Aylesbury

Aylesbury, the chief town of Buckinghamshire, in a fertile vale, on a rivulet flowing to the Tame, 43½ miles NW. of London. Among its buildings are the cruciform parish church, finely restored by Sir G. G. Scott (1849-67), the corn exchange and markets (1865), and the county infirmary (1862). The inhabitants are engaged in making bone-lace and straw-plait, in brewing, in the preparation of dairy-produce, and in rearing fat ducks to supply the London markets at an early period of the season, when they fetch very high prices. Aylesbury is a very ancient town, having been taken from the Britons by the Saxons in 571. Till 1885 it formed with its hundred a parliamentary borough, returning two members to parliament. Pop. of town (1881) 7795; (1891) 8674.