Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire, or BUCKS, a south-mid-land county of England, surrounded by Bedfordshire, Herts, Middlesex, Surrey, Berks, Oxfordshire, and Northamptonshire. Thirty-third in size of the English counties, it has a maximum length of 57 miles, a varying breadth of 8½ and 27 miles, and an area of 730 sq. m., or 466,932 acres. It is finely diversified with hill and dale, wood and water. To the south is a broad chalk-band, including the Chiltern range of chalk-hills, which, entering from Oxfordshire and stretching across the county in a north-easterly direction, are partly covered with heath and wood, and rise near Wendover to a height of 905 feet above sea-level. Sloping north from these hills, and crossed by narrower bands of greensand and oolite, is the extensive and very fertile vale of Aylesbury, watered by the Thames. The chief rivers are the Thames, bordering the county on the south-west, the Ouse, Ousel, Colne, and Thames, the last two falling into the Thames. The Grand Junction Canal, and the Great Western and North-Western Railways, with numerous branch lines, traverse the county. The climate is mild and healthy; the soil is mostly good, chalk and clay predominating. Buckinghamshire is eminently an agricultural county, 87 per cent. of the entire area being in cultivation. The farms are generally small, averaging 70 acres. Wheat is the principal crop. The chief dairy product is butter, which finds a ready sale, chiefly in London. In the vale of Aylesbury, fattening of cattle is extensively carried on; the sheep are noted for their fine and heavy fleeces; and large numbers of ducks are reared for metropolitan consumption. Nearly 40 sq. m. are under woods and plantations, beech and oak being the chief timber-trees. The chief manufactures are paper, straw-plait, and thread-lace. The county returns three members to parliament; Aylesbury, Buckingham, Marlow, and Wycombe having ceased in 1855 to be parliamentary boroughs. Buckinghamshire contains some Roman and British remains, as traces of Watling, Icknield, and Ake-man Streets or Ways; remains of the religious houses of Missenden, Notley, Burnham, Medmenham, and Ivinghoe; and vestiges of Lavendon and Whitchurch Castles. There are many examples of Early English and Decorated architecture; and the church of Chetwode (13th century), near Buckingham, contains some fine examples of ancient glass-staining. Many events of historical interest occurred in this county. It was the scene of contest in the civil wars of Stephen and John. At Chalfont St Giles, Milton finished his Paradise Lost, and at Horton he wrote L'Allegro. At Hampden lived the great patriot of that name; Atterbury was born at Milton; Stoke Poges Churchyard suggested Gray's Elegy, and is the place of his burial; at Olney, Cowper lived. Beaconsfield Manor was the seat of Waller; Gregories, near Beaconsfield, of Edmund Burke; Bradenham, of the elder D'Israeli; and Hughenden, of the Earl of Beaconsfield. Scott, the biblical commentator, was rector of Aston Sandford; Herschel's great telescope was erected at Slough, where he made most of his important discoveries; and at Stowe is a magnificent mansion—one of the finest in England, alike for extent, architecture, and beauty of site. Pop. (1801) 108,132; (1881) 176,323; (1891) 185,290. See the histories of the county by Lipscomb (1847) and Sheahan (1862).