introduce the straw- plait manufacture into the neighbouring villages, which is likely to be successful, as a market for that article is held every .Saturday at Aylesbury. There arc several making-houses in the neighbourhood, an exten- sive tannery, and tin establishment for the sorting of wool. There are many pleasant walks and drives in the vicinity of Buckingham, and especially tho grand avenue of 2 miles, leading from the north-west of the town to the arched entrance of Stowe House, the scat of the Dukes of .Buckingham, which is one of the chief objects of interest and attraction in this neighbourhood. The elective franchise appears to have been first exer- cised by the inhabitants in the reign of Henry VIII., two members being returned to parliament in the year 1544. A charter of incorporation was granted by Queen Mary about ten years later, which was restored, after a short suspension, in 1684. Under the Reform Act it continues to return two representatives. The limits of the parliamentary borough comprise, in addition to the i ancient borough with its hamlets, the parishes of Hilles- i Thoniborough, and Tingewick ; so that the population of the parliamentary borough is 7,625, while that of the 1 municipal is only 3,847. The government of the borough is vested in a mayor, 4 aldermen, and 12 councillors. The revenue of the corporation is about 820. Bucking- ham is the county town, the seat of a Poor-law Union, the head of a County Court district, and one of the polling places for tho county elections. It has a savings-bunk, a mechanics' institute, and tho Union poorhouse. The living is a vie. * in the dioc. of Oxford, of the vol. of 465, in the patron, of the Bishop of Oxford. The church, dedicated to SS. Peter and Paul, is the most conspicuous and principal ornament of the town. It was built about 1780, and stands on an artificial mound, the site of the old castle. It has an embattled tower, with pinnacles, embrasures, and an elegant spire 150 feet high. The altar-piece is a copy of Raphael's picture of the Trans- figuration, presented by the late Marquis of Bucking- ham, and the interior of the church is elegantly fitted up in the Grecian style, with columns and arched ceiling richly ornamented. The old parish church, erected over the burial-place, it is said, of St. Rumbald, stood near the same spot. Its spire fell about tho end of the 17th century, and tho tower in 1779. Tho Independents, Baptists, Wesley an*, and Primitive Methodists, have each one chapel in tho town. There is an endowed grammar school founded by Edward VI., which has an. income of 10. Tho schoolhouse was the chapel of au ancient chantry founded by Matthew Stratton, Arch- deacon of Buckingham, in the 13th century, and origi- nally dedicated to St. Thomas-a-Becket. The Norman doorway and l<: old carved seats still remain. The school is now incorporated with an 3-^nglish school, under the management of tho corporation. The green- coat school, founded by Gabriel Newton in 1760 for 26 hoys, has an income of about 35 a year, and has been incorporated with the National school for boys and girls, founded in 1819. There are some almshouses, the endowments of which amount to about 27 per annum, and several other chai'ities. The entire value of tho charitable endowments of the parish is about 260 per annum.. In 1514, while staying at Bucking- ham, Catherine of Arragon received the tidings of the great defeat of the Scots at Floddeu Field. A great firo occurred in 1724, which destroyed a large part of the town, with property worth 40,000. This was the birth- place of Bishop John of Buckingham, the Protestant martyr Cosins, and Dr. Mason Goode, translator of tho Psalms. The tuwii is connected, by a branch canal miles long, with tho Grand Junction canal at Stony Stratford. Tho branch was formed in 1801, and passes down the valley of the Ouse. Buckingham gives tho title of duke to tho Grcnville family. Saturday is the market day for meat and com, and on Monday a large calf market is held in tho Woolpack-yard. There are twelve fairs annually, chiefly for the sale of cattle, horses, and sheep, viz. on Old New Year's Day, the last Mon- day in January, tho 7th March, the second Monday in April, the 6th May, Whit Thursday, tho 10th July for wool, tho 4th September, the 2nd October, the Saturday after Old Michaelmas Day (a statute fair), the 8th No- vember for cheese, and the 13th December. BUCKINGHAM HUNDRED, one of the 8 hunds. or subdivisions of the co. of Buckingham, situated in tho north-western part of the CO., and bounded on the N. by Northamptonshire, on the E. by the hund. of Cottesloe, on the S. by the hund. of Ashenden, and on the W. by Oxfordshire. It contains the pars, of Addington, Ad- stock, Akeley, Barton Hartshorn, Beachampton, Bid- dlesdon, Buckingham, Caversfield (Oxfordshire), Chet- wode, Edgecott, Foxcott, Hillesdon, Leckhampstead, LUliugstone-Dayrell, Maids Moretou, Marsh Gibbon, Padbury, Preston Bisset, Radclive, Shalstone, Steeple Claydon, Stowe, Thornborough, Thornton, Tingewick, Turweston, Twyford, Water Stratford, Westbury, and part of Stratton Audley, and the ext. par. district of Luffield Abbey. Tho hund. extends over an area of about 50,960 acres. BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, one of the midland coun- ties of England, lying between 51 26' and 52 12' N. lat., and between 3' and 1" 10' W. long. It is bounded on the N. by Northamptonshire, on the E. by Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, and Middlesex ; on the S. by the river Thames, which separates it from Berk- shire ; and on tho W. by Oxfordshire. Its form is very irregular. It extends in length from N. to S. about 54 miles, and its greatest breadth, in a lino from E. to W. through Aylesbury, is about 27 miles. It is in circuit about 215 miles, and comprises an area of 466,932 statute acres, including within its limits 34,680 inhabited houses, occupied by a population of 166,597, according to the census of 1861, against 163,723 in 1851, showing an increase of 2,874 in the decennial period. This county is believed to have been part of the territory of the British tribe called the Calyeuchlani, and after the Roman conquest it was included in the province called l-'luiitt C'tcKti-Kiisis. During the dominion of the Saxons it formed part of tho kingdom of Mercia, and was sub- sequently comprehended within iheDanc-lagh. Its present name is but slightly modified from that under which it is mentioned in Domesday Book Suediya/tanweire. Few historical events are connected with this county previous to the civil war in tho 17th century. In the barons' war in the reign of King John, Hanslope Castle, near Castle- thorpe, the seat of the Manduits, was besieged and taken for the king by Fulk do Brent. In the reign of Charles I. the men of Buckinghamshire early espoused and ener- getically defended the popular cause. It was the ship- money levied on the estate of John Hampden, at Hamp- den, which became the occasion of the famous trial in the courts of law. At Brill a royal garrison long held its ground, notwithstanding several attacks of the parlia- mentary forces under Hampden. The garrison quitted Drill in April, 1643. The army under Essex was quar- tered soon after near Aylesbury and Thame. About the same time Wycombo v. as attacked by Prince Rupert. Buckingham became the head-quarters of the king in the following year. Boarstall House, on the confines of
 * don, Maids Moroton, Padbury, Preston Bisset, Radelive,