Notable service amenities in the county arePinewood Film Studios,Dorney rowing lake and part ofSilverstone race track on the Northamptonshire border. Many national companies have head offices or major centres in Milton Keynes.Heavy industry and quarrying is limited, with agriculture predominating after service industries.
The name Buckinghamshire isAnglo-Saxon in origin and meansThe district (scire) of Bucca's home.Bucca's home refers toBuckingham in the north of the county, and is named after the Anglo-Saxon landowner,Bucca. The county has been so named since about the 12th century; however, the county has existed since it was a subdivision of the kingdom ofMercia (585–919).
The history of the area predates the Anglo-Saxon period and the county has a rich history starting from theBrittonic andRoman periods,[citation needed] though the Anglo-Saxons perhaps had the greatest impact on Buckinghamshire: the geography of the rural county is largely as it was in the Anglo-Saxon period. Later, Buckinghamshire became an important political arena, withKing Henry VIII intervening in local politics in the 16th century, and just a century later theEnglish Civil War was reputedly started byJohn Hampden in mid-Bucks.[6]
Historically, the biggest change to the county came in the 19th century, when a combination ofcholera andfamine hit the rural county, forcing many to migrate to larger towns to find work. Not only did this alter the local economic situation, it meant a lot of land was going cheap at a time when the rich were more mobile, and leafy Bucks became a popular rural idyll: an image it still has today. Buckinghamshire is a popular home for London commuters, leading to greater local affluence; however, some pockets of relative deprivation remain.[7]
The expansion of London and coming of the railways promoted the growth of towns in the south of the county such asAylesbury,Amersham andHigh Wycombe, leaving the town Buckingham itself to the north in a relative backwater.[8] As a result, most county institutions are now based in the south of the county orMilton Keynes, rather than in Buckingham.
The county can be split into two sections geographically. The south leads from theRiver Thames up the gentle slopes of theChiltern Hills to the more abrupt slopes on the northern side leading to theVale of Aylesbury and the City of Milton Keynes UA, a large and relatively level expanse of land that is the southerncatchment of theRiver Great Ouse.
The county includes parts of two of the four longest rivers in England. The Thames forms the southern boundary withBerkshire, which has crept over the border atEton andSlough so that the river is no longer the sole boundary between the two counties. The Great Ouse rises just outside the county inNorthamptonshire and flows east through Buckingham, Milton Keynes andOlney.
The main branch of theGrand Union Canal passes through the county as do its arms toSlough andAylesbury, as well as the disused arms toWendover andBuckingham. The canal has been incorporated into the landscaping of Milton Keynes.
The southern part of the county is dominated by the Chiltern Hills. The two highest points in Buckinghamshire areHaddington Hill in Wendover Woods (a stone marks its summit) at 267 m (876 ft) above sea level[9] andCoombe Hill nearWendover at 260 m (850 ft).
Quarrying has taken place for chalk, clay for brickmaking and gravel and sand in the river valleys. Flint, also extracted from quarries, was often used to build older local buildings. Several former quarries, now flooded, have become nature reserves.[10]
The administration of Buckinghamshire is further sub-divided into civil parishes.
Today Buckinghamshire is ethnically diverse, particularly in the larger towns. At the end of the 19th century some Welsh drover families settled in north Bucks and, in the last quarter of the 20th century, a large number of Londoners in Milton Keynes. Between 6 and 7% of the population of Aylesbury are of Asian or Asian British origin.[13] Likewise Chesham has a similar-sized Asian community,[14] and High Wycombe is the most ethnically diverse town in the county,[7] with large Asian andAfro-Caribbean populations.[7] During the Second World War there were many Polish settlements in Bucks, Czechs in Aston Abbotts and Wingrave, and Albanians in Frieth. Remnants of these communities remain in the county.
The ceremonial county has two top-level administrations – both are unitary authorities – Buckinghamshire Council, which administers about four-fifths of the county and two-thirds of its population, andMilton Keynes City Council, which administers the remainder.
Buckinghamshire County Council was founded in 1889 with its base in new municipal buildings in Walton Street, Aylesbury (which are still there).
In 1966, the council moved into new premises: a 15-storey tower block in the centre of Aylesbury (pictured) designed by county architectFred Pooley. It is now a Grade IIlisted building.
In 1997, the northernmost part of Buckinghamshire, until then Milton Keynes District, was separated to form a unitary authority, the Borough of Milton Keynes; for ceremonial purposes Milton Keynes remains part of Buckinghamshire.[18] The administration of the remainder of the county continued to be called Buckinghamshire County Council.
Buckinghamshire County Council was a large employer in the county and provided a variety of services, including education (schools, adult education and youth services), social services, highways, libraries, County Archives and Record Office, theCounty Museum and theRoald Dahl Children's Gallery in Aylesbury, consumer services and some aspects of waste disposal and planning.
Buckinghamshire Council is a unitary authority covering most of the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire.[19] It was created in April 2020 from the areas that were previously administered byBuckinghamshire County Council and the district councils of South Bucks, Chiltern, Wycombe, and Aylesbury Vale.
Alocal authority for North Buckinghamshire was formed by the Local Government Act 1972, styled as the "Milton Keynes District Council" and subordinate to Buckinghamshire County Council. Its (district) council was firstelected in 1973, a year before formally coming into its powers and prior to the creation of theDistrict of Milton Keynes on 1 April 1974. The council was grantedborough status on its foundation, entitling it to be known as "Milton Keynes Borough Council" and to annually appoint a (ceremonial) Mayor of Milton Keynes.[20][21] On 1 April 1997, the Borough became a self-governingunitary authority, independent of the County Council. Following award ofLetters Patent in 2022, the Borough became theCity of Milton Keynes, and its council becameMilton Keynes City Council. The remit of the City Council extends beyond theMilton Keynes urban area, encompassing a significant rural area with villages, hamlets, and the market town of Olney.
The flag of the historic county of Buckinghamshire
The traditionalflag of Buckinghamshire comprises a chained swan on a bicolour of red and black. The flag was registered with theFlag Institute on 20 May 2011.
Above the swan is a gold band, in the centre of which isWhiteleaf Cross, representing the many ancient landmarks of the county. The shield is surmounted by abeech tree, representing the Chiltern Forest that once covered almost half the county. Either side of the shield are abuck, for Buckingham, and a swan, the county symbol.
The motto of the shield isVestigia Nulla Retrorsum. This isLatin and means 'no stepping back' (or 'no steps backwards').[22]
Buckinghamshire has a modern service-based economy and is part of theBerkshire, Buckinghamshire andOxfordshireNUTS-2 region, which was the seventh richest subregion in theEuropean Union in 2002.[23] As well as the highest GDP per capita outside Inner London, Buckinghamshire has the highest quality of life, the highest life expectancy and the best education results in the country.[24] The southern part of the county is a prosperous section of theLondon commuter belt. The county has fertile agricultural lands, with manylanded estates, especially those of theRothschild banking family of England in the 19th century (seeRothschild properties in England). The county has several annual agricultural shows, with theBucks County Show established in 1859. Manufacturing industries include furniture-making (traditionally centred atHigh Wycombe), pharmaceuticals and agricultural processing.Pinewood Studios inIver Heath is a principal centre of operations for film and TV production in the UK.
Examples of historical architecture in the Chiltern region are preserved at theChiltern Open Air Museum, anopen-airfolk museum nearChalfont St Giles. The 45-acre (180,000 m2) site contains reconstructed buildings which might otherwise have been destroyed or demolished as a result of redevelopment or road construction.[30][31]
Buckinghamshire is the home of various notable people in connection with whom tourist attractions have been established: for example the authorRoald Dahl who included many local features and characters in his works.[32] ArtistsWilliam Callow andHarriet Anne Smart Callow produced many paintings of the area in the late 19th century.[33]
Sports facilities in Buckinghamshire include half of the internationalSilverstone Circuit which straddles the Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire border, theAdams Park Stadium in the south andStadium MK in the north, andDorney Lake (named 'Eton Dorney' for the event) was used as the rowing venue for the2012 Summer Olympics.
A509: serves the north of the county, starting at the A5 near Central Milton Keynes, heading north-east towards Olney via M1 J14, eventually leaving the county atWarrington for Wellingborough and Kettering.
A4010: runs from M40 J4 (High Wycombe) to Stoke Mandeville.
A4146: runs from Leighton Buzzard (Bedfordshire) to Milton Keynes.
The county is poorly served with internal routes, with theA413 andA418 linking the south and north of the county.
As part of theLondon commuter belt, Buckinghamshire is well connected to the national rail network, with both local commuter and inter-city services serving some destinations.
As of 2021[update],contractors are working on behalf of theEast West Rail Company to reinstate the route betweenOxford and Bletchley viaWinslow, enabling services to Milton Keynes Central from 2025.[34] The line between Aylesbury andClaydon Junction may also be reinstated in the same programme, enabling services between Aylesbury and Milton Keynes, but this option is not programmed. Construction ofHigh Speed 2 is also underway and is planned to run non-stop through the county at some future date.
Artist and composerHarriet Anne Smart started a school in Buckinghamshire in the 1850s to teach local labourers how to read.[38] Today, education in Buckinghamshire is governed by twoLocal Education Authorities, Buckinghamshire Council and Milton Keynes City Council. Buckinghamshire Council is one of the few remainingLEAs still using thetripartite system, albeit with some revisions such as the abolition ofsecondary technical schools. It has a completely selective education system: pupils transfer either to agrammar school or to asecondary modern school orfree school depending on how they perform in theEleven-Plus exam and on their preferences. Pupils who do not take the test can only be allocated places at secondary modern schools or free school. There are 9 independent schools and 34 maintained (state) secondary schools, not includingsixth form colleges, in the county council area. There is also theBuckinghamshire University Technical College which offers secondary education from age 14. The unitary authority of Milton Keynes operates acomprehensive education system: there are 8 maintained (state) secondary schools in the City Council area.
^James Mulvihill (University of Alberta) (13 January 2005)."Biography of Thomas Love Peacock". Litencyc.com.Archived from the original on 28 December 2010. Retrieved19 September 2010.
^John Darnton (4 August 1996)."Travel Supplement".New York Times. Buckinghamshire (Eng).Archived from the original on 28 July 2018. Retrieved19 September 2010.
^"Bledlow". Visit Buckinghamshire. Archived fromthe original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved19 September 2010.
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