Aylesbury 1863 Dutton, Allen & Co directory

Aylesbury pub history index , 1863 gentry & 1863 Traders A- K , L - Y

Directory of Pubs in the UK, historical public houses, Taverns, Inns, Beer Houses and Hotels in Buckinghamshire. The Buckinghamshire listing uses information from census, Trade Directories and History to add licensees, bar staff, Lodgers and Visitors.

The following entries are in this format:

Year/Publican or other Resident/Relationship to Head and or Occupation/Age/Where Born/Source.

AYLESBURY is a parish, borough, and the most important market town in the county of Bucks, giving name to the union and hundreds of which it is the seat It is situate in the rich tract of land called the Vale of Aylesbury, 40 miles N.N.W. from London, through Wendover, Amersham, and Uxbridge; 38 N.W. through Tring, Berkhampstead, and Watford, and 42 1/2 by the London and North Westan Railway, which has a branch line, 7 miles in length, from its main at Cheddington; 10 E.N.E. from Thame; 10 S.S.E. from Winslow; and 18 from Buckingham and Bicester. The town is seated on an eminence, and forms a conspicuous object from a considerable distance, especially when viewed from the Wendover Road. It was one of the most strongly fortified places of the ancient Britons, and by the Saxons was called Aeglesburge. It maintained its independence till the year 571, when it was captured by Cuthwolf, brother of Ceawlin, King of the West Saxons. In the early ages of Christianity the town was much celebrated on account of the sanctity of Saints Eaditha and Eadburg, two holy virgins, daughters of Frewald lord of the county. These Saxon Saints are stated to have been born at Quarrendon, and the town was allotted as a marriage portion to Eaditha, by her father, but she, becoming strongly imbued with religious belief, was induced to renounce the world and pass her life in pious seclusion, and became much renowned for the miracles she worked. The two sisters were first buried at Aylesbury, but Eadburg was afterwards removed to Edburgton, in Suffolk; this Saint is supposed to have given her name to Adderbury, Ellesborough, and the Burg, afterwards named Burghfield. The two holy maidens have sometimes been confounded with Saint Osyth, their more celebrated niece, who was also born at Quarrendon. She is said to have been espoused to one of the East Anglian kings, but on the day of her marriage to have obtain his consent to live always a virgin; and the manor of Chich, in Essex, being presented to her, she retired from the world, and there founded a convent, which she ruled with much prudence and sanctity. She was beheaded in the year 600, in an incursion of Inguar and Hubba, two Danish pirates, but her remains were removed, and buried in the church at Aylesbury. Her relics are aaid to have workes many miracles, and a religious house was erected to her memory, on the site of the present parsonage. In the Middle Ages she was much revered, and familiarly called St. Sythe. Aubrey remarks, "In those days when they went to bed, they did rake up the fire, and make a cross in the ashes, and pray to God and St. Sythe to deliver them from fire, and from water, and from all misadventure." It is probable that the possession of the town of Aylesbury became alienated from the successors of St. Eaditha, by an arbitrary act of William the Norman, as, at the conquest, it became a royal manor, portions of which were held by the tyrant's followers, on the tenure of providing straw for his bed three times a year, and three geese in the summer, and three eels in the winter, if he passed as often that way.
In the reign of Henry VIII. the manor came into the hands of Sir John Baldwin, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, who procured the removal of the Assizes from Buckingham to this place. During the years 1644 and 1645 the town was an important garrison of the Parliament. It became incorporated in the reign of Mary, 1553-4, and by its charter was empowered to send burgesses to Parliament, a privilege which it still enjoys in returning two members, who are elected by voters residing in the three hundreds of Aylesbury. It is the place of nomination in county elections, and in conjunction with Amersham, Bletchley, Brill, Buckingham, Newport Pagnell, Slough, and High Wycombe is also a place of polling. One or two parishes have been removed from these hundreds, but are still within the Parliamentary Borough. Under reserved rights, certain voters are resident within a distance of 7 miles of the Borough. The market is the most important in the county, and is held on "Wednesday and Saturday; the Corn Market held on Saturdays is a pitched market, and is well supplied with corn and other agricultural produce from the rich and fertile country around; it is much celebrated for its poultry and particularly for the breed of ducks known as "Aylesbury ducks," large quantities of which are supplied to the London markets. There is a large and commodious rectangular shaped Market Place, towards which the principal streets converge as to a common centre; the space is enclosed by the principal inns and the old-fashioned but substantial looking shops of the tradesmen. Here is the Market House, a neat and ancient structure said to have been built on the model of the temple of AEolus. The County Hall, in which are held the Quarter Sessions, Lent and Summer Assizes, and in which the general business of the county is transacted, occupies a considerable portion of the south side of the Market place; it is a large handsome building, of red brick with stone dressings; the spacious interior contains the respective courts of justice, the Record Office, and the office of the Clerk of the Peace. The entrance is by a handsome flight of steps, and the whole length of the building is fronted by iron palisades. The fairs are held on an open triangular space, called Kingsbury, a little to the north of the Market Place; many of the country carriers stay at the numerous taverns with which its sides are studded. Fairs are holden on the Friday after January 18, Palm Saturday, May 8, June 14, September 25, October 12, and the 2nd Monday in December; the first four are chiefly for cattle, the September and October fairs are statute, or servants' hiring fairs.
The Parish Church is a fine, early English, cruciform structure, built about the year 1250, and dedicated to St. Mary; the edifice at different periods has undergone numerous alterations, and affords examples of various styles down to the latest perpendicular, of which the large western window, lately filled with stained glass, by Mr. O'Connor of London, the gift of the family of the late Thomas Tindal, Esq., is a good specimen. The fine doorway leading into the south transept, dates from the time of Henry II. The church consists of a nave, north and south aisles (to which chapels have been added at a later period), galleries, and a spacious chancel beautifully restored and filled with stained glass, after designs by Williment and Oliphant; at the intersection of the nave and chancel rises a low embattled tower, surmounted by a campanile, or clock tower of the time of Charles II., and terminating with a short wooden spire, covered with lead, sustaining a cross nine feet six inches high. The tower contains a peal of eight bells, which were recast in 1773. Upon the old tenor bell was the.inscription " non sono animabus mortuorum sed nassentium."
Among the interesting monuments are two canopied decorated tombs in the south chapel. In the north transept is a much defaced white marble statue of a man in a surcoat of mail; the hands are broken off, and the features wholly obliterated; the head reposes on a helmet, and the feet, partly broken, rest on a lion; this statue was dug out of the ruins of the Grey Friars' Monastery, and is supposed a represent a descendant of the Botelers, founders of that religious institution. The sacristy is very curious and interesting, and is entered by a door which fastens with a peculiar bar lock, turned by a winch-key from without. It is lighted by two small lancet windows, and fitted up with an old oak quadrant wardrobe of the 15th century. There is a swinging horse for the vestments; also a cupboard, apparently intended as a receptacle for the sacred vessels. The organ is handsome and fine toned, and was the gift of Mrs. Mary Pitches, in 1782, since which period it has been much improved by the addition of an octave and half of 16 feet pedal pipes. The church is described by Leland as "one of the most ancientest in all these quarters." It is an object of much interest and beauty, and being considered insecure was restored by Scott, in 1849, for which purpose £3,000 was voted by the parish, and other sums were raised by subscription; there is a very ancient Norman font placed in the south chapel, and used for Baptisms. Tne living is a vicarage, value £366 per annum, to which a prebendal stall in Lincoln Cathedral is annexed; the Ven. Archdeacon Edward Bickersteth is the present vicar. At Walton, a suburb and continuation of Aylesbury on the London Road, via Wendover, is a small church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity; the living is a perpetual curacy, in the incumbency of the Rev Frederick Young. The Wesleyans, Baptists, Independents, Methodists, and Primitive Methodists have each chapels in the town.
The Free Grammar School, situate on the south side of the churchyard, was founded and endowed with £8 per annum, by Sir Henry Lee, of Ditchley, bat in 1714 Henry Phillips, Esq., augmented the endowment by the munificent bequest of £5,000. The present income of the school is about £600 per annum; there are 120 boys on the foundation and 20 not on the foundation. Some of the scholars receive instruction in the classics and mathematics; the pupils are admitted at the age of six, and the vacancies are filled up according to priority, from a list kept by the head-master, under the direction of Trustees, who are principally chosen from tbe neighbouring gentry. There is a National School connected with the parish church in Oxford Street, a school in Cambridge Street, called St. John's, and also one adjoining the Holy Trinity Church, at Walton. The Independents have a Sunday School in Castle Street.
The principal Municipal Institutions are as follows: - A new County Infirmary was built in 1862, at a cost of £10,000, from designs by David Brandon, Esq., in the Italian style of architecture; it has accommodation for 64 inmates, and is situate at the junction of the two roads from Buckingham and Bicester. The County Gaol is an imposing structure, erected on Bierton Hill, entered by a noble archway, on each side of which are the respective residences of the governor and chaplain; a courtyard measuring 60 feet by 80 feet, with the places of confinement for debtors and female prisoners ranged on each side, forms the approach to the main building. At the entrance to the latter are the reception cells, visiting room, and rooms for tls magistrates, governor, and head turnkey; beyond are the cells of the male prisoners, forming the three lower limbs of the cross, measuring 303 feet by 140 feet. The common cells are 220 in number, and measure 13 feet by 7; the prison is conducted on the system pursued in the model prisons in London; the walls enclose an area of 5 acres. Opposite to the County Gaol is the Workhouse for the Union, opened is 1844: it is a red brick structure, in a mixture of the Tudor and Elizabethan styles, with garden, master's house, and porter's lodge in front, presenting a very neat appearance; this institution is conducted on an admirable system of cleanliness, order, and regularity. The union is very extensive, comprising about 115 square miles, and 40 parishes. There is a Mechanics' Institution and Reading Boom in Kingsbury.
The parish of Aylesbury is bounded on the east by Aston Clinton and Weston Turville, on the west by Quarrendon and Hartwell, on the north by Bierton and a part of Weedon in Hardwick, and on the south by Stoke Mandeville; it comprises n area of 3200 acres, with a population in 1861 of 6168. The Grand Junction Canal has access by a branch to the town. Lace making was formerly carried on, but of late years it has entirely declined, and at the present the support of the place is principally dependent on the rich agricultural country by which it is surrounded, a silk manufactory gives employment to upwards of 100 persons, chiefly females. The town is now in the jurisdiction of the County Magistrates; it was formerly governed by a Corporation, who held their office under a charter of Mary, dated 554, but from neglect and non-exercise of their privileges the charter was forfeited at the reign of Elizabeth. Courts Lect and Baron are held as required, at the George Hotel: Acton Tindal, Esq., is lord of the manor.
The principal charities are a real estate devised by John Bedford in the year 619, said to be then worth £30 per annum, but now realising about £140 yearly. This charity was incorporated by Act of Parliament, under the name of the "Bedford charity;" it is managed by trustees for the use of the parish. John Hickman, gentleman, bequeathed property to this parish of £40 per year and upwards, for the habitation of the poor; this is named "Hickman's Charity," and is disposed of by the churchwardens and overseers of the town for the time being. The vicinity of Aylesbury abounds with important residences and objects of interest. Hartwell House, on the Thames road, distant 2 miles S.W. from the town, is the seat of John Lee, Esq., L.L.d., and is interesting as the abode, during the French Revolution and the period that elapsed to the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty, of Louis XVIII. md the Duchess d' Angouleme. The ruins of Quarrendon Chapel, now reduced to a few roofless arches, and the remains of a beautiful decorated east window are on the right hand side of the Bicester road, and are worthy the attention of the antiquary. The chapel contained the fine monuments of the Lee family, including that of Sir Henry and his mistress Ann Vavasour, whose remains were disentombed by order of the Bishop of the Diocese. Chequers Court, one of the most beautiful places in the county, was formerly the residence of Oliver Cromwell, and is supposed to have derived its name from having been the Exchequer in the reign of John; it is the seat of Lady Frankland Russell. Near, is the picturesque and romantic spot sailed the Velvet Lawn, and on an adjoining hill is a monument of very remote antiquity, called the White Leaf Cross, supposed to be a memorial of the final battle of the Britons with Hengist and Horsa, which was fought over the extensive plain of Bisborough and Saunderton, and in which the former were victorious.


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    And Last updated on: Friday, 09-Feb-2024 14:53:16 GMT