Aylesbury was awardedGarden Town status in 2017. In 2021 it had a population of 63,273. The housing target for the town is set to grow with 16,000 homes set to be built by 2033.[6]
The town name is ofOld English origin. It is first recorded in the formÆglesburg in theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle, a text which took its present form in the later ninth century. The wordÆgles is a personal name in thegenitive case, meaning "Ægel's" andburg means "fortification". Thus the name once meant "Fort of Ægel" — though who Ægel was is not recorded.[7] Nineteenth-century speculation that the name contained theWelsh wordeglwys meaning "a church" (fromLatinecclesia)[8] has been discredited.
Excavations in the town centre in 1985 found anIron Agehill fort dating from the early 4th century BCE.
TheAnglo-Saxon Chronicle portrays Aylesbury as being captured from the Britons by one Cuthwulf following theBattle of Bedcanford; the historicity of this event is doubtful, but the portrayal at least indicates that in the early Middle Ages the settlement was thought to be of some strategic importance.[9] During the early medieval period, Aylesbury became a majormarket town, the burial place of SaintOsgyth, whoseshrine attractedpilgrims.[citation needed] Aylesbury was a royal manor with eight attachedhundreds in 1086, and some historians have supposed that it was already a royal manor before theNorman conquest.[10]: 32 Some lands here were granted byWilliam the Conqueror to citizens upon the tenure that the owners should provide straw for the monarch's bed, sweet herbs for his chamber and two green geese and three eels for his table, whenever he should visit Aylesbury.[9]
In 1450, a religious institution called the Guild of St Mary was founded in Aylesbury byJohn Kemp,Archbishop of York. Known popularly as the Guild of Our Lady it became a meeting place for local dignitaries and a hotbed of political intrigue. The guild was influential in the outcome of theWars of the Roses. Its premises at the Chantry in Church Street, Aylesbury, are still there, though today the site is used mainly for retail.
Aylesbury was declared the new county town ofBuckinghamshire in 1529 by KingHenry VIII: Aylesbury Manor was among the many properties belonging toThomas Boleyn, the father ofAnne Boleyn, and it is rumoured that the change was made by the King to curry favour with the family.[n 1] Theplague decimated the population in 1603/4.[11]
Statue ofJohn Hampden in Aylesbury's Market Square
The town played a large part in theEnglish Civil War when it became a stronghold for theParliamentarian forces, like many market towns a nursing-ground ofPuritan sentiment and in 1642 theBattle of Aylesbury was fought and won by the Parliamentarians. Its proximity toGreat Hampden, home ofJohn Hampden has made of Hampden a local hero: his silhouette was used on the emblem ofAylesbury Vale District Council and his statue stands prominently in the town centre. Aylesbury-born composer,Rutland Boughton (1878–1960), possibly inspired by the statue of John Hampden, created a symphony based onOliver Cromwell.
The grade II*listedJacobean mansion ofHartwell adjoining the southwest of the town was the residence of French kingLouis XVIII during his exile (1810–1814). Bourbon Street in Aylesbury is named after the king. Louis's wife,Marie Joséphine of Savoy died at Hartwell in 1810 and is the only French queen to have died on English soil. After her death, her body was carried first to Westminster Abbey, and one year later toSardinia, where the Savoy King of Sardinia had withdrawn during Napoleonic occupation of Turin and Piedmont; she is buried in theCathedral of Cagliari.
Aylesbury'sheraldic crest[12] displays theAylesbury duck, which has been bred here since the birth of theIndustrial Revolution, although only one breeder of true Aylesbury ducks, Richard Waller, remains today.[13]
The town also received international publicity in 1963 when the culprits responsible for theGreat Train Robbery (1963) were tried atAylesbury Rural District Council Offices in Walton Street and sentenced atAylesbury Crown Court. The robbery took place at Bridego Bridge, a railway bridge atLedburn, about six miles (9.7 km) from the town.
Gentlemen of the Jury, an 1861 painting byJohn Morgan of a jury in Aylesbury
The town is the birthplace of the Paralympic Games. During the1948 Olympics in London, German-British neurologistSir Ludwig Guttmann, set up a small sporting event forWorld War II veterans known as theWorld Wheelchair and Amputee Games (WWAG) atStoke Mandeville Hospital Rehabilitation Facility in Aylesbury. This eventually led to the growth of the phenomenon of the modernParalympic Games that has been held immediately after every SummerOlympic Games since 1988, and the WWAG was held most years at Stoke Mandeville until 1997, when it has been held in other countries and cities ever since. During the2012 Paralympics, the official mascot was called 'Mandeville' after Stoke Mandeville Hospital.
In the 18th century, selective breeding of white common ducks led to a white domestic duck, generally known as the English White. Since at least the 1690s ducks had been farmed in Aylesbury, and made Aylesbury known throughout England and beyond. They were bred and brought up by poor people, and sent to London by the weekly carriers. They went on to be known as theAylesbury duck.
Prize-winning Aylesbury ducks. The illustrated Book of Poultry, 1873.
The duck business in Aylesbury went into decline in the 19th century. By the timeBeatrix Potter's 1908The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck—about an Aylesbury duck although set inCumbria—caused renewed interest in the breed, the Aylesbury duck was in steep decline. The duckers of Buckinghamshire had generally failed to introduce technological improvements such as theincubator, and inbreeding had dangerously weakened the breed. Meanwhile, the cost of duck food had risen fourfold over the 19th century, and from 1873 onwards competition from Pekin and Pekin cross ducks was undercutting Aylesbury ducks at the marketplace. The First World War devastated the remaining duckers of Buckinghamshire. By the end of the war small-scale duck rearing in the Aylesbury Vale had vanished, with duck raising dominated by a few large duck farms. Shortages of duck food in the Second World War caused further disruption to the industry, and almost all duck farming in the Aylesbury Vale ended. A 1950 "Aylesbury Duckling Day" campaign to boost the reputation of the Aylesbury duck had little effect; by the end of the 1950s the last significant farms had closed, other than a single flock inChesham owned by Mr L. T. Waller, and by 1966 there were no duck breeders remaining in Aylesbury. As of 2021 the Waller family's farm in Chesham remains in business, the last surviving flock of pure Aylesbury meat ducks in the country. Although, there are still many hobbyists who keep the breed.
The Aylesbury duck is currently a Rare Breed.
The Aylesbury duck remains a symbol of the town of Aylesbury.Aylesbury United F.C. are nicknamed "The Ducks" and include an Aylesbury duck on their club badge, and the town'scoat of arms includes an Aylesbury duck and plaited straw, representing the two historic industries of the town. The Aylesbury Brewery Company, now defunct, featured the Aylesbury duck as its logo, an example of which can still be seen at the Britanniapub. Duck Farm Court is a shopping area of modern Aylesbury located near the historic hamlet ofCalifornia, close to one of the main breeding grounds for ducks in the town, and there have been twopubs in the town with the name "The Duck" in recent years; one inBedgrove that has since been demolished and one in Jackson Road that has recently been renamed.
This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(October 2024)
The town's population has grown from 28,000 in the 1960s to almost 72,000 in 2011[1][15] due in the main to new housing developments, including manyLondon overspill housing estates, built to ease pressure on the capital. Indeed, Aylesbury, to a greater extent than many English market towns, saw substantial areas of its own heart demolished in the 1950s/1960s as 16th–18th century houses (many in good repair) were demolished to make way for new, particularly retail, development.[citation needed]
Aylesbury's population in the ten-year period since 2001 has grown by two thousand primarily related to the development of new housing estates which will eventually cater for eight thousand people on the north side, between theA41 (Akeman Street) and theA413 and the expansion ofFairford Leys estate.
According to the 2011 Census, the religious groupings in Aylesbury were:Christianity (55.7%), no religion (26.9%),Islam (8.3%),Hinduism (1.4%), other (0.4%). 6.7% of respondents did not state their religion.[2]
Distinct whole areas that have a notably high property price in the town areBedgrove, theconservation area around St. Mary's Church andQueens Park, particularly facing onto the canal.[16]
Anticipated developments are expected to raise the urban population of Aylesbury from its current approximation of 75,000 to over 100,000 between 2018 and 2023.[citation needed]
Aylesbury is immediately southeast of the upperRiver Thame that flows pastThame toDorchester on Thames and is partly sited on the two northernmost outcrops ofPortland stone in England[n 4][17] bisected by a small stream, Bear Brook which gives a relatively prominent position in relation to the terrain of all near, lower, fields and suburbs, which have largely slowly permeableOxford Clay andKimmeridge Clay soils[n 5]. Elevations range from 72.5mabove mean sea level to 95m AOD in contiguous parts of the town, however nearest villages range from 85m-90m to the north or from 85m to 115m on a narrow ridge to the southwest atStone and towards theChilterns to the southeast (Weston Turville, Stoke Mandeville and North Lee).[18]
The town centre's higher terrain is accurately described bySamuel Lewis in 1848 as a "gentle eminence".[9]
The county's oldest rocks ofJurassic age cover the whole of the northern half of Buckinghamshire, succeeded continuously by younger rocks to the south of the Chilterns.[17]
The town centre is home to many pubs and bars. TheQueens Park Centre, which is the UK's largest independent arts centre is also based in the town centre.[19]
The local newspaper is theBucks Herald, which started publishing in January 1832.
Local radio stations was namedMix 96, which first broadcast in April 1994, and eventually ceased operations in September 2020, being replaced byGreatest Hits Radio.One of the more prominent buildings in Aylesbury is the "Blue Leanie" office block, home toLloyds Bank. When first built it was thought to be a potential hazard to passing motorists, due to the sun reflecting off its large mirrored surface. As a result, a line of mature trees was planted alongside the main road to prevent dazzling.[20]
Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, a new £42 million theatre,[21] with 1,200-seat auditorium, opened in October 2010.[22][23] In addition to this, the surrounding area has been redeveloped a £100 million project known as the 'Waterside project'.[24] When this is completed, there will be 260,000 sq ft (24,000 m2) of new retail floor space and 1,100 new jobs created, although when this will be completed now is unclear. Also, a new campus of the [Bucks New University] opened on the Waterside site next to the Waterside Theatre.
The Bourg Walk Bridge (also called the Southcourt Bridge or the Roberts Bridge after a local councillor) opened in March 2009 connecting Southcourt to Aylesbury town centre. The focus of the footbridge is a central concrete pillar with four suspension cables supporting the structure. This bridge forms a central part of the Aylesbury Hub project. Bourg Walk was nominated and won the Engineering Excellence Award 2009 awarded by the Institution of Civil Engineers – South East England branch.[25]
There are two tiers of local government covering the town, at parish and unitary authority level: Aylesbury Town Council, based atAylesbury Town Hall at 5 Church Street, andBuckinghamshire Council, which is also based in Aylesbury, having its headquarters at The Gateway on Gatehouse Road.
Aylesbury Town Council is the parish council for the town. As at May 2021 it comprises 25councillors, 20 of whom areLiberal Democrats and 5Conservative. The council represents only theconstituents of Aylesbury town itself. Surroundingvillages and some recent developments on the outskirts of Aylesbury likeFairford Leys &Watermead have their ownparish council. In 2010 the district council decided that the new developments ofBerryfields andWeedon Hill, both to the north of Aylesbury, should also join to form a new parish as of May 2011.[26]
The town council also elects the town mayor from the serving town councillors every year. The process culminates in a formal "Mayor Making" ceremony where the new mayor takes over from the preceding mayor. The role of mayor is mainly a ceremonial role representing the town at various events and acting as an ambassador for the town.
Coat of arms of Aylesbury Town Council
Notes
Granted to borough council on 5 April 1964. Transferred tosuccessor parish council on 3 April 2002.[27]
Crest
On a Wreath Argent and Gules issuant from a Wreath of plaited Straw a Mount thereon an Aylesbury Duck all proper.
Escutcheon
Gyronny of six Gules and Sable a Mute Swan rousant proper on a Chief Or a Saxon Crown Gules.
Supporters
On the dexter side a Buck proper gorged with a Chain Or pendent therefrom a Hexagon Argent charged with a Garb Gules banded Or and on the sinister side a Stag also proper gorged with a Chain pendent therefrom a like Hexagon charged with a Crescent Sable.
Motto
Semper Prorsum
Badge
An Oval gyronny of six Gules and Sable charged with a Saxon Crown Or issuant therefrom a Mount thereon an Aylesbury Duck proper the whole environed by a Garland of Beech Leaves Vert.
Aylesbury was made aborough by a charter fromMary I in 1554, which gave the town the right to elect twomembers of parliament and to establish a council to govern itself. The right to establish a council was opposed by the prominent local landownerThomas Pakington, and it seems likely that this element of the charter was not put into effect at that time. In 1650, following theEnglish Civil War, the town did establish a degree of self-government under the auspices of the 1554 charter. However, in 1664, in the aftermath of theRestoration, the town's short-lived council was abolished and the rights it had held reverted to the Pakington family which had exercised them prior to the civil war. Thereafter the town was governed by itsvestry in the same way as most rural areas, although it remained aparliamentary constituency.[28]
In 1849 alocal board of health was established to govern the town. This board was replaced by Aylesbury Urban District Council in 1894, which was subsequently givenmunicipal borough status on 1 January 1917, becoming Aylesbury Borough Council. The borough council was awarded acoat of arms in 1964.[27]
In 1974 Aylesbury Borough Council merged with several neighbouring districts to becomeAylesbury Vale. Nosuccessor parish was initially created for Aylesbury, and it became anunparished area, directly administered byAylesbury Vale District Council. The civil parish of Aylesbury was re-established in 2001, with its parish council taking the name Aylesbury Town Council.[29] From 2001 to 2020 there were therefore three tiers of local government covering the town, at parish, district, and county level.
Aylesbury Vale District Council was abolished in 2020, merging withBuckinghamshire County Council and other district councils to become a unitary authority calledBuckinghamshire Council. Since 1 April 2020, when Buckinghamshire Council came into being, it has been responsible for almost all statutory local government functions across the county.
Stoke Mandeville Hospital is a largeNational Health Service hospital to the south of the town centre. Its National Spinal Injuries Centre is one of the largest specialist spinal units in the world, and the pioneering rehabilitation work carried out there bySir Ludwig Guttmann led to the development of theParalympic Games.Stoke Mandeville Stadium was developed alongside the hospital and is the National Centre for Disability Sport in the United Kingdom.[32]
Aylesbury has provisions for mental health therapy and treatments at theTindal Centre on Bierton Road. The Tindal Centre closed in early 2014 and Mental Health therapy and treatments along with Adult and Older Adult Mental Health Team's moved across the road to the new purpose-built hospital the Whiteleaf Centre. The former site of Tindal Centre has been transformed into a new housing development Bierton Place which has maintained the architecture of the original building and enhanced its beauty
Traditionally the town was a commercial centre with amarket dating back to the Saxon period. This is because it was established on the main Akeman Street which became an establishedtrade route linking London to thesouthwest. In 1180 ajail was established in the town[n 6] .
By 1477 flour was being ground in the town for surrounding parishes. By the modern period this had grown into a huge established industry: the lastgrist mill in Aylesbury was closed in the 1990s (Hills & Partridge on the canal behind Tesco). By 1560 the manufacture ofsewing needles had become a large industry inLong Crendon a village close by which was an important production centre.
In 1672 poor children in Buckinghamshire were taught to makelace as a way to make a living.Bucks lace as it became known quickly became very sought after and production boomed as the lace was mainly made by poor women and children. The lace-making industry had died out byVictorian times, however, as new machine-made lace became cheaper.
In 1764 Euclid Neale opened his clockmaking workshop in Aylesbury. In the 18th century, he was one of the best clock makers in the country.
In 1814, the Aylesbury arm of theGrand Union Canal fromMarsworth was opened bringing major industry to the town for the first time. At the same time the Wendover arm was built leading to nearbyWendover.
Twenty Cubitt 16/20s in c.1922 publicity image at theCubitt Car Factory, Great Southern Works, Bicester Road, Aylesbury.
From 1919 until 1925 theCubit Engineering Works on Bicester Road was a volume manufacturer of motor vehicles. Approximately 3,000 cars were built, but a somewhat slow and heavy design could not survive the onslaught from cheap American competition. Their robust design and high ground clearance made them popular in less developed parts of the British Empire which lacked paved roads like Australia and South Africa.[34] The works have been demolished for a domestic housing development. The marque is commemorated by Cubitt Street (and Edge Street) which traverses the old works.
By the late 20th century, the printers and bookbinders,Hazell, Watson and Viney and theNestlé dairy were the two main employers in the town, employing more than half the total population. These factories have long since been demolished and replaced by aTesco supermarket which opened in 1994, and a housing development, respectively.
Today, the town is still a major commercial centre and the market still meets on the cobbles of the old Market Square four days a week. Nestle and Hazell, Watson and Viney and US automotive parts producer TRW have gone – the last left the town in 2006. However three major industrial and commercial centres make sure the town has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country.[citation needed]
A £150 millionArla Foods 'megadairy' opened just off theA41 road in nearbyAston Clinton in November 2013, roughly3+1⁄2 mi (6 km) from the town centre and is a major employer in the area.[35] Traffic improvement measures were paid for by Arla in order to reduce the impact of congestion and pollution.[36]
Aylesbury has two local semi-professional football teams,Aylesbury Vale Dynamos F.C. which plays at Haywood Way andAylesbury United F.C. which currently shares a ground with Chesham United. There is a strong cricket club in the town, that was formed in 1837 with success in the 1950s and 1980s and is again emerging as one of the strong clubs in mid- to north Buckinghamshire. Since 2013, Aylesbury has been host to a free 5 km run called the Aylesbury Parkrun.Aylesbury is represented in Rugby Union by Aylesbury Rugby Football Club, situated at Ostler's Field in the nearby village of Weston Turville; 'The Ducks' play in the 6th tier of English Rugby.
A rail scheme to extend passenger services northwestwards to a new station,Aylesbury Vale Parkway, was completed in December 2008.[41] This is sited on the formerly goods-only line towards Quainton at the point where the line crosses the A41 near Berryfields Farm on the north-west outskirts of the town, some 2.25 miles (3.62 km) north of the main Aylesbury station. This area is to be known asBerryfields, a major development area and will include park and ride facilities for Aylesbury.
Aylesbury is served by theA41 road from London toBirkenhead, which becomes theM40 motorway atBicester 13 miles (21 km) west (by north) of Aylesbury. TheA413 andA418 roads also run through the town. TheM40 motorway at junction 9 is 14.7 miles (23.7 km) away and theM25 motorway is just over 21 miles (34 km)'s drive.
Aylesbury is served byAylesbury bus station. In 2006, work commenced on the public transport hub, a scheme comprising a one-way loop of bus lanes around the town's inner ring road, which includes improvements to the connectivity between bus and rail services. The first two phases of this scheme were completed in 2007, providing new bus lanes on Exchange Street, New Street, Friarage Road and White Hill, and also opened up High Street to buses. The final two phases, including the Bourg Walk Bridge and Station Boulevard were officially opened in April 2009.[44]
The town is served by Buckinghamshire's first 'Rainbow Routes' network of bus services. The colour-coded routes were set up byBuckinghamshire County Council, and bus operators.[45][46][47]
This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(October 2024)
In 2005, the town won £1million funding to be one of sixCycling Demonstration towns in England, which was match-funded byBuckinghamshire County Council.[48] This allows Buckinghamshire County Council to promote the use of cycling amongst the general public, as well as provide facilities for cyclists, such as bike lockers, bike stands, andTiger andToucan road crossings.
Cycle Aylesbury, the team created to undertake the Cycling Demonstration town work, recently opened the first of their Gemstone Cycleways, which are a network of routes running from Aylesbury town centre to various locations around the town, includingStone,Bierton,Wendover andWatermead. A second brochure/magazine was published to accompany the routes, along with a redesigned website, CycleAylesbury.co.uk.
Aylesbury is or has been home to a range of notable people. In the latter part of the 20th century, the main maternity unit in the district was located in Aylesbury at theRoyal Buckinghamshire Hospital; hence a large number of people were born in Aylesbury who may not have had any other association with the town. For a full list seePeople from Aylesbury. In alphabetic order of surname, those who live, or have lived in Aylesbury include:
The rock bandMarillion have a close association with Aylesbury. They originally formed there, with the band's first single, 1982's "Market Square Heroes", taking its title inspiration from Aylesbury's Market Square. The band continue to be based in the area, with their Racket Records studio still close to Aylesbury, and in 2007 the band performed together with their original lead singer,Fish, for the first time in 19 years at Aylesbury.[74]
Aylesbury Methodist Church holds an annual organ recital, which attracts prominent national organists. TheRoald Dahl Children's Gallery in Church Street, Aylesbury, is a children's museum in honour of novelistRoald Dahl that opened on 23 November 1996.[75] Aylesbury hosts the Roald Dahl Festival, a procession of giant puppets based on his characters, on 2 July.[citation needed]
Comedian and actorRonnie Barker (1929–2005) began his acting career in the town in the late 1940s and in September 2010, almost five years after his death, a bronze statue of him was unveiled by actorDavid Jason and Barker's one time co-starRonnie Corbett (the other half ofthe Two Ronnies) on a new public place in Exchange Street.[76]
Scenes from the filmA Clockwork Orange were filmed inFriars Square in Aylesbury but did not make it to the final cut. This is the 'Librarian Scene' where outtakes from the shoot and rehearsal can be seen in Alison Castle'sThe Stanley Kubrick Archives published by Taschen. The opening scene, in which the droogs beat up an elderly Irishman, is mistakenly cited as being filmed in the underpass linking Friars Square Shopping Centre with the railway station. However, Christiane Kubrick's bookStanley Kubrick – A Life in Pictures states that the underpass in the film has a different shape to the one in Aylesbury and these sequences were actuallyfilmed in Wandsworth.[77]
The County Court building and Aylesbury Market Square regularly feature in the BBC Television seriesJudge John Deed.
^Previously the county town of Buckinghamshire wasBuckingham
^With subsidiary titles in thePeerage of England: Viscount Bruce, of Ampthill in the County of Bedford, and Baron Bruce, of Skelton in the County of York.
^"This stone has above: freely draining lime-rich loamy soils" which forms 3.7% of English soil according to the Soilscape source
^Specifically described in the source national map as "Slowly permeable seasonally wet slightly acid but base-rich loamy and clayey soils" (therefore of medium fertility) which forms 20% of English soil
^has a Prison though it has moved locations two or three times
^The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names Based on the Collections of the English Place-Name Society, ed. by Victor Watts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), s.v.AYLESBURY;ISBN9780521168557.
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