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B U C K IN G H A M S H IR E
B U C KIN G H A M SH IR E , taking its nam e from the town of wet clays, and som etim es sands ; b ut these are more than
Buckingham, is a southern inland shire, lyin g near the compensated by the rich grounds in the Vale of the Tham e,
middle of England, equi-distant between the North Sea, at a t Aylesburj-, and on the banks of the Thames and Colne.
the mouth of the Thames, and the Bristol Channel.
Its
The Thames, at the southern border, flows to London and
area is rather below the m iddle size of English shires ; the sea, bearing large craft, and by canal it communicates
the main length of 53 miles is from north-west to with every part of England ; on its banks, in this county,
south-east, and its greatest breadth about 47 m iles; are G reat Marlow and Eton. The sm all river W ye, flowing
the shape is very irregular, and it has few natural bound- from Wycombe, falls into the Thames, near Hedsor, after
marks. On the north it is bounded by Northam ptonshire ; turning several paper mills.
In the Thames are found
on the east by Bedfordshire, H ertfordshire and Middlesex, barbel, trout, pike, carp, chub, tench, dace, roach, crayfish,
from which latter it is parted by the Colne ; on the south the ! eels, and other fish.
A t the southern part of the shire the
Thames parts it from Berkshire ; on the west it is bounded river Colne, which turns m any mills, falls into the Tham es,
by Oxfordshire.
and with its feeder, the Missen, or Misbourn, it waters the
south-eastern p art of Bucks.
The area of the county w as originally 457,694 acres, but
The Chess flows b y Chesham into Herts. The Tham e is
under the provisions of the “ Local G overnm ent (England
and Wales) Act, x888 ” (51 & 52 Viet. c. 41), the parishes of formed by a great m any stream s, and waters the V ale of
Stokenchurch and of Ibstone were transferred from Oxon A ylesbury, and thence flows past Tham e to the Isis at
to Bucks, K ingsey being added to the form er from the Dorchester ; it is after the junction of the Tham e w ith the
latter county, and the parish of Nettleden, reconstituted Isis that the latter properly becomes the Tham es, though it
by the addition of p art of Ivinghoe, transferred to H e rts ; is popularly known by the latter nam e throughout its
by these alterations the adm inistrative county area is course ; it has trout, pike, eels, chub, perch, roach, gudgeon,
479,360 acres.
&c.
A small feeder of the Cherwell rises in Bucks. The
Midland Ouse runs through the shire for about 43 miles,
The population in 1831 was 130,982 ; in 1841, 138,246 ;
from near B rackley, by Buckingham , to Stony Stratford,
¡0 18 5 1,14 3 ,6 5 5 ; in 1861, 167,993; in 1871, 175,879; in
thence through Newport P agn ellto Olney and into Bedford­
1881, 176,323; in 1891, 185,284; and in 1901, 197,046,
shire ; it receives the Tove, at Stony Stratford ; a large
viz., males 96,486, females 100,560.
stream from Winslow, and another a t Newport Pagnell,
The population of the adm inistrative county in 1911 was called the Ousel, 30 miles long, flowing from F enny S tra t­
219 »5 ST»
:— Males, 107,326; females, 112,225.
ford. The Tham e is navigable at Tham e, th e Ouse through­
The shire was form erly inhabited by Britons, who were out the county. The chief canal is the Grand Junction,
driven out b y a B elgic tribe, sometimes called Catyeuchlani, which passes by Ivinghoe, Fenny Stratford, and Stony S tra t­
Catuellani and Cassii, and at the tim e of the invasion of ford ; it has branches to Wendover, A ylesbury and B uck ­
Britain by Julius Cajsar they formed p art of the Belgic force ingham ; thus most of the towns in this county have water
under Cassibelaun, which fought with him. In the tim e of communication.
the Emperor Claudius the Romans got a footing here, and,
it is thought, killed in this shire a leader called T ogodum n us;
they afterwards planted the country, which they formed into
part of province of Flavia Csesariensis ; m any of their roads
are yet to be traced, particularly W atling Street, now the
grand Holyhead road, by Brickhill and Stony S tra tfo rd ;
also Ikenield, Ikening, or A cknell W ay, thought to have
been named after the I c e n i; further, A kem an Street, and
others unnamed ; they had several stations, but none of any
great note. A fter the Rom ans went aw ay, the English
came in and drove out the W elch, planting the country,
which was made part of the great kingdom of the MidFnglish or Mercia. The people of Bucks long spoke a re­
markable dialect of English, of which there are some old
literary records.

The chief railway is the main line of the London and
North Western, which proceeds from London, close to the
Hertfordshire border, by T rin g, Leighton Buzzard, Bletchley,
and Wolverton. There are branches from Cheddington
junction on this line to A yle sb u ry; from B letchley by Fenny
S tratford to Bedford, and thence to Cam bridge, form ing a
junction w ith the G reat Northern a t S a n d y ; from Bletchley
by Winslow and Verney Junction to Oxford ; and from
Winslow, on the latter one, to Buckingham and Brackley
and thence to Banbury. From W olverton is a line to N ew­
port Pagnell, belonging to the North W estern Railway
Company.
The southern part of Bucks is well provided by the Great
Western railway, which comes in near Colnbrook, and
crosses by Slough to Maidenhead, Reading and the west of
E ngland, sending off branches to Eton and W in dsor; and
to High W ycombe, thence passing through Princes Risborough to Thame and Oxford, and through Bicester direct
to B irm in gh am ; from the High W ycom be line is a short
branch to G reat Marlow, and from Princes Risborough is
the W atlington railw a y; from Colnbrook a short line was
opened in 1887 to Staines. In 1886, a tram w ay line was
laid down between Wolverton and Stony Stratford.

During the Parliam entary wars the country was the field
of many severe contests. M any eminent names are con­
nected with Bucks ; among others m ay be mentioned
Milton, Hampden, Cowper, Herschel and Edm und Burke.
The shire belongs to the chalk form ation, and is cut across
in the m iddle b y the great chalk downs called the Chiltcrn
hills ; the central part of the shire is watered by the Thame,
the northern by the O use, the southern b y the Thames, and
the eastern by the Oolne. The highest hills in the Ohilterns
The G reat Western and G reat Central Joint railw ay
90s feet high, near Wendover ; Ivinghoe hills, 904 f e e t ; enters the county at G errards Cross, w ith stations at
Mazzle hill, near Brill, 744 fe e t; Bow Brick hill, 683 feet. Beaconslield, High W ycombe and Princ?s Risborough, from
e soil is chiefly good, though there are some gravels and which place is a branch to Aylesbury.
BU CKS.

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