Library | Location | England | Buckinghamshire
Camden's Britannia, 1586
Translated into English, with Additions and Improvements
by Dr Edmund Gibson, 1722
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire abounds exceedingly in Beech-trees, which the Saxons call Bucken; and it is probable, that from them the chief town Buckingham had its name; and from that, the whole County. For so in Germany, a Country fam'd for plenty of Beeches, is call'd Buchonia; and with us the town of Buckenham in Norfolk is said to be surrounded by that sort of trees. [But against this original, it is alledged, that the Saxons did not call those trees bucken, but (as appears by Ælfrick's Glossary) bocas, and such things as were made of them, becen: That our most ancient records showing neither Bockingham nor Beckingham, but constantly retaining the second Letter (u), it may be more natural to derive it from the Saxon buc, which the same Ælfric interprets cervus (a buck or hart;) it being very probable that those woody parts abounded with Deer; and that, as to the Buckenham in Norfolk, we [col. 326] have the authority of Sir Henry Spelman, that no such trees grow thereabouts: which enclin'd him also, rather to chuse the Saxon buc, cervus, for its original.]
This Shire, being of no considerable breadth, [(no more than eighteen miles,)] is in length extended [thirty nine miles] from the Thames northward; [the whole circumference being about one hundred thirty eight.] On the South, it hath Barkshire (divided from it by the Thames;) on the West, Oxfordshire; on the North, Northamptonshire; an the East, first Bedfordshire, then Hartfordshire, and afterwards Middlesex. The Soil is generally very fruitful, and the Inhabitants thick-set and numerous, who generally follow grazing. The County is divided into two parts; one, a mountainous, or rather hilly country, toward the south and east, call'd Chiltern, in Saxon Cyltern; the other, below this to the north, call'd the Vale.
Chiltern hath its name from the nature of the Soil; Cylt or Chilt in Saxon signifying Chalk. [col. 327] For it riseth, for the most part, into Chalky hills, cover'd with woods and groves of Beeches. [But neither is this derivation admitted without exception; inasmuch as in the language of the Saxons, Chalk is generally expressed by Cealc. Mr. Somner interprets it locus gelidus, i.e. a cold place; upon what grounds I know not, unless he have respect to our present Chil. In the year 1009. the Danes pass'd over these hills in their journey out of Kent into Oxfordshire; upon the mention whereof, Florence of Worcester says, Saltus qui dicitur Clitern, i.e. the wood or forest which is called Clitern.] For, heretofore, it was so thick with trees, that they render'd it impassable; till they were in good measure clear'd by Leofstan Abbot of St. Albans, as a common receptacle and harbour for thieves. In this part, where the Thames winds it self round the bottom of the hills, is seated Marlow, a pretty considerable town, which has its name from a sort of chalky clay which we call Marle: This being spread upon the fields, so fattens and enriches the soil when it is worn out, that after one year's lying fallow, they are always fit for tillage; and what they receive of the husbandman, they repay with wonderful increase.
Nigh this town, a little river cuts its way thro' low grounds into the Thames; on the turning of which, is seated High-Wickham, or rather Wicomb; and perhaps it may have receiv'd its name from thence. For the German-Saxons call the winding of a sea or river Wick; and in England there are abundance of places of like denomination; [so called, as being either on the windings of rivers, or having been the sites of Castles; the Saxon wic signifying both a bay and a castle.] This town, for largeness and beauty, compares with the best in the County; and, as it is govern'd by a Mayor, is justly prefer'd to most of the rest. About the time of the conquest, Wigod de Wallengford was Lord of the Borough of Wicomb, and of the out-village belonging to it, as an old Inquisition expresses it. After whose death, Henry the first appropriated it to the Crown. But afterwards, King John divided the out-village between Robert de Vipont and Alan Basset. [Here, was an Hospital of St. John Baptist; the revenue whereof, upon the general dissolutio of Religious houses, came to the Crown; as also certain rents there, belonging to a brotherhood of the Blessed Virgin, call'd our Lady's Rents; all which were by Queen Elizabeth, in the fourth year of her reign, granted to the Mayor, Bayliffs, and Burgesses of Wicomb, for the maintenance of a free Grammar-School and certain Alms-people there. Since which time, the Rents being improv'd, more Alms-people have been maintain'd, and, in the year 1684, new Alms-houses were erected.] North of Wicomb is the highest Eminence of these parts, whence it still keeps the British name Pen (for they call the head or top of any thing Pen: Whence the Pennine Alps, and the Apennine, and several mountains among us, seem to be derived;) [tho' some of the Inhabitants hereabouts tell you, that this character belongs more truly to Coleshil, as being equal in height to the windows of Pen-Steeple.] Near Pen, lies Bradenham, of a commodious and healthy situation, [formerly] the chief residence of the Barons of Windsor (of whom we have spoken in Barkshire;) from the time that William Lord Windsor, in the memory of our Fathers, built here a seat for his Family.
The Thames, having receiv'd that rivulet, keeps on its course [near Clifton, where a noble House, with a prospect remarkably fine, was built by George Villers, Duke of Buckingham, in the reign of King Charles the second; which is now the delightful Seat of the Earl of Orkney; by whom it hath been much improved and beautified. Not far from this place, hath lately been discover'd, on the side of a chalky hill adjoyning to the Thames, a round Cave, nineteen foot high, and about ten foot diameter; cut out of the solid Rock towards the foundation; and consisting upwards of an artificial Arch of hewn Chalk: but nothing remains, which may direct to the time or occasion of this Work. From hence, the Thames runs on] to Eaton, famous for its Seminary of learning; founded (as I have said before) by that pious and good Prince Henry the sixth, [in the nineteenth year of his reign, by Charter bearing date at Windsor, Sept. 12. Near which, is Bulstrode, the Seat of the Duke of Portland.] A few miles from hence, Thames is augmented by the river Cole, [upon which is Denham, formerly the Seat of the Peckhams, but now of Sir Roger Hill, who hath built here a very fine Seat;] which river, dividing Buckinghamshire and Middlesex, gives name to Colebrook. This, the exact distance on both sides from Wallingford and London, sufficiently prove to be the Pontes of Antoninus; [where it is also fix'd by Mr. Burton (however, by Leland and divers others, remov'd to Reading;)] Nor is there any other town between those two places, to which the name of Pontes, or Bridges, doth more properly agree. For here Cole is divided into four chanels, which for the convenience of travellers have so many bridges over them; and that this name is derived from them, is plain from the very word: In the same manner, as Gephyræ a Town of Bœotia had it's name from Bridges; and also Pontes in Gaul, hence the County of Ponthieu was so call'd; which (by the by) came to the English Crown in right of Eleanor Queen to Edward the first, who was sole heir of it in right of her mother, [Joan, second wife to Ferdinand, third King of Castile, daughter and heir to Simon Earl of Ponthieu.]
With these divisions of its streams, the Cole makes here some pleasant Islands, into which in the year 894. the Danes fled from King Alfred, who closely pursu'd them; and were protected by the natural strength of the place till the King for want of forrage was oblig'd to draw off his army. On this turning of the river stands Eure or Euer, [(so called from Roger de Ivery; who came in with the Conqueror, and had this among other possessions bestowed upon him;)] a little village, which [King John confirm'd to John Fitz-Robert his son, Lord of Clavering; his younger sons Hugh and Robert took from thence their name: from the former of whom, the Lords of Eure; and from the latter, the Family of Eure in Ascholm, is descended. More inward, are two places which we must by no means pass by. Stoke-pogeis, call'd so from the Pogeis formerly Lords of it, from whom it devolv'd by right of inheritance to the Hastings, [having first descended by marriage to the Molins, from them to the Hungerfords, and by Thomas Lord Hungerford's daughter and sole heir being married to Edward Lord Hastings and Hungerford, to the Hastings. In this Parish-Church, George and Anne the first Earl and Countess of huntingdon lie interr'd; which probably might induce Edward Lord Hastings of Loughborough their third son, greatly favour'd and advanc'd by Queen Mary, to found an Hospital here, whither he himself, upon the death of that Queen, retir'd, to a house adjoyning, and there dy'd. He is bury'd in a [col. 329] Chapel built by him for the use of the Hospital.] Also, Henry Earl of Huntingdon, his nephew by the brother, built here a splendid house. The other place is Fernham, the same (as I take it) which is call'd Fernham-Royal. This the Barons Fernival heretofore held by Service, That on the Coronation-day they should be oblig'd to find a Glove for the King's right hand, and to support his left arm that day, while he held the royal Scaptre. From the Furnivals, it descended by the daughter of Thomas Nevil to the Talbots Earls of Shrewsbury; who, though by way of exchange they surrender'd this Manour ro Henry the eighth, yet did they reserve that honourable Office to themselves and their heirs for ever.
The Cole, being joyn'd higher by another rivulet from the west, carries it along: and upon this, the first place observable is Missenden, where a Monastery was founded by the D'oilys, and augmented by the noble family sirnam'd de Missenden. Next, in the Vale, stands Amersham, in Saxon Agmundesham [(and so called, all along, as low as the time of King Henry the seventh;)] which can neither boast of buildings nor populousness, but may justly be proud of its [ancient] Lord Francis Russel Earl of Bedford, who liv'd an exact pattern of vertue and true honour, entirely belov'd by all good men. [But for the last hundred years, the Drakes have been Lords of this place, and have a neat seat here call'd Shardelois.] The chief seat of the Earls of Bedford, is Cheyneis, more to the East, where John the first Earl of this family and his son, the fore-mention'd Francis, lie entomb'd together. [This was formerly the possession of the Cheynes, who are very ancient in this County, and have seats at Chesham-Boies, hard by, and at Draiton-Beauchamp.] To Cheyneis adjoyneth Latimers, call'd heretofore Isel-hamstead, but it had the present name from the Lords of it, the ancient Barons Latimer. Here, Sir Edwyn Sandys Kt. who married the only daughter of Baron Sandys, had a fine seat. [It anciently belonged to the Nevils; but is now the seat of the Cavendishes Dukes of Devonshire, who have a burying-place for their Family in this Church.]
Passing hence, scarce three miles northward, we come to the ridge of the Chiltern hills, which divides the whole Shire from south-west to north-east, along many little villages; of which, the most considerable is Hamden, whence an ancient and numerous Family in this County took their name. [Not far from hence, is Princes-Risborough, near which, on the top of a hill, is a Camp; and the Way which goes by it, is called by the vulgar Acknel-way. At the foot of this hill, was found a Coin of the Emperor Vespasian; and from the top of it, is said to be a prospect of thirteen Counties. Near this is Monks-Risborough, which Æsewin Bishop of Dorchester gave to the Church of Canterbury and to Ælfric Archbishop, about the year 995. It was afterwards assigned for a portion to the Monks of Canterbury, whence it received the present name. In these parts, are two places which seem to be of great Antiquity; the first, Ellesborough, near the Church whereof, on a round hill, is an ancient Fortification called Belinus's Castle, where the Inhabitants tell you, by tradition, that King Belinus resided; above which is also an high Hill, that still retains the name of Belinesbury-hill: the second, is Kymbel )great, and little) which are supposed to take the name from Cunobeline King of the Britains; the places being also, in ancient Records, written Cunebel. and this [col. 330] (together with several Trenches and Fortifications in these parts) confirms the notion, that this County was the Seat of the Action wherein the two sons of Cunobeline were slain; and from hence they might probably retire, to give battle to Aulus Plautius.]
On the eastern angle of the hills, upon a descent, stands Asheridge, formerly a house of pleasure of the Kings, where Edmund Earl of Cornwal, son to Richard King of the Romans, founded a Monastery for an Order of Religious, then lately instituted and by him first brought into England, call'd Bon-hommes: they wore a sort of sky-colour'd habit, after the manner of the Hermits. [The place is so called, from a ridge or hill of ashes, and is the seat of the Earls of Bridgewater, and hath a great part of the Religious structure still standing.] From the top of thse hills, we have a clear and full prospect of the large Vale, which I said was the other part of the County. It is almost all champain; the soil is chalky, stiff, and fruitful. The rich meadows feed an incredible number of Sheep, whose soft and fine fleeces are sought after, even from Asia it self. [In this most fruitful Vale, one (lately) entire pasture called Beryfield (part of the inheritance of Sir Robert Lee Baronet) in the manour of Quarendon, lets yearly for eight hundred pounds; and the Lordship of Creslow is no less remarkable, which, consisting not of above five hundred Acres, hath yielded a rent of eight hundred pounds a year and upwards.] This Vale has no woods but on the west-side; where among others is Bernwood, about which in the year 914. the Danes committed great outrages; and then perhaps, was rui'd that ancient Burgh (for so the Roman Coins found there, witness it to be) which was afterwards a Royal Vill of Edward the Confessor, though it be now a small Country-town, and instead of Bury-hill, is by contraction call'd Brill. [However, there being no express authority, that this Town was ever called Burgus, or sack'd by the Danes; others derive it from Bruel a thorny place, and Bruer a thorn.] In this low part of the County, though stor'd sufficiently with towns and villages, we meet with few worth our observation, and those seated by the Tame, or by the Isis or Ouse. [Upon the river Tame stands Ickford, thought to be the place of Treaty between K. Edward and the Danes, An. 907, and call'd by the Saxons Yttingaford. I had once thought, that some remains of that name might still be in Itene (for so New-forest in Hamshire was formerly call'd) or in Ifford near Christ-Church in Hamshire; but Brompton's writing the place Ichingford, seems to favour the first conjecture. A little farther north is Borstal, famous in these parts for the garrison there in the time of King Charles the first. It was given, together with the Rangership of the forest of Bernwood, by one of the Williams, to Nigel of Borstal, by the livery of a horn, which is still preserv'd. This seat, through several heirs-females of divers names, came to the Denhams, and from them, by one of the daughters of Denham, to the family of Lewis of Wales.]
Not far from the said river, which watereth the south part of the Vale, stands on a rising ground a very fair Market-town, large, and pretty populous, surrounded with a great number of pleasant meadows and pastures, and now call'd Ailesbury; whence the whole Vale is nam'd The Vale of Ailesbury. The Saxons call'd it Æglesburge [otherwise, according to different Copies, Æglesbyrg, Æglesburch, Ægelesbush,)] [col. 331] when Cuthwolph the Saxon took it by force in the year 571. As for its old British name, that, through the injury of time, is quite lost. This town was heretofore chiefly famous for St. Ædith, a native of it; who, when she had prevail'd with her father Frewald to give her this for her portion, presently, upon the perswasion of some Religious persons, left the world and her husband, and taking on her habit of a Nun, grew so celebrated for Sanctity, even in that fruitful age of Saints, that she is reported to have done several miracles; together with her sister Edburg, from whom Edburton, a little village among the hills, takes its name. [The Saxon Annals tell us, that in the year 921, the Danes leaving the siege of Tocester, and coming upon the unarm'd people, took a great booty of men and cattle hereabouts; that is, between Bernwood and Ailesbury.] In the time of the Conqueror, this was a Manour-Royal, and several yard-lands were here given by the King, on condition that the holders of them should find Litter (i.e. Straw) for the King's bed (I hope the nice part of the world will observe this,) whenever he should come thither. [It was so held by William of Ailesbury; and, besides that service, he was likewise to straw his chamber, and to provide him three Eeles whenever he should come in winter. If he came in summer, besides straw for the bed, he was to provide sweet herbs for the King's chamber, and two green-geese. All which he was to do thrice every year, if the King came so often thither.] In the reign of Edward the first, certain Knights sirnam'd de Ailesbury, who bore for arms a Cross argent in a field azure, are reported (how truly I know not) to have been Lords of this place. Yet thus much is certain, that these Knights were eminent in those times; and that by marriage with an heiress of the Cahaignes (formerly Lords of Middleton-Cahaignes, [now commonly Middleton-Cheney,)] they came to a plentiful Estate, which fell afterwards by marriage to the Chaworths or de Cadurcis, and Staffords. The greatest repute it hath, is for Cattle; [saving that it hath the honour of giving the title of Earl to Robert Bruce, created Baron of Skelton, Viscount Bruce of Ampthil, and Earl of Ailesbury, by King Charles the second, in the year 1664. And, by reason of it's standing in the middle of the County, it is the usual place of Assizes and Sessions, which have added greatly to its wealth and populousness.] It owes much to the munificence of Baldwin Chief Justice, who not only adorn'd it with publick Edifices, but rais'd an excellent Causey about three miles in length, where the road is deep and troublesome: [By marriage with whose daughter and coheir in the time of King Henry the eigth, the Manour came to the Packingtons.] All about, vast numbers of well-fleec'd Sheep are plentifully fed, to the great profit and advantage of their owners; especially at Querendon (belonging [formerly] to the very eminent Sir Henry Lee Knight of the Garter, [and now to his Descendants;] at Eythorp, once belonging to the Dinhams, now to the Dormers Knights; and at Winchindon, [heretofore] belonging to the Godwins Knights, &c. [This last is now the Seat of the Duke of Wharton; which came to that family by Philip Lord Wharton marrying Jane the daughter and heir of Arthur Godwin Esq; and hath been of late years greatly improved and adorned. It's neighbour Waddesden, is remarkable, for having three distinct Rectories, of which each Minister or Rector hath his particular turn of officiating, and portion of the Revenue.]
[col. 332] By the Tame, lower down, we meet with nothing memorable, unless Cherdsley be (as many think it is) the Cerdic-slega of the Saxons [written more truly Cerdices-leag, and] so call'd from Cerdicius who had here a sharp engagement with the Britains. Near this place, is Credendon, now Crendon, which was the seat of the Honour of Gifford; for by that name the vast Estate was call'd, that fell to the share of Walter Gifford, at the Conquest; who, being made Earl of Buckingham, founded (as it is thought) the Monastery of Notesley: and his Cousin Hugh de Bolebec, from whom by a female the Earls of Oxford are descended, held here several Estates of him. The ruins of Bolebec-castle appear hard by, in the Parish of Whitchurch.
Usa or Ouse (formerly Isa, and the second Isis, which flows gently through the north part of this Shire,) rising in Northamptonshire, and presently entering this County while it's current is yet small; passes by Bitlesden, which Robert de Mapertshal Lord of the place gave to Jeffrey de Clinton Chamberlain to King Henry the first (a powerful Man at Court,) to save himself from being punish'd as a Felon, for stealing one of the King's hounds. But he receiv'd it back again from the Chamberlain, with a Kinswoman of his in marriage. Yet, in the Civil Wars in King Stephen's time, he lost it again, and Ernald de Bosco, by the favour of Robert Earl of Leicester, got it, and in the year 1127. founded here a little Monastery for Cistertian Monks. [Then, the river passes, at some distance, by Stow, belonging to the Temples, who settled here in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and have built in this place a noble and beautiful Seat; and who have been successively advanced, in the person of Sir Richard Temple, Baronet, to the honour, first of Baron, and then of Viscount Cobham, in the County of Kent.] The next place that the Ouse visits, is Buckingham, the chief town of the County, which Edward the elder (in the year 915. as Marianus hath it, [but, according to the Saxon Annals, 918,)] fortified with a rampire and turrets on both sides of the bank, against the incursions of the Danes. Yet it seems to have been no considerable place at the Conquest; since, in the reign of the Confessor (as Domesday-book informs us) it paid only for one hide, and had twenty six Burgesses. The town is seated on a low ground. The Ouse, very commodious for the mills, surrounds it on all sides, but the north. The Castle, seated in the middle of the town upon a great mount, of the very ruins of which scarce any thing now remains,as it were divides the town into two parts; the greater part, to the north, where stands the Town-hall; the lesser to the west, in which there is a Church (though not very ancient) where was the Shrine of St. Rumbald, born at King's Sutton a neighbouring village, and by our ancestors esteem'd a Saint. [He was Patron of the Fishermen, and his Feast is still annually observed in December, at Folkston in Kent. Near the Church, was once a stately Prebendal-house belonging to the Church of Lincoln, which was endow'd with Lands of one thousand pounds per An. Here was also a Chapel, call'd St. John Baptist's, founded by Matthew Stratton, and now converted into a Free-school. In this hundred also, is Caversfield; but whether so call'd from Carausius, as if one should say Carausius's-field, I dare not be positive. However, it is very probable from the circumstances, that this is the very place where Allectus slew Carausius in battle. This part of the Country seems also to have been the seat [col. 333] of Action, when Aulus Plautius made the second Expedition of the Romans into Britain under Claudius the Emperor. He obtain'd a Victory over Cataratacus and Togodumnus, Sons of Cunobelin, among the Boduni, or Oxfordshire-men (subject to these Catuellani or Inhabitants of Bucks,) and pursued them to the river Ouse near Buckingham.
Upon the south-bank of the Ouse lies Thornton, anciently the seat of the Norman family of Chatylion; which, passing through the families of Barton and Ingleton, became the possession of the Tyrrels, descended from an heir-general of Robert Ingleton, the last of that name in the beginning of henry the eigth. From whom are also descended both the other families of the Tyrrels in this County, of Castlethorp and Okeley: and they all descended from one common Ancestor, Humphrey Tyrrel, nephew of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk; who was also one of the coheirs of Sir Humphrey le Bruin, as well as the said Tyrrel. South-east from Buckingham, is Winslow, a small market-town, which King Offa gave to the Monastery of St. Alban, in a Council held at Verulam, ann. 794.]
From Buckingham, and Thornton, the Ouse moves, with a gentle current, to the north-east. More easterly from the river, toward the woods, is Whaddon, formerly the Seat of the Giffords, who were hereditary Keepers of Whaddon-Chase under the Earl of Ulster; from whom that office descended to the Pigots, who sold it into another family. Here was the seat of the warlike family of the Barons Grey of Wilton, who held the adjoyning manour of Eaton by the service of keeping one Gerfalcon of the King's; whence that family bore fore their crest a Falcon sitting on a glove. [But, upon the attainder of William Lord Grey of Wilton, it came to the Villars Dukes of Buckingham; since the death of the last of whom, it passed by sale to James Selby, and Thomas Willis (the famous Physician of that name) who have almost entirely pulled down the fore-mentioned seat, built by the Barons Grey of Wilton.] Not far from hence lies Saulden, where is a neat house built by the honourable and learner Knight Sir John Fortescue, for himself and his family; who for his great Wisdom and Prudence was made Chancellor of the Exchequer, and privy Counsellor to Queen Elizabeth and King James [the first.] On the other side of the river, not far from the bank, are Leckhamsted, the seat of the Tyrrels; Lillingstone, the seat of the ancient family of the De-hairel, commonly Dairell; and Luffeld, where was formerly a Monastery founded by Robert Earl of Leicester; but, the Monks dying of the plague, it was deserted. Higher on the south-bank of the river, the most considerable place is Stony-Stratford, so called from the Stones, the publick Street, and the Ford; because the buildings are of Free-stone; which is dug plentifully at Calverton, hard by; and it is seated on the publick street or high-way, commonly called Watling-street, which was a military way of the Romans; and some remains of it are plainly to be seen beyond the town: There was also a ford; though now it is scarce passable. The town is of considerable largeness and has two Churches [which no other Town in this County can boast of.] In the middle stood a Cross (though not very splendid) erected in memory of Queen Eleanor of Spain, wife to Edward the first, and adorn'd with the Arms of England, Castile, and Leon, and of the County of Ponthieu, to which she was heiress. [She dy'd [col. 334] at Hareby in Lincolnshire; and such crosses were erected between that and Westminster in all places where the corps rested; but that which was erected in this place, was pulled down in the Civil Wars, and no works of it are now remaining.] Where the Ford was formerly, there is now a Stone-bridge over the Ouse; which uses, in the winter-floods, to break out into the neighbouring fields, with great violence. The other side of the bank is something higher, and there [at old Stratford] the Inhabitants report the town to have heretofore stood. Near which, is Pasham, so call'd from passing the river; so that it may probably be that Pass which Edward the Elder maintain'd against thr plundering Danes, while he was fortifying Torcester. But, after the building of the bridge at Stony-Stratford, this Pass was wholly neglected. If I should guess this town to have been the Lactorodum of Antoninus; not only it's situation on a military way, and the exact distances, would favour my conjecture, but the signification too of Lactorodum (fetch'd from th British tongue,) which agrees exactly with this modern name: for the words in both languages are deriv'd from Stones and a Ford. [It is also called Lactadorum, and sometimes Lactodrodum and Lactorudum. The old town in Gaul, call'd Lactorate, perhaps might giveit the name; since Cæsar has observ'd, that the Gauls, coming over hither, gave the same names to towns, as those had, which they left behind them.] Passing hence, the Ouse runs by Wolverton, the seat of the ancient Family of the Longvils, [of which family, Henry, Lord Grey of Ruthin, was advanced to the dignity of Viscount Longueville, in the second year of King William and Queen Mary. Haversham, from which place Sir John Thompson was created a Baron of this Realm, in the eigth year of William the third, by the title of Baron Haversham of Haversham;] and Newport-Paynel, so call'd from the Lord of it, Fulk Paganel. From whom it descended to the Barons Someries of Dudley, who had their castle here. [At Newport, a river falls into the Ouse from the south; which runs near Wing, the seat of the late Earl of Caernarvon; by whose death, the honour of Baron Dormer of Wing descended to a younger branch of the same family; the titles of Viscount and Earl being extinct in him: And Blecheley, the Church whereof hath been much beautified, at great expence, by Brown Willis, Esq; Patron thereof.] From Newport, the Ouse runs by Terringham, giving name and habitation to a famous and ancient family, [a younger branch whereof still flourishes at Nether-Winchington; but this place hath since come to the Backwells, by marriage with the only daughter and heir of Sir William Terringham.] Then it goes to Oulney, a small market-town, [but remarkable for it's goodly Church, with a beautiful Spire-Steeple, the only one (except Hanslap) that is in the whole County; as I ahve been informed.] Thus far, and a little farther, reaches the County of Buckingham, along it's Boundary the Ouse.
The first Earl of Buckingham (as far as I can yet find) was Walter sirnam'd Gifford, son to Osbern de Bolebec, a famous Man among the Normans; whom, in a Charter of Henry the first, we find among the witnesses, by the name of Earl of Buckingham. He was succeeded in this honour by a son of the same name, who in the book of Abingdon-Monastery is stil'd Earl Walter the younger, and is said to have dy'd in the year 1164. In the reign of Henry the second, the famous Richard Strang-bow Earl of Pembroke (descended from the sister and heir of [col. 335] Walter Gifford the second) did, in some publick Instruments, make use of the same title. But it afterwards lay vacant for a long time, till it was conferr'd by Richard the second, in the year 1377, on his Uncle Thomas of Woodstock (of whom we have spoken before among the Dukes of Glocester.) Of his daughter, married to Edmund Earl of Stafford, was born Humphrey Earl of Stafford, created Duke of Buckingham by Henry the sixth; for whom fighting valiantly, he was slain at the battle of Northampton. To him succeeded Henry his grandchild by his son Humphrey [(slain in the life-time of his Father the Duke, at the battle of St. Albans, 34 Henry 6;)] which Henry was the chief means of bringing that tyrant Richard the 3d to the Crown; and presently after endeavour'd to depose him, because [as it is said] he would not restore to him the estate of the Bohuns, to which he was lawful heir. [But this could not be the cause; for, after that Tyrant's advancement, he sign'd a bill for Livery of all those Lands unto him, whereto he pretended a right by descent from Humphrey de Bohun, sometime Earl of Hereford, and Constable of England. Dugdale hath given us an abstract of it; and is of opinion, that the cause of this his carriage, was, either remorse of conscience for raising that King to the throne by the barbarous murther of his nephews, or else his observing himself to be neglected by him.] Being intercepted, he lost his head, ad found too late, that Tyrants commonly pull down those Scaffolds by which they ascended to their Throne. his son Edward being restor'd to all, by the favour of Henry the seventh; through the wicked practices of Cardinal Wolsey lost the favour of Henry the eight, and was at last beheaded for treason, for that, among other things, he had consulted a Wizzard about the [col. 336] Succession to the Crown. He dy'd much lamented by all good men. When the Emperor Charles the fifth heard of his death, he is reported to have said, that a Butcher's Dog had run down the finest Buck in England; alluding to Cardinal Wolsey's being the son of a Butcher. From that time, the splendour of this family so decay'd, that his Posterity enjoy'd only the bare title of Earls of Stafford. [After the attainder and execution of Edward, the title of Buckingham lay vacant, till the 14th of Jac. 1. when George Viscount Villars, was created Earl of Buckingham; and the next year, Marquess of Buckingham; and, by a Patent bearing date 18 Maii, 21 Jac. 1. Duke of Buckingham. This George, being barbarously murther'd by one Felton at Portsmouth, Aug. 23. An. 1628, was succeeded by George his son, who dying April 16. 1687, without issue, left the title vacant; and so it remained, till the second year of Queen Anne, when her Majesty created the right Honourable John Sheffield, Duke of the County of Buckingham, and Normandy.]
There are in this County 185 Parishes.
More rare Plants growing wild in Buckinghamshire.
I have not had opportunity of searching this County for Plants, neither have any singular, local, or uncommon species growing there, as yet come to my knowledge, save only
Sphondylium montanum minus angustifolium, tenuiter laciniatum, observ'd by Dr. Plukenet near St. Giles Chalfont in the mountainous meadows.