Description
Buckingham is surrounded on every side except the north by the river Ouse, which is crossed by two ancient bridges and one modern one, all solid and substantial structures. It consists chiefly of one long irregular street, and is built almost entirely of brick. Its water supply is derived from waterworks constructed in 1893, and the water is obtained from the Akeley Hills, and supplied by gravitation. The town hall is a large brick structure of 1685. The ground floor contains a private council chamber and offices for the borough and county magistrates, and there is a large hall and a court room for quarter sessions and county court business on the first floor. The jail, a castellated structure erected by Lord Cobham in 1748 and enlarged in 1839, is not now in use. The church stands on the mount of the ancient castle, was built in 1784 at a cost of about £7000, and has a handsome steeple, 150 feet high. The church itself was formerly considered one of the ugliest in England, but since 1862 it has undergone extensive alterations, and has been greatly improved in accordance with the plans of Sir G. G. Scott, B.A., who was a native of Gawcott, a hamlet in the parish. The churchyard is surrounded by a broad, shady walk, and from its elevated position commands extensive views of the surrounding country. The living is a discharged vicarage forming a peculiar in the diocese of Oxford ; gross yearly value, £478 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Oxford. The Congregational chapel was built in 1857, and is in the Early English style. There are also Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels. The cemetery was opened in 1856, and has two neat chapels. The grammar school was the chapel of a chantry founded in 1268 by Archdeacon Stratton, has a Norman doorway, and. fine carved seats, and is inclosed by ancient walls. It was restored in 1875 from designs furnished by Sir G. G. Scott, and its approach was greatly improved in 1890. The town possesses numerous endowments and charities, but they are all of small amounts. The workhouse cost £5500, and it has accommodation for 125 persons. There is a Nursing Home, established in 1868 in connection with the parish church, which now occupies a handsome building erected in 1887 at the cost of Lord Addington. Lambard's house occupies the site of a mansion which was inhabited some time by Catherine of Arragon, the first queen of Henry VIII., was built in 1611, occupied next year by Prince Rupert, and gave quarters for a night in 1645 to Charles I. Another house still extant was visited by Queen Elizabeth. The prebendary-house, of the same date as Lambard's, is a curious edifice with a crooked chimney.
The town has a head post office and three banks, is a seat of petty sessions, and publishes two weekly newspapers. Markets are held on Monday and Saturday, and fairs on the third Saturday in June for wool, and Saturday after Old Michaelmas Day for pleasure. There is also a large fat-cattle fair and sale early in December. The town contains a brewery, three water and steam corn mills, several mailings, and a manufactory of artificial manure. Pillow lace is also made in the town, chiefly by the poorer female inhabitants. The town was regularly incorporated as a borough in the reign of Queen Mary by charter dated 27 Jan., 1553. This was renewed by Charles II. in 1684; and by the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835 the government was vested in a mayor, four aldermen, and twelve councillors. From the 36th of Henry VIII. to the year 1867 the borough constantly sent two members to parliament. In 1867 the number was reduced to one, and by the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885 the representation of the borough was merged in that of the county. Population of the town and municipal borough, 3364; acreage, 5007.
The parish includes the precinct of Prebend-End, the chapelry of Gawcott, and the hamlets of Lenborough, Bornton, and Bourtonhold. Gawcott was formed into a separate chapelry in 1862. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford; total gross yearly value, £478 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Oxford. The church, erected in 1828, consists of chancel, south porch, and western tower. Lenborough is 2 miles S of the town, Bourton 1 mile E, and Bourtonhold forms part of the town itself. Buckingham has given the title of duke to the families of successively Stafford, Villiers, Sheffield, and Grenville, but in 1889 the title became extinct by the death of the last Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. Buckingham manor belonged anciently to the Giffords, Earls of Buckingham; passed to successively the Clares, the Breoses, and the Staffords; suffered forfeiture, and was given to Richard Fowler in 1460; was restored to the Staffords in 1485, and forfeited again in 1521; passed to successively Lord Marney, the Careys, and the Brocas family; and was leased in 1574, for 999 years, to the corporation. Lenborough manor lay annexed to Buckingham manor till 1521, was held thence for nearly a century by the Crown, passed then to the Dormers, was purchased in 1718 by Edward Gibbon, Esq., the grandfather of the historian, and passed afterwards to the Goodriches. Stowe, formerly the magnificent seat of the Duke of Buckingham, is in the neighbouring parish of Stowe. Population of the ecclesiastical parish, 2889.
Buckingham Parliamentary Division, or Northern Bucks, was formed under the Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885, and returns one member to the House of Commons. Population, 57,401. The division includes the following:—Buckingham (three hundreds of)—Addington, Adstock, Akely, Barton Hartshorn, Biddlesden, Charndon, Chetwode, Edgcott, Foscott, Hillesden, Leckhampstead, Lillingstone Dayrell, Lillingstone Lovell, Luffield Abbey, Maidsmoreton, Marsh Gibbon, Middle Claydon, Padbury, Powndon, Preston Bissett, Radclive-cum-Chackmore, Shalstone, Steeple Claydon, Stowe, Thornborough, Thornton, Tingewick, Turweston, Twyford, Water Stratford, Westbury; Stony Stratford—Beachampton, Bradwell Abbey, Calverton, Castle Thorpe, Loughton, Shenley Brook End, Shenley Church End, Stony Stratford (East), Stony Stratford (West) 1/2 Wolverton ; Newport (first division of the three hundreds of)—Astwood, Bletchley, Bradwell, Brickhill (Bow), Brickhill (Great), Brickhill (Little), Broughton, Chichley, Clifton Reynes, Cold Brayfield, Crawley (North and Little), Emberton, Gayhurst, Hanslope, Hardmead, Haversham, Lathbury, Lavendon, Linford (Great), Linford (Little), Milton Keynes, Mulsoe, Newport Pagnell, Newton Blossomville, Newton Longville, Olney, Olney Park, Petsoe Manor, Ravenstone, Sherington, Simpson, Stantonbury, Stoke Goldington, Stoke Hammond, Stratford (Fenny), Tyringham and Filgrave, Walton, Warrington, Water Eton, Wavendon, Weston Underwood, Willen, Woolstone (Great), Woolstone (Little), Woughton; Ashendon (three hundreds of)—Ashendon, Boarstall, Brill, Chearsley, Chilton, Dorton, Grendon Underwood, Ickford, Kingswood, Long Crendon, Ludgershall, Oakley, Shabbington, Woodbarn, Worminghall, Wotton Underwood; Winslow (part of)—Claydon (East), Drayton Parslow, Dunton, Grandborough, Hogshaw, Hogston, Horwood (Great), Horwood (Little), Marston (North), Mursley, Nash, Swanbourne, Tattenhoe, Whaddon, Winslow; Buckingham, municipal borough.
