Buckingham

Buckingham, a market town and municipal borough on the left bank of the river Ouse, about 60 miles from London, and ranking as the capital of the county of Bucks. It is a town of great antiquity, was fortified by Edward the Elder in 918, and was captured by the Danes in 1010. It is mentioned in Domesday, and was of importance in the days of Edward III. as a wool staple, and in the reign of Henry VIII. it became a parliamentary borough, and sent two members to Parliament till 1868, when its representation was reduced to one member, and since 1885 it sends no member to Parliament. The Ouse almost surrounds the town, and is crossed by three bridges. There are no manufactures of great importance in Buckingham, the chief being bone-grinding, malting, and tanning, and a certain amount of lace-making is carried on in the neighbourhood. The town consists principally of one long straggling street, and has no public buildings of great note beyond the modern (1781) church with a fine spire, and a town hall, also of the eighteenth century. There is an endowed free school, now incorporated with the national school, and a grammar school of Edward VI.'s time. The town gave the title of Earl to William Giffard in William I.'s reign, and also to a son of Edward III., as well as to Marquises and Dukes of Buckingham of later dates.