BUCKINGHAM is a municipal borough, market and union town, head of a petty sessional division and county court district and includes in the parish the chapelry of Gawcott, the hamlets of Bourton, Bourtonhold and Lenborough and the precinct of Prebend End, in the Northern division of the county, hundred of Buckingham and in the rural deanery of Buckingham (first portion), archdeaconry of Buckingham, and diocese of Oxford, on the London road to Birmingham, and has a station on the line of the Buckinghamshire railway, which runs irom Bletchley on the London and North Western line to Banbury, 57 miles from London by road and 60 ½ by rail, 17 north-west from Aylesbury, 24 north-north-east from Oxford and 8 east-by-south from Brackley.

Buckingham is a place of very considerable antiquity, and once had a castle. A branch of the Roman Akeman Street from Chesterton, in Oxfordshire, crosses part of the hundred and parish of Buckingham, and many Roman coins have at different times been dug up in the vicinity. At the time of the Domesday survey Buckingham was included with the hamlet of Bourton.

The seigniory of Buckingham was for a long period held by the Staffords, Earls and Dukes of Buckingham, from whose crest the borough derives its arms, viz.: “per pale gules and sable, a swan, wings endorsed, argent.”

On 15 th March, 1725, a dreadful conflagration broke cut which consumed 138 houses, or more than a third part of the town as then existing, and no uniformity was observed either in setting out the streets or rebuilding the houses; the town is pleasantly situated on the river Ouse, which environs it on every side except the north and is crossed by three substantial bridges; it is paved and is lighted with gas from works the property of the Buckingham Gas Light and Coke Co.; a number of shops and some of the streets have since 1895 been furnished with the electric light, supplied by the local Electric Light and Power Supply Co.; the water supply is derived from wells. The Grand Junction Canal has a branch to this town.

In the reign of Edward III. Buckingham was governed by a mayor and two bailiffs, and in that of Henry VIII. by a bailiff and burgesses, but was not regularly incorporated till the reign of Queen Mary, whose charter, dated 27th Jan. 1553, was renewed by Charles II. in 1684. By the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835 (5 & 6 William V. c. 76), the government was vested in a mayor, four aldermen and twelve councillors, the corporate body being styled Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of the borough and parish of Buckingham, in the county of Buckingham. The Borough has a Commission of the Peace.

The borough sent two representatives to Parliament from 36 Henry VIII. (1544—5), until the passing of the”Representation of the People Act, 1867,” (30 & 31 Vict, c. 102), which reduced the number to one, and by the”Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885,” (48 & 49 Vict. c. 23) the representation of the borough was merged in that of the county.

The most conspicuous ornament in Buckingham is the church of SS. Peter and Paul, erected in 1777—81 on a hill of natural rock, supposed to be the site of an ancient castle built by one of the Giffards, Earls of Buckingham, prior to the Conquest, parts of the foundations of which are occasionally uncovered and constitute its only vestiges. The old church, a cruciform edifice, had a lofty spire, 163 feet in height from the ground, which collapsed on the 7th Feb. 1699; the building remained for a series of years in a dilapidated state, until on the 26th March, 1776, the tower fell, and the whole structure was thereupon removed and the present church erected on a new site. A large and ancient well, substantially lined with stone, was discovered near the church several years since by some workmen, and in 1877 some good masonry was revealed under the bank on the south-east side of the hill. The church, begun in 1777, was completed in four years at an expense of £7,000, the greater part of which was contributed or raised by Richard, Earl Temple K.G.; it is constructed of stone, and consists of chancel with aisle, nave of 6 bays, aisles, south porch and a battlemented western tower with pinnacles and a light tapering spire, which rises to the height of 150 feet from the ground, and containing 8 bells and clock: the interior was originally designed in the classic style, with columns and arched ceiling, richly ornamented: the altar piece, presented by a former Marquess of Buckingham, being a copy of Raphael’s “Transfiguration:” but from 1862 extensive repairs and alterations were made from plans by the late Sir G. G. Scott R.A. who was a native of Gawcott, a hamlet of this parish, and these have been continued under the direction of his son, John Oldrid Scott esq.: the nave has been completely reconstructed, with new windows, buttresses and parapets of the Early Decorated style; a noble chancel was added at the cost of the last Duke of Buckingham and Chandos K.G. (d. 1889), and a spacious chancel aisle, the gift of the late Lord Addington, erected to serve as an organ chamber and vesfry; the total cost, including the chancel, amounted to about £15,000: many stained windows have been erected as memorials, and include one to the Rev. H. Roundell, late vicar, who died on St. Stephen’s Day, 1863; another to a former curate, who died at Zanzibar, and the stained east window, presented in 1890, at a cost of over £400, by the Buckingham Needle and Thread Society: in 1883 the high pews were removed and the side galleries taken down: in 1888 the organ was enlarged by private subscription and in 1890 the chancel floor was laid with black and white marble at a cost of £110: the total cost of the various restorations from 1873 to 1890 amounted to £6,383: since that date the floor of the sanctuary has been repaved with marble, a chiming apparatus fixed in the tower, and the whole of the carving in the chancel completed at a cost of £4,200: attached to the church is an endowment of £18 18s. yearly, given by Mr. Box for the repair and maintenance of the organ: there are 960 sittings. The register of baptisms and burials dates from the year 1561; marriages, 1559. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £315, with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Oxford, and held since 1899. Before 1445 Buckingham was a chapelry attached to the neighbouring church of Kang’s Sutton, but was at that date made a separate vicarage; the great tithes, together with the manor of Gawcott, were appropriated to a prebendal stall in Lincoln cathedral, called the prebend of Sutton-cum-Buckingham, once held by the illustrious William of Wykeham, but surrendered to the Crown in 1547. The Vicarage house is an ancient building, supposed to have been built in the reign of Charles II.; it stands on a site originally given to the benefice when it was first constituted a vicarage in the year 1445, and the present vicarage garden, sloping down to the river Ouse, appears to be precisely the ancient “Field of Walnuts,” of that early date; in the large dining-room of the house is a beautiful and massive chimney piece, finely designed and carved out of slabs of rude marble, discovered in the parish and presented by the Marquess of Buckingham to the Vicarage. A school-chapel of stone in the Early English style, after a design by the late G. E. Street esq. R.A. was erected in 1865 to serve the joint purpose of a day school and a mission chapel for the working people of that portion of the town; it will seat 60 persons. At the north end of the parish is another mission chapel of iron and wood, built in 1872, and seating 80 persons.

The Congregational church, built in 1857 at & cost of £1,995, is an edifice with a gabled front of Cosgrove stone and Bath stone dressings in the Early English style, and consists of nave and an aisle separated by an arcade of four Pointed arches resting on circular pillars and has an open arcaded porch: there are 460 sittings. In 1876 Sunday schools were erected at a cost of about £1,300; and class-rooms in 1879 at a cost of £380; they will hold 250 children; average attendance, 135.

The Wesleyan chapel, built in 1834, will hold 350 persons; the Primitive Methodist chapel, built in 1840, has sittings for 250.

The Cemetery, established in 1856 by the parish, acting through a burial board, is about a quarter of a mile from the town, on the Brackley road, and now consists of 4 ½ acres of land, an additional 1 ½ acres having been added in 1897, planted with shrubs and surrounded by a brick wall, surmounted by a light iron railing; the mortuary chapels are of red and white brick, with quoins of Bath stone, in the Decorated and Early English styles; the sexton’s house forms a lodge at the entrance: it is under the charge of a burial board of nine members, elected by the vestry.

The chapel of St. John’s Royal Latin school, now incorporated with an English school, under the management of trustees, was founded by Edward VI. who endowed it with the revenue of a dissolved chantry belonging to the guild of the Holy Trinity, and appropriated to its use; the chapel was founded in 1260 by Matthew Stratton, archdeacon of Buckingham, and dedicated to S. John the Baptist and S. Thomas a Becket, probably in the memory of that prelate’s visit to Buckingham as chancellor in 1160: in 1470 it was partly rebuilt by John Ruding, archdeacon of Lincoln and prebendary of Buckingham; in the year 1776 a new roof, constructed principally from the timbers of the old church, was placed by Earl Temple, and the chapel was used for divine service during the erection of the present church on Castle hill: there is a house for the master, built in 1690 by Alexander Denton esq.: the original Norman doorway still remains and is deeply recessed and profusely adorned with the characteristic zig-zag ornament, the arch being supported on niche shafts, with cushioned capitals. In 1875 a thorough restoration of the school room was commenced from designs furnished by the late Sir G. Gilbert Scott R.A. when a new stone bell-cot was erected, the large window in the south-eastern gable filled with suitable mullions and tracery and two new windows inserted in the south wall. The cost was defrayed by a grant from the trustees of £30, public subscriptions amounting to £140, and a sum of £30, the proceeds of concerts and entertainments given by the masters and pupils. In 1890 the approach to the school was greatly improved, and since then two school rooms and other buildings have been added, and the school now holds about 100 boys.

The Town Hall, nearly in the centre of the town, is a plain but spacious and lofty building of red brick surmounted by a clock and bell-turret of wood covered with lead, on the top of which, standing with wings expanded on a golden ball, is a large carved and gilded swan of copper, chained, and adopted as the device of the borough from the Stafford crest; the ground floor contains offices for the borough and county magistrates and a private council chamber; a large and handsome oak staircase conducts to the first floor, on which is a large room used at elections and on other public occasions, and a court room in which the petty sessions and county court business is transacted: the hall will hold about 600 persons.

The building formerly used as the borough gaol and afterwards as the borough and county lock-up, stands at the bottom of Market square, facing the town hall, and was erected by Lord Cobham in 1748 at his own expense; before the year 1839 the principal front of the building was on the north side, but in that year the south side was built in a castellated style with square towers and battlements at a cost of £1,500, and on the outside is a tablet recording the restoration of the summer assizes to this town in 1748; they continued to be held here from 1748 to the month of July, 1848, when they were removed to Aylesbury: the building contains 9 cells and a police office, not now in use. The police station, in Moreton road, erected in 1892, is an edifice of red brick with Bath stone dressings, and comprises the usual offices, together with 4 cells, a residence for the superintendent and a room for a single constable; the force for the division consists of a superintendent (attached to the north-western division of the county police), three sergeants, 18 constables and two private constables.

The Masonic Hall, in High street, was opened in 1890 for the Grenville Lodge, No. 1787.

There is a Reading Room in the Town Hall supplied with daily and weekly papers, books of reference and a small library, also bagatelle, chess and draught boards &c.; it is supported by members and honorary subscribers.

The market is held on Saturday for live and dead farming stock and also for corn, and on Monday a calf market is held at the Woolpack yard. On the 3rd Saturday in June a fair is held for wool only, and a statute pleasure fair on the Saturday after Old Michaelmas day. There are auction sales of farming stock in the market every Saturday, and a large fat stock fair Saturday nearest 13th December.

The Barracks, in West street, were erected in 1802 by Richard, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, as a depot and storehouse for the Buckinghamshire (Royal Bucks Hussars) Yeomanry cavalry, which forms part of the 2nd Yeomanry Brigade: this regiment now numbers 412 officers and men, Hon. Col. Lord Chesham being the commanding officer; the regiment assembles once a year for drill and exercise. The officers own very complete premises in Hunter street, called Yeomanry house, comprising mess-rooms and quarters for themselves with stabling.

Buckingham is the head quarters of the C Company, 1st battalion, Bucks Rifle Volunteers.

A mansion in this town, called “Fowlers and Lambards,” was anciently the residence of John Barton, founder of the hospital already mentioned; here in 1514, Edward Fowler entertained Catherine of Arragon; and in 1644, being then in the occupation of Sir Edward Richardson, who was knighted at Welbeck, 10th Aug. 1619, it was for some days the residence of Charles I.

At the north end of the town is a Nursing Home and District Nursing institution, originally established in 1868 in connection with the parish church, but since May, 1897, it has been undenominational; the resident nurses attend patients in the town and villages of the neighbourhood: the present building was presented by the late Lord Addington, in commemoration of the preservation from death of his eldest son, who was thrown from his horse: it is a handsome and well-arranged structure pleasantly situated on the side of a hill, and was opened in 1887. The object of the home is to relieve the suffering of the sick, especially of the sick poor, in Buckingham and its neighbourhood, by placing within their reach skilled and experienced nursing, and also to receive into the homer suitable cases which cannot be adequately treated at the home of the patient.

There are several maltings in the town, a condensed milk manufactory, an artificias manure manufactory, two water and steam corn and flour mills; the poorer female inhabitants are employed in making pillow lace.

The Buckingham general charities are divided into three branches, viz.:-Almshouses, Educational and Eleemosynary. The almshouse branch comprises Christ’s Hospital, founded in 1597 by Queen Elizabeth and rebuilt in 1897 at a cost of about £800, and Barton’s Hospital, founded in 1431 by John Barton, sen. of Buckingham. Each of these almshouse buildings contains residences for six poor women, who receive 5s. each weekly. The income of the almshouse branch proper is only about £31, and the balance required to meet the above payments is taken from the Eleemosynary branch. The Educational branch comprises St. John’s Royal Latin School, which has 6 Foundation scholars; Newton’s charity of £26 for education and clothing; Hart’s charity of about £9 and Sir Richard Temple’s of about £13, each for apprenticeships. The Eleemosynary branch includes Lady Penelope Osborne’s charity of £12; Sir Simon Bennett’s of about £17; Higgens’s of about £73; Lady Bagot’s of £11; an unknown donors of 6s. 8d.; Agard and Dayrell’s of about £83; Groves’s of £2 10s.; Pittam’s of £1 11s. 8d.; Adkin’s of about £33 and West’s of £17 6s. 4d. Besides all the charities included in the above branches there is an Organ charity, the income of which, £17 6s. 0d. is applied in aid of the salary paid to the church organists. Harrison’s charity of about £8 5s. for paralytics, and the Poor’s allotment, 14 acres near Gawcott Wood, producing about £20 yearly, which is expended in coal for the poor.

Buckingham conferred the title of Duke upon the family of Grenville-Temple until it became extinct by the death in 1889 the last Duke of Buckingham and Chandos K.G. and Stowe House, now the property of his daughter, the Baroness Kinloss, is a great object of attraction; this noble seat is within the parish of Stowe, about three miles north-west from Buckingham, and is approached from the town by an avenue about two miles in length bordered on either side by lofty trees, and continuing in a direct line to the principal entrance to the park, a fine arch of the Corinthian order, 60 feet in height: on the death of the late duke this magnificent residence was let on lease to H.R.H, the late Comte da Paris, who died here in 1894.

The Baroness Kinloss is lady of the manor of the prebend of Buckingham with Gawcott.

The principal land and property owners in Buckingham are the Baroness Kinloss, the Earl Temple, Messrs. Harrison, A. Stowe esq. Mrs. Parrott, the trustees of the late John Edward Bartlett esq. of Stone, Aylesbury, the trustees of the late Rev. Eusebius A. Uthwatt B.A. of Buckingham (d. 1891), and R. S. Budgett esq. of Brookfield.

The area of the parish is 4,975 acres of land and 32 of water; assessable value, £15,6169; the population in 1891 was of the parish and municipal borough, 3,364, including 85 officers and inmates in the workhouse; the population of SS. Peter and Paul ecclesiastical parish in 1891 was 2,88.9.

Gawcott with Lenborough in this civil parish have been formed into an ecclesiastical parish.

Petty sessions are held at the Town hall on alternate Saturdays at 12 o’clock The places in the division are Addington, Adstock, Akeley, Barton Hartshorn, Biddlesden, Boycott, Charndon, Chetwode, Edgcott, Foscott, Hillesden, Leckhampstead, Lillingstone Dayrell, Lillingstone Lovell, Maids Moreton, Marsh Gibbon, Middle Claydon, Padbury, Poundon, Preston Bissett, Radclive-cum-Chackmore, Shalstone, Steeple Claydon, Stowe, Thornbrough, Thornton, Tingewick, Turweston, Twyford, Water Stratford & Westbury. The borough comprises:-Buckingham, Bourton, Bourtonhold, Gawcott, Lenborough & Prebend End.

VOLUNTEERS

1st Bucks Rifles (C Co.), Armoury, Market square, Capt. T. H. Hooker, commanding; Sergeant Wm. Franklin, drill instructor.

BUCKINGHAM UNION

Board day, every alternate Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Workhouse.

The Union comprises the following places:-Addington, Adstock, Akeley, Barton Hartshorn, Beachampton, Bourton, Bourtonhold, Boycott, Buckingham, Chamdon, Chetwode, Edgcott, Foscott, Gawcott, Hillesden, Leckhampstead, Lenborough, Lillingstone Dayrell, Lillingstone Lovell, Luffield Abbey, Maids Moreton, Marsh Gibbon, Middle Claydon, Padbury, Poundon, Preston Bissett, Radclive-cum-Chackmore, Shatstone, Steepe Claydon, Stowe, Thornborough, Thornton, Tingewick, Twyford & Water Stratford. The population of the union in 1891 was 11,571; area, 54,021 acres; assessable value in 1898, £78,312 4s. 10d.

The Workhouse, pleasantly situated on an eminence at the north end of the town, is a building of stone, available for 125 inmates, and has a detached brick-built fever hospital & vagrant wards; the latter, together with a new board room & other alterations, were added in 1898 at a cost of £4,200.

PLACES OF WORSHIP, with times of Services

SS. Peter & Paul Church, vicar & rural dean; Rev. Basil Ernest Foyster B.A. curate; 8 & 10.45 a.m. & 3 & 6 p.m.; daily, 8 a.m. & 5 p.m.

SS. Peter & Paul Mission Room, North end, Sun. 4.15 p.m.; Tues. 7 p.m.

SS. Peter & Paul School Chapel, Church end, Thur. 7 p.m.

Congregational, Church street, Rev. C. T. Price; 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

Primitive Methodist, Moreton road, Rev. Wm. Cuthbert; 10.45 a.m. & 6 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

Primitive Methodist, Gawcott; 2.30 & 6 p.m.; Tues. 7 p.m. fortnightly.

Wesleyan, Well street (Buckingham & Brackley circuit), Rev. John Stembridge; 10.45 a.m. & 6 p.m.; Thur. 7.30 p.m.

Roman Catholic Temporary College of St. Bernadine of Siena, London road, Rev. Father Anselm O.S.F. priest; services, 7 & 10 a.m. & 5 p.m. sundays.

SCHOOLS

St. John’s Royal Latin, built in 1548 & holding 80 children; average attendance, 63.

A School Board of 5 members was formed, 20 Dec. 1871; Owen E. Bennett, Market hill, clerk to the board; Charles Marsh, West street, school board officer. Meetings monthly.

Board (mixed), built in 1879, at a cost of £3,500, for 300 children; average attendance, 65 boys, 56 girls & 64 infants.

National, founded in 1819 & re-built in 1856; 25 boys belonging to the Green Coat school, founded & endowed in 1760, by Mr. Gabriel Newton, alderman of Leicester, are also educated at this school, which will hold 500 scholars; average attendance, 107 boys, 88 girls & 71 infants.

Infants’, Church end, built in 1865, for 60 children; average attendance, 28.

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BUCKINGHAM, the county town, is situated in a valley upon the river Ouse, by which it is nearly surrounded, and over which it has three bridges. It is an ancient borough, and is described as such in Doomsday Book, which records that it had then 26 burgesses, all under the protection of foreign lords. In the reign of Edward III. Buckingham was made one of the staples for wool; it was then a flourishing place, and upon the removal of the staples to Calais, this was one of the towns for whose relief an act of parliament was obtained in 1545.

In 1725 Buckingham suffered greatly by a fire, which consumed 138 dwelling houses, being more than one third of the whole town; the damage was estimated at 40,000l.

In 1758, Lord Cobham procured an act of parliament to fix the summer assizes at Buckingham, and erected a gaol here at his own expence for the use of the town and county. The town-hall had been built many years before at the expence of Sir Ralph Verney. It is a large brick building, at the top of which is a gilt swan, the borough arms.

In the reign of Edward III. the corporation con sisted of a mayor and three bailiffs; but by the charter of Queen Mary the government of the town is vested in a bailiff, and 12 burgesses, whose titles were altered by Charles II. into those of mayor and aldermen. The former charter, however, has been since restored, and the magistrates are at present entitled the bailiff and burgesses.

It does not appear that representatives were sent from this town to parliament before the year 1544, although three persons were sent as early as the 11th Edward III. to a council of trade held by that prince at Westminster. The right of election is in the bailiff and burgesses.

There are four incorporated companies in Buckingham: the mercers, tanners, butchers, and merchant-taylors, and all persons admitted to the freedom of the town must be members of one of these corporations.

Previous to the act of parliament above-mentioned to have been obtained by Lord Cobham, for removing the summer assizes to Buckingham, the whole business of the county was transacted at Aylesbury. The sessions for the town and parish are held every half year, and the corporation hold a court once every three weeks for the recovery of small debts.

There was formerly a castle here, erected by the Saxon king Edward the elder, on a hill which divides the town in the middle; but there are now no traces of it remaining. It is supposed to have been anciently a seat of the Giffords, Earls of Buckingham. In 1670 a bowling green was made on the castle hill, which, was much resorted to by the gentlemen of the county. According to Mr. Willis the polls for knights of the shire were taken, and he had heard that the assizes were formerly held there, in temporary booths erected for the purpose.

The spire of the old church of Buckingham, reckoned one of the tallest in England, was blown down in 1698, by a tempest, and never rebuilt; the tower itself fell March 26,1776, since which the church; yard remains a burial place, with a chapel only, and a new church has been erected on the site of the ancient castle above-mentioned.

This elegant building, rendered more conspicuous by its elevated situation was began in 1777, and completed in four years at the expence of about 7000l. the greatest part of which was subscribed by the late Earl Temple. The church is built of free-stone, and has a handsome square tower, attached to its southwest end, with a spire nearly equal in height to that of the old church (being 150 feet from the ground). The inside is finished in an elegant style. The altar piece, representing the transfiguration of Christ, is a tolerable copy of a celebrated picture by Raphael, given to the parish by the Marquis of Buckingham. The arms and crests of the Temple family are carved in stone over the east and west doors. There are no monuments in the new church.

In the year 1597 Queen Elizabeth founded an Alms-house at Buckingham, for seven poor women, called Christ’s Hospital, on the site of an ancient hospital dedicated to Saint Lawrence, which existed as early as 1312. It is but slenderly endowed.

John Barton, in 1431, founded an hospital for six poor persons, to each of whom he gave a groat a week to pray for his soul. In 1583 tins alms-house was again given to the poor by Mrs. Dayrel, whose family most probably obtained it from the crown, after the suppression of the first foundation. It is still called Barton’s Hospital.

The free-school in Buckingham was founded by Isabel Denton, in 1540, and the original endowment has been encreased by several subsequent benefactors.

There is a capital mansion in the town of Buckingham, of some notoriety, called Fowler’s and Lambard’s. It was anciently the seat of John Barton, who in the reigns of Richard II. and Henry IV. was one of the knights of the shire. At this house Catharine of Arragon, Henry VIIIth’s first queen was entertained in 1514, by Edward Fowler, and in 1644 was for several days the residence os King Charles I. The room in which he lay is still called the king’s chamber.

Buckingham has held a large market on Saturdays from time immemorial. It has also ten fairs in the year on the days inserted in our list. According to the returns made under the population act in 1801, it appears that there were then 2605 inhabitants in this parish.

A large proportion of the labouring inhabitants are employed in lace-making; scarcely a house or female in the town is unprovided with a lace pillow, parchments, bobbin, gimps, pins, thread, and other requisites. The sort of lace principally made is fine thread lace, black and white; the former commonly with a French ground or perfect diamond squares the latter generally executed with a roundish hole, called the point-ground. The maker is furnished with a round pillow, on which a slip of parchment is fixed, perforated with a great number of holes corresponding to the pattern required to be executed. These holes are filled with pins which are placed and displaced as the bobbins are moved or stitches finished. The thread is fixed on the top of small bobbins or gimps; the first are used in making fine lace, and ground, and the latter for coarse to work-in the flowers, &c.

The manufacture of lace, at Nottingham, by means of machinery, has considerably reduced the receipts of the lace-makers in this town.

The manor of Lethenborough, or Lenborough, in the parish of Buckingham, became the seat of the Ingoldsbys, an ancient Lincolnshire family, in 1445; a great part of the old mansion-house has been pulled down, and the remainder converted into a farmhouse.