Buckingham


Buckingham is a market town in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, which had a population of 12,890 at the 2011 Census. The town lies approximately west of Central Milton Keynes, south-east of Banbury, and north-east of Oxford.
Buckingham was the county town of Buckinghamshire from the 10th century, when it was made the capital of the newly formed shire of Buckingham, until Aylesbury took over this role in the 18th century.
Buckingham has a variety of restaurants and pubs, typical of a market town. Britain's first private university, the University of Buckingham, is based here.

History

Buckingham and the surrounding area has been settled for some time with evidence of Roman settlement found in several sites close to the River Great Ouse, including a temple south of the A421 at Bourton Grounds which was excavated in the 1960s and dated to the 3rd century AD. A possible Roman building was identified at Castle Fields in the 19th century. Pottery, kiln furniture and areas of burning found at Buckingham industrial estate suggest it was the site of some early Roman pottery kilns.
In the 7th century, Buckingham is said to have been founded by Bucca, the leader of the first Anglo Saxon settlers. The first settlement was located around the top of a loop in the River Great Ouse, presently the Hunter Street campus of the University of Buckingham. Between the 7th century and the 11th century, the town of Buckingham regularly changed hands between the Saxons and the Danes, in particular, in 914 King Edward the Elder and a Saxon army encamped in Buckingham for four weeks forcing local Danish Viking leaders to surrender. Subsequently, a fort was constructed at the location of the present Buckingham parish church. Buckingham is mentioned in the Burghal Hidage, a document commonly ascribed to the early tenth century, but more probably of the period 878–9, which describes a system of forts set up by King Alfred over the whole of the West Saxon kingdom. When King Edward encamped at Buckingham with his army in 914, he was therefore restoring a fort which had already existed for more than a generation. This tactical move was part of a putsch against the Danish Vikings who controlled what had been southern Mercia, and which involved the taking of control of Viking centres at Bedford, Northampton, Cambridge and eventually the whole of East Anglia by the end of 917.
Buckingham is the first settlement referred to in the Buckinghamshire section of the Domesday Book of 1086. Buckingham was referred to as Buckingham with Bourton, and the survey makes reference to 26 burgesses, 11 smallholders and 1 mill.
The town received its charter in 1554 when Queen Mary created the free Borough of Buckingham with boundaries extending from Thornborowe Bridge to Dudley Bridge and from Chackmore Bridge to Padbury Mill Bridge. The designated borough included a bailiff, twelve principal burgesses and a steward. Yeomanry House, the offices and home of the commanding officer of the Buckinghamshire Yeomanry, was built in the early 19th century.
The town suffered a significant fire that raged through the town centre on 15 March 1725, with the result that many streets of the town were destroyed including Castle Street, Castle Hill and the north side of Market Hill. The result was 138 dwellings being consumed in the fire. The current Georgian architecture on these streets today is a consequence of the fire, but the immediate aftermath was difficult for the town. Collections were made in surrounding towns such as Aylesbury and Wendover to help those made homeless, by 1730, only a third of the homes had been rebuilt. Due to many buildings being considered to be of historic interest, a number of them have been granted 'listed building' status. These include the Grade I listed Castle House on West Street, which dates back to the 15th century. Buckingham Town Hall, which is Grade II* listed, dates to the late 18th century.
The town was connected to the London and North Western Railway by the Buckinghamshire Railway in 1850.
The municipal borough had a population of 1,816 in 1841.
In 1971, Buckinghamshire County Council set up the Buckingham Development Company with other local councils, and undertook a significant project to grow the town and provide a bypass, mainly to the south and east of the historic town centre. The population rose from just over 5,000 to 9,309 in 1991.

Saint Rumbold

The town is said to be the final resting place of St Rumbold, a little-known Saxon saint. He is now most often referred to as St Rumbold,
the latter being the most common, as it can be found being used on a local road name and recent booklets about the subject.

Geography

The town is centred on the historic market place and contains many 18th century buildings. There are three main roads crossing Buckingham, namely the A413, the A421 and the A422. Capability Brown's historic formal garden design at Stowe is an important attraction in the care of the National Trust.
There is a medieval well known as St Rumbold's Well on the south side of the dismantled railway which borders the town. The well, which is now dry for much of the year, was positioned to exploit the spring line below the crest of a north facing slope overlooking the town.
Suburbs of Buckingham include Mount Pleasant, Page Hill, Bourton, Badgers, Linden Village, Castle Fields, Tingewick Road Estate and Lace Hill. Maids Moreton, a village on the north eastern borders of the town has become contiguous with the Buckingham urban area. Nearby settlements include Winslow, Bicester, Brackley, Milton Keynes and Silverstone. Local villages in the immediate vicinity include Padbury and Gawcott to the south, Chackmore to the north and Shalstone to the north west. It is also very near Stowe, the location of Stowe House, Stowe Gardens and Stowe School.
There is a degree confluence point on the edge of the town, at exactly.

Bourton

Bourton was a hamlet in the parish of Buckingham. The hamlet name is Old English in origin, and means 'fortified enclosure'. It is now an integral part of the town of Buckingham, with a road and old mill named Bourton still visible to visitors.
Bourton was once the location of a great house that belonged to the Minshull family. In the English Civil War the house was plundered by Parliamentarian forces. The house has long since disappeared.

Population

At the 2011 census, the population of the Buckingham built-up area, which includes Maids Moreton but excludes Lace Hill, was 12,890. The population of the Buckingham civil parish was 12,043. The town has continued to grow since 2011 and thus the figures at the prospective 2021 census are expected to be significantly greater., the town council estimates the population of its civil parish at 15,700.
CensusPopulationFemaleMaleHouseholdsSource
200111,5725,8875,6854,459
201112,0436,0635,9804,741
202114,2947,3486,9465,908

Education

The town is home to the University of Buckingham, the oldest of the UK's six private universities. Like other UK universities, a large proportion of its students are from overseas.
The Buckinghamshire Council operates the Tripartite System of state secondary education. The local state secondary schools are the Royal Latin School and the Buckingham School. Stowe School and Akeley Wood School, just outside the town, are private schools.
There are four primary schools, one a community school and the other three academies, serving different areas of the town: Buckingham Primary School is the community primary, and the three academies are all operated by Campfire Education Trust.

Industry and business

The town is home to a number of industrial estates and technology parks housing high tech companies in the pharmaceutical, electronic, foods and composite materials fields, including Racelogic and Wipac.
Buckingham was home to the Thomas Rickett steam car, an innovative vehicle from 1860, though considered ahead of its time and only two are thought to have been made.
Most retail is located in the town centre with a variety of independent stores, cafes and restaurants as well as national chains. The Hidden Quarter, located mainly in Well Street and Bridge Street, hosts a number of independent retailers selling everything from handmade home wares to retro wooden toys. Currently, there are two banks in the town centre - Barclays and Lloyds.

Town markets

Buckingham's historic street market has been in the town for over 600 years and dates from the Charters granted by Queen Mary in 1554 and Charles II in 1664, giving the markets a unique heritage.
Street markets are held every Tuesday and Saturday. Regular and casual market traders offer a wide variety of products, including fish, fruit and veg, award-winning bread, household goods, tools, flowers and clothes. There is a flea market held every Saturday on the site of the town's former cattle pens, offering a wide selection of antiques, collectables and jewellery.

Governance

There are two tiers of local government in Buckingham, at parish and unitary authority level: Buckingham Town Council and Buckinghamshire Council. The town council is based at the Buckingham Centre on Verney Close in the town.
Historically, Buckingham was an ancient borough, and it became a municipal borough in 1836. Buckingham Borough Council was based at Buckingham Town Hall until 1965, when it moved to Castle House on West Street. The borough was abolished in 1974 to become part of Aylesbury Vale district, with Buckingham Town Council being established as a successor parish covering the former borough. Aylesbury Vale District Council in turn was abolished in 2020, merging with Buckinghamshire County Council and the county's other districts to become Buckinghamshire Council.