BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, a county (inland), bounded on the south and south-west by Berkshire, from which it is separated by the river Thames; on the west by the county of Oxford 3 on the north-west and north by that of Northampton; on the north-east by that of Bedford; on the east by those of Bedford and Hertford; and on the south-east by Middlesex. It extends from 51° 25' to 52° 11' (N. Lat.), and from 0° 30' to 1° 9' (W. Lon.); and comprises an area of about seven hundred and forty square miles, or four hundred and seventy-three thousand statute acres. The population, in 1821, amounted to 134,068. The ancient British inhabitants of this 'territory are supposed by Camden to have be'en the "Cossii, or Catti* euchlani, Mr. Whitaker, the learned historian of Manchester, is of opinion, that only that part of Buckinghamshire which borders on the present county of Bed* ford, was originally inhabited by the Cassii; but, that they .afterwards seized upon the territories of the Dobuni, who inhabited the other parts of it, which the latter, at a still remoter period, had conquered from the Ancaliies. The neighbourhood of Kimble is stated to have been the scene of that action between the invading Romans and the aborigines of the island, in which the two sons of Cunobeline, or Cymbeline, were defeated "by Aulus Plautius, and one of them, named Togodumnus, slain. Under the Roman dominion, the territory now constituting the county of Buckingham was included in the great division called Flama Ccesariensis. The Romanized Britons, in consequence of a defeat which they had received from the Saxons under Cuthwulf, brother of Ceawlin, king of the West Saxons, at Bedford, were compelled, in the year 580, to abandon the districts lying immediately below the Chiltern Hills, in which several of their principal towns were situated, one of which, called by the victors Eagles* hyrig, is now the town of Aylesbury. On the complete establishment of the Saxon Octarchy, this shire became part -of the powerful kingdom of Mercia. Edward the Elder, in the year 915, built a fortress on each side of the Ouse at Buckingham, where he staid four weeks: in 921, the Danes committed great depredations between Aylesbury and the forest of Bernwood. On the consolidation of the Danish power in England under Canute, this shire was included in the Dane-lege, or Danish jurisdiction. During the war between King John and the barons, Hanslape Castle, at Castlethorpe, was garrisoned against the former by its possessor^ William Mauduit, but was taken and demolished, in 1216, by Fulk de Brent* In 1233, the lands of Richard, Earl of "Cornwall, near Brill, were laid waste by Richard Sward, and others of the revolted party. At the commencement of the civil war of the seventeenth century, Buckinghamshire was one of the first that joined in an association for mutual defence on the side of the parliament: it was the address of its inhabitants, too, that first excited this body more strenuously to resist the king; and Lord Clarendon informs us that, " from the date of its presentation we may reasonably date the levying of war in England." On the breaking out of hostilities, the king had a garrison in a strong position at Brill, which, towards the close of the year 1642, was attacked by the celebrated patriot, Hampden, who, however, was repulsed with considerable loss, and the garrison continued to be a great annoyance to the parliamentarians, by its frequent excursions to Aylesbury arid its vicinity. Among the terms for a cessation of hostilities, as delivered to the king, in March 1643, it was proposed that the royal forces should not advance nearer to Aylesbury than Brill, nor those of the parliament nearer to Oxford than Aylesbury. A skirmish, which took place in the following June, on Chalgrayefield, is memorable for the severe loss sustained by the. parliamentarian cause in the death of Hampden, who there received a wound, which caused his death six days after. Newport-Pagnell, in the course of the same year, was for a short time garrisoned, by the king's troops, but was abandoned by Sir Lewis Dyve, on the approach of the Earl of Essex, and it afterwards proved a very useful garrison to the parliament. Brill was evacuated by the royalist forces in April 1643; and about the same time Prince Rupert attacked the quarters of the parliamentarians at High Wycombe with some success. In the summer of this year, the Earl of Essex quartered his army for a considerable time about Aylesbury and Thame, near the former of which, in August, a grand rendezvous of the parliamentarian forces was held. In 1644, the king had his head-quarters for some time at Buckingham; but on the other hand a royalist garrison in Borstall House, just within the western confines of the county, which had proved troublesome to the parliamentarian garrison at Aylesbury, abandoned that strong held in June of the same year, and it was immediately taken possession of by the parliament; but it was some time afterwards retaken for the royalists by Col. Gage. Greenland House, another garrison for the king, situated on the banks of the Thames, near Henley, after sustaining a severe siege, was surrendered in the month of July to General Browne. During the whole of the following year, neither of the contending parties here gained any ad* vantage over the other, although Skippon and Fairfax each made successive attacks on Borstall House: from the siege of this place the parliamentarian forces marched to Marsh-Gibbon, Brickhill,-and Buckingham. In 1646, Borstall House, the only remaining royal garrison in the county, was surrendered to the parliament. Buckinghamshire is in the diocese of Lincoln, and province of Canterbury; and, with the exception of a few parishes, constitutes an archdeaconry, in which are the deaneries of Buckingham, Burnham, Mursley, Newport, Wadsden, Wendover, and Wycombe: the total number of parishes is two hundred and two, of whicn one hundred and one are rectories, sixty-eight vicarages, and the remainder perpetual curacies and donatives. For purposes of civil jurisdiction, it is divided into eight hun.* dreds, viz., Ashen don, Aylesbury, Buckingham, Burnham, Cottesloe, Desborough, Newport, and Stoke. It contains the borough and market-towns of Amersham, Aylesbury, Buckingham, Great Marlow, Wendover, and High or Chipping-Wycombe,- and the market-towns of BeaT consfield, Chesham, Ivinghoe, Newport-Pagnell, Olney, Prince's Risborough, Fenny-Stratford, Stony-Stratford, andWinslow; as also part of that of Colnbrook, the rest of which is in Middlesex. Two knights are returned to parliament for the shire, and two burgesses for each of the six boroughs: the county members, are elected at Buckingham. It is included in the Oxford circuit: the summer assizes are held at Buckingham, a,nd- the Lent assizes and general quarter sessions at Aylesbury, where is situated the common gaol and house of correction for the county. There are one hundred and thirty acting magistrates. The rates raised in the county for the year ending March 25th, 1829, amounted to & 146,543, and the expenditure to £ 143,732, of which £ 124,497 was applied to the relief of the poor. There is hardly a county in England more irregular in shape and outline than this, which, although it approaches an oblong, has singular projections and indenr tations: its boundaries, except on the south and southjeast, where they are formed by the rivers Thames and Colne,. are almost entirely arbitrary. A little beyond its western confines, immediately to the north of Bicester, is a small detached portion, forming the parish of Caversfield, which is surrounded by Oxfordshire. 'The most striking natural feature in its surface is the range of heights called the Chiltern hills, which stretches across it from the southern extremity of Bedfordshire, by Eddlesborough; Halton, Wendover, Ellesborough, Risborough, and Bledlow, to the southern part of Oxfordshire, being part of the great chain of chalk hills which extends from Norfolk south-westward into Dorsetshire. On the western side of the county is a range of hills of calcareous stone, which runs parallel with the Chiltern hills, at the distance of only a few miles. Between these two lies the rich Vale of Aylesbury, the natural fertility of which is almost unrivalled. The country to the south of the Chilterns abounds with pleasing scenery, highly diversified with hill and dale, corn-fields, meadows, and woodlands, particularly near Amersham and the Missendens. Between Marlow and Henley the scenery is rendered still more delightful by the broad and glassy current of the Thames, and the picturesque boldness of its opposite banks. Among the more striking prospects may be particularly mentioned'that from the hills above Ellesbor rough, over the Vale of Aylesbury;' that from a field near Brill,.over a great part of Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire; and that from the tower of Penn church, which is the most extensive of all, and, besides com- prising a great portion of Bucks, stretches into the :counties of Berks, Oxford, Bedford, Herts, Essex, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey, and even into some parts of .Sussex and Northamptonshire. The predominating soils are rich loam, strong clay, chalky mould, and loam upon gravel, all of which, how- ever, admit of considerable variety, and are much intermingled, The subsoil of the Chiltern hills is chalk of different qualities, with occasional beds of gravel and sand, and in .many places a great abundance of brick earth, especially from Chesham to Anlersham, at which latter place it is very fine, and supplies a manufactory for common earthenware. The surface soil of the vallies between these hills consists of rich clays and clayey loams, which upon the declivities are, in some places, very thin, and form a clayey chalk: on some of the hills the surface is clayey; on others it is composed, in a great measure, of chalk. These kinds of soil occupy the whole southern part of the county, excepting only the district separated from the rest of it by an imaginary line drawn from Uxbridge to Maidenhead, in which a gravelly loam upon gravel prevails. In the central parts of the county, from the Chiltern hills to the Watling^ street on the north-east, and to the river Ouse on the north, the prevailing soils on the. uplands are various plays, upon calcareous strata. The Vale of Aylesbury consists of rich clays and loams, of almost proverbial fertility. On the border of Bedfordshire, in the neighr bourhood of Wavendori, Broughton, and. the Brickhills, the prevailing soil is a deep sand: in the same vicinity is also found a rich blue marl, used for manure. The northern parts of the county consist of clays and loams, with mixtures of gravel, forming good turnip land, and rich meadpws along the course of the Ouse. This county has long been famous for its produce of corn and cattle, " Buckinghamshire bread and beef" having been formerly a common expression. Agriculture is practised with greater or less diligence, accord- ing to the nature of the soils: thus, on the Chiltern hills, and in the district to the south of them, where the shallowness of the soil calls forth the industrious powers of the husbandman, a more active system of farming prevails than in the rich Vale of Aylesbury, where, indeed, the land is for the most part devoted to grazing and the dairy, One-half of the county consists of arable farms, containing not more than one-fifth of grass land, which occupy the whole of the Chiltern hills and the county southward of them to the Thames, toge- ther with the sandy lands in the neighbourhood of the Brickhills, Soulbury, and Linslade, and some parts of the Vale of Aylesbury: .a sixth part of the county, situated to the north-east of the Watling-street, is com- posed of farms of a mixed nature, containing about two-fifths of meadows and pastures. The courses of crops are various: those most commonly cultivated are wheat, barley, beans, turnips, tares, and artificial grasses: the average produce of wheat is computed at nearly twenty-five bushels per acre; that of barley, at nearly thirty-eight bushels; and that of beans, at about twentyfour bushels. Oats and peas are very little cultivated. The turnips are chiefly eaten upon the land by sheep; the tares are applied to the feeding of sheep and horses. The artificial grasses commonly sown are red clover, white clover, trefoil, and jay-grass; sainfoin also is grown on the Chiltern hills. Besides the proportion of grass land intermixed with.that under cultivation, most of the central part of the county, from the Chiltern hills to the Watling-street, consists of dairy and grazing farms, which.occupy about one-third of the entire surface. The pastures are not in general so rich as those of some counties, but the meadows on the banks of the Ouse and the.Thame derive such fertility from the floods to which those.rivers are very liable, as seldom to require ir.anurir.g. Ihe grazing farn.s are very few, in comparison with those applied to the c'airy, upon wl.ith Tatter neat stock is never grazed. The number of cows kept on these extensive pastures is computed at about twenty-seven thousand, of which upwards of twenty-one thousand are always productive to the dairy. Between four and five million pounds, or about one thousand nine hundred tons, of butter are annually made in this county, by far the greater part of which is sent by contract to London. It is made up into lumps of two pounds each, and packed in osier baskets, called flats, which are in the form of parallelopipedons of different sizes, but all of the same depth, namely, eleven inches: each of these holds from three to ten dozen of butter, or from thirty-six to one hundred and twenty pounds: the flats are the property of the carrier, who receives the butter of the dairyman at the nearest point by which he passes, its carriage being paid by the factor in London. No cheese is made, except a few cream cheeses in summer for the markets of Buckingham, Aylesbury, and Wycombe. The cattle fattened are almost wholly grazed, chiefly in the Vale of Aylesbury, and considerable numbers of them sent to Smithfield market. The manures, besides those common to other counties, are chalk, obtained by sinking pits on different parts of the Chiltern hills; marl, found at Brickhill; lime; ashes, universally applied to the clover leys; soot; and woollen rags on the Chilterns: but the most general mode of manuring land is by the folding of sheep upon it, which are sometimes hired for the purpose. The greater number of the dairy cows are of the sbort-horned Yorkshire kind; though some dairies are composed of the longhorned Leicester breed; others of the Suffolk, and others of the Welch: a few Alderney cows are also seen. The graziers have a great variety of cattle, among which the Hereford, Devon, and Yorkshire breeds predominate. The calves are generally sold from the dairy farms, at from four to twelve days old, to persons who suckle them: these, together with others from the northern parts of the county, are purchased at Aylesbury market by the farmers of the Chilterns, particularly such as live in the neighbourhood of Chesham and Amersham, who fatten them for the London market. The principal object of thpse who keep sheep is to produce fat lambs as early as possible for the London market: the prevalent breeds are, the Dorsetshire, the Gloucester, the Berkshire, and the South- Down: Hogs form an important part of the stock of the dairy farms, from which great numbers are sold as bacon between Michaelmas and Christmas, or sent as porkers to the London market from that time until the spring: they are commonly of the Berkshire sort, though the Chinese and Suffolk breeds have also been introduced. There are rabbits upon the Chiltern hills, but no warrens; considerable numbers, however, are kept by poor persons, who send the young to the London markets. At Aylesbury and its vicinity, great numbers of ducks are bred and fattened by poor people, and sent to London by the weekly carriers: in this manner are sent many thousands annually, some of them very early in the spring. The orchards, though objects of little attention, produce considerable quantities of cherries, which are sent to the Aylesbury and London markets. It is related by ancient historians, that this shire was formerly so covered with woods as to be almost impassable, until Leofstan, abbot of St. Albans, caused several of them to be cut down, because they afforded shelter for thieves. The whole of the Chiltern district is said to have been covered with wood; and the western part of the county, bordering on Oxfordshire, was occupied by the forest of Bernwood, which was disafforested in the reign of James I. The chief of the woodlands are in the districts to the south of the Chiltern hills, of which also they occupy a considerable portion. The prevailing timber is beech, of which some of the larger woods entirely consist, and which, from its abundance, gives the country a- remarkably rich appearance: this timber is generally applied to the manufacture of chairs, both in this.county and in London. A tract of land on the Chiltern hills, in the parishes of Ellesborough, Little l^imble, and Great Kimble, is covered with box wood, which appears to be indigenous; and the woods on many parts of these hills, particularly at West Wycombe, contain a vast quantity of juniper: the neighbourhood of Chesham abounds with the black cherry, chiefly planted in hedge-rows. The principal tract of woodland in the northern part of the coxinty is Whaddon Chase, containing about two thousand acres of coppices, consisting of oak, ash, Sac. The practice of lopping and shrouding trees prevails so much in some parts of the county, as to give such districts a very unsightly appearance. The most extensive tracts of waste lands are Wycombe heath, containing about fifteen hundred acres; Iver heath, about eleven hundred; Stoke heath, about one thousand; Fulmer heath, about six hundred; and Great Harwood common, about five hundred. The fuel used is chiefly coal, obtained, by means of the Grand Junction canal, from the collieries of Staffordshire: Newcastle coal is brought up the Thames, and sometimes along the Grand Junction canal from London; and fagots are burned in the places most ' distant from these lines of navigation, where they can be most easily procured. The mineral productions are of scarcely any importance. Near Newport is a bed of good marble, which, however, is not worked; and in the vicinity of Olney is a quarry of freestone. At Wavendon are some very old and celebrated fullers' earth pits. At Brill is ob- . tained ochre for painting; and umber is found in small quantities in the northern parts of the county. A yellow limestone is found near Dinton, .a few miles south-westward of Aylesbury, which contains an abundance of a species of nautilus, with other extraneous fossils: remains of this nature have also been found in other strata at Quainton, and in its vicinity, near Aylesbury, near Amersham, on Wyrardisbury, or Raisbury, common, and in the vicinity of Ellesborough. The manufactures are those of thread-lace, straw-plat, and paper. The former is tolerably general in most parts of the county, though its prosperity has greatly declined, owing to the rise of the machine lace manufacture of Nottingham, and the populous district surrounding it; it is chiefly prevalent at Hanslope, and in its immediate' vicinity: in and about Olney are made great quantities of veils and laces of the finer sorts. Both boys and girls, when about five years old, are put to the lace schools to learn the art, and by the latter it is pursued through life; some men, even, follow no other employment; and.others find it a resource when out of work. The straw-plat manufacture, of which the town of Dunstable, in Bedfordshire, is the centre, extends for some distance within this county. The manufacture of paper has been carried on in the neighbourhood of Wycombe for more than a century and a quarter, and different mills on the Wyke are still actively and extensively engaged in it. The exports of the couuty are simply the produce of these manufactures and of its agriculture: its imports are of the ordinary kinds. The principal rivers are, the Thames, the Ouse, the Ouzel, the Thame, and the Colne. The first of these is the boundary and chief ornament of the southern part of it, which it separates from Berkshire during a navigable course of about twenty-eight miles, .first touching it about a mile north of Henley bridge, and thence flowing by Medmenham, Great Marlow, Hedsor, Taplow, Boveny, Eton, and Datchet, to the mouth of the Colne, a little above Staines, where it quits the county: ,the navigation of this river, as affording an. immediate communication with the metropolis, is of great importance to the county. The course of the Ouse through Buckinghamshire, and as a boundary to it, is very cir- cuitous, and in length is little less than fifty miles, in no part of which, however, is it navigable: it first be- comes a boundary in the parish of Turweston, near Braclcley, separating it from Northamptonshire, and, after passing Westbury, forms the boundary line of the counties of Buckingham and Oxford for a short distance: it then enters the former at Water-Stratford, and flows eastward to the borough of Buckingham, and thence north-eastward to the village of Thornton, a little beyond which it again becomes a boundary between the counties of Buckingham and Northampton: a little beyond Stony-Stratford, however, it enters the county a second time, and pursues a remarkably circur itous course eastward to Newport-Pagnell, whence it proceeds northward to Olney, and thence eastward to the border of Bedfordshire, which county it separates from that of Bucks for a short distance, and then enters the former at the north-eastern extremity of the latter.» The Ouzel, which rises near Eddlesbprpugh, on the eastern confines of the county, at the foot of the Chiltern hills, immediately becomes the boundary be.- tween it and Bedfordshire, flowing northward by Leighton- Buzzard: at Linslade, near that town, it enters Buckinghamshire, and continues to run northward by- Fenny-Stratford to the Ouse, at Newport-Pagnell, which it joins, after a course of about thirty miles. Into the Ouse and Ouzel flow several brooks, which take their rise in Whaddon Chase, the highest point of land in the northern part of the county. The Thame is formed by the junction of two small streams near Quarrendon, a few miles from Aylesbury, one of which has its source near Cublington; the other on the border of Hertfordshire: being joined by various other rivulets, it becomes a considerable stream on reaching Eythorpe, in its winding course westward through the rich Vale of Aylesbury: at the town of Thame it becomes the boundary between the counties of Buckingham and Oxford, for a few miles, and entirely quits the former for the latter a little beyond the village of Ickford, after a course through Buckinghamshire, from its highest sources, of about thirty miles: this river abounds with eels, which are claimed by the king: its other fish are chiefly pike, Perch, chub, roach, and gudgeons. The mouth of the T-hame, where it falls into the Thames, in Oxfordshire, having, for want of cleansing, become choked up, and its channel narrowed, two commissions of sewers were issued in the early part of the last century, but, owing to disputes between the commissioners and the landowners, nothing effectual was done towards, the removal of the obstruction, which, having at length so far increased that the adjacent parts of Buckinghamshire frequently presented the appearance of a lake for months together, a new commission was sued out in 1797, under which the object so long desired was accomplished, by restoring the ancient channel, which has ever since been effectually preserved. The Colne, for a course of about fourteen miles, forms the south-eastern bouridary of this county, which it separates from Middlesex, flowing near Denham and Ivor, through Colnbrook, and near Horton and Wyrardisbury, to the Thames, between Ankerwyke and Staines: this river, in most parts of its course, has several channels. This county derives great commercial advantage from the Grand Junction canal, which connects the Coventry canal at Braunston with the Thames navigation at Brentford and at Limehouse: it enters it from Northamptonshire, near Cosgrove in the latter, -by an aqueduct about three quarters of a mile long, over the stream and valley of the Ouse; and thence proceeds eastward to within a few miles of Newport- JPagnell, where it turns southward up the valley of the Ouzel, by Fenny-Stratford and Leighton-Buzzard; passing a little to the westward of Ivinghoe, it quits for Hertfordshire a little beyond the village of Marsworth. In 1794, an 'act was obtained for making navigable cuts to communicate with this canal from the towns of Aylesbury, Buckingham, and Wendover: the Aylesbury branch joins the main canal near Marsworth; the Buckingham branch is; carried from that town down the northern side of the valley of the Ouse, near Stony-Stratford, to the main line at Cosgrove; and the Wendover navigation joins the'main canal at Bulborne, on the confines of Hertfordshire. These canals are navigated by barges of sixty tons' burden: the chief articles of traffic are iron, pottery, coal, timber, lime, and manures. The great road from London to Chester and Holyhead enters this county in the line of the ancient Watling- street, and, passing through Fenny-Stratford and Stony-Stratford, quits it at Old Stratford, near the fifty-third milestone. That from London to Liverpool enters near the forty-third milestone, about a mile from the1 town of Woburn in Bedfordshire, and, proceeding through Newport-Pagnell, runs into Northamptonshire between the fifty-seventh and fifty-eighth milestones. The road from London to Oxford, Bath, &c., enters at Colnbrook, and crossing the southern extremity of the county, through Slough, quits it at Maidenhead bridge. Another road to Oxford, commonly called the Wycombe road, enters from Uxbridge, and, passing through Beaconsfield and High Wycombe, proceeds into Oxfordshire a little beyond the thirty-seventh milestone. The road from London to Banbury branches from the Wycombe road at the eighteenth milestone, and passes through Amersham, Wendover, Aylesbury, Winslow, and Buckingham, a little beyond which latter place it enters Northamptonshire, near the sixtieth milestone. That from London to Aylesbury, through Tring, enters between the thirty-second and thirty-third milestones, and joins the last-mentioned road near Aylesbury. This county contained the Roman station Magiovlntum, near the present town of Fenny-Stratford, and was crossed by the Roman roads Ikening, or Iknield, street, the Watlihg-street, and the Akeman-street, as' also by several vicinal ways. The Ikening-street, supposed to have been originally of British construction, from its -not being raised or paved, like other Roman roads, runs -along the northern verge of the Ch'ilterh hills through their whole extent, entering this county on its eastern border near Eddlesborough, and passing through Wendover, Aston, and Calverton, to its western confines near Chitmer: although passing by many camps and earthworks of various sorts, it never diverges towards them, nor does it seem to have any connexion with them, as is the case with the roads -known to be of Roman construction. Another ancient road runs nearly parallel with the above, at the northern base of the hills, and is proviucially called the " Lower Acknell Way." The Watling-street, during its entire course through the northern part of the county, hears no trace of its an- cient Roman construction, except its exact straightness, its line being identical "with that of the great modern road to Ireland, which is carried'along it-front Bedfordshire, through Brickhill, Fenny?-Stratford, and Stony- Stratford, across the Ouse into Northamptonshire. The ancient road called the Akenian- street, which runs "parallel with the Iknield-street, on the north, is traceable only'in a few places, and appears to have passed by Hide-Lane, and near Buckingham, Stony-Stratford, Stanton, and Newport - Pagnell, to Bedford. An an- cient road, which by some has been falsely designated the Akeman-street, enters this county from Bicester. in Oxfordshire, and proceeds in the same line with the Modern turnpike road towards the Berry-fields, near Aylesbury, and may have been part of a Roman road from Alcester to Verulam, or London. Another Roman road proceeds in a direct line north-north-eastward from Bicester, and, after forming the eastern boundary nf a detached portion of Buckinghamshire, reaches the main body of the county at'Water-Stratford, and appears to have crossed the northernmost part of it, by Stowe, in its way to Towcester in Northamptonshire, the Roman Lactodorum. Traces of another Roman road, under the usual name of the Portway, are visible in the vicinities of Stone and Hartwell, to the west of Aylesbury. The remains of the Roman station Magiovintum are still visible on a small elevation in the "Auld Fields," about a quarter of a mile from Fenny-Stratford: coins and foundations of buildings have been dug up here in abundance. Camden is of opinion that there was anciently a Roman town at Burgh-hill (now contracted into Brill), in the western part of the county. Numerous traces of Roman occupation, such, as coins, pavements, &c., have been found at High Wycombe and in its vicinity: coins have also been found near Prince's Risborough and Ellesborough. Above the village of Medmenham are the remains of a large camp, nearly square, formed by a single ditch and vallum, and enclosing an area of about seven acres: in a wood near Burriham is an oblong intrenchment of the same kind about one hundred and thirty paces long and sixty broad' vulgarly called Harlequin's Moat. Near Ellesborough are some strong earthworks on the side of the Chiltern hills at one corner of which is a high mount, eighty paces in circumference, called the Castle Hill, .or Kimble Castle, and commonly supposed to have been the site of the residence of the British king Cunobeline. On the top of the hill at West Wycombe are the remains of a circular encampment; and those of another are discernible near High Wycombe, at a place called Old, or All, Hollands. At Danesfield, on the banks of the Thames, is a nearly circular intrenchment, called Danes' ditch, formed by a double vallum which environs it, except towards the river, where it is defended by a steep cliff: at Cholsbury, too, is a nearly circular camp, formed by a double ditch, two hundred and eighty-nine yards in diameter from east to west, and two hundred and seven from north to south; and the manor-house of the adjacent village of Hawridge is built within an ancient circular intrenchment. There are also some large intrenchments at Hedgerley-Dean, and a remarkable ditch runs thence to East Burnham: near the Lower Iknield Way, hi the parish of Ellesborough, is a moated area of an irregular form, and in most places about fifty paces in breadth. A considerable rampart of earth, under the common name of Grimesdike, runs nearly east and west through a part of this county, upon the Chiltern hills, where it may be traced for some miles, particularly between Wigginton common in Hertfordshire and St. Leonard's common in Buckinghamshire. A great cross, called White-Leaf Cross, of unknown antiquity, is cut on the side of the chalk hills near Risborough, and has been supposed to be the memorial of some victory gained by the Anglo-Saxons over the Danes. Before the period of the Reformation this county contained twenty-one religious houses, including four Alien, priories, one preceptory of the Knights Hospi" tallers, and a college of the society of Bonhommes at Ashridge, near the confines of Hertfordshire, being the only house of that order in England, excepting that at Edingdon in Wiltshire: there were, besides, ten hospitals, one of which, at Newport-Pagnell, re-founded by Queen Anne, consort of James I., is still existing; and the well-known royal college of Eton,, founded by Henry VI. There are very considerable remains of Nutley abbey, converted into a farm-house and offices; and vestiges of those of Burnham, Medmenham, and Great Missenden, and of the college of Bonhommes at Ashridge: part of St. Margaret's nunnery, in the parish of Ivinghoe, is yet standing, and is occupied as a dwelling-house.' Among the ecclesiastical edifices, Stewkley church is entitled to primary notice, both on account of its antiquity, and as being one of the most complete specimens remaining of Saxon architecture, no part of the original structure, either internally or externally, having been altered or materially defaced; nor have any additions been made to it, excepting the porch on the southern side and the pinnacles of the tower. The doorway of Water-Stratford church is enriched with Saxon ornaments; Dinton church has another remarkable doorway of the same kind; and in that of Stanton-Bury is an arch richly ornamented with Saxon mouldings and heads of animals. Upton church, retains its original form, and is on the same plan as that of Stewkley, but less ornamented and much smaller. The doorways of .the churches of Caversfield, Horton, Lathbury, Twyford, Waddesdon, Westbury, and Wormenhall, and of the ancient chapel ot St. Thomas a Becket,. now the free school, at Buckingham, are circular, with Saxon mouldings and other ornaments: there-are also remains of this style in the churches of Fingest, Hanslope, Leckhampstead, Stone* Tingewick, and Tyrringham. Chetwood aud Hillers- don churches are the only specimens of English architecture worthy of particular notice: in the chancel of the former are some of the most ancient and elegant specimens of stained glass in the kingdom; and Buckinghamshire is rich in other specimens of the same kind. There are more than seventy ancient circular fonts :in ttie. churches of this county, many of which are richly ornamented; and among these maybe more particularly specified those of Aylesbury, Caversfield, Dinton, Dorney, Drayton-Beauchamp, Hambledon, Hawridge, Hedgerley, Hitchenden, Maids-Moreton, and Upton: many "others are octagonal and variously ornamented; while those of TaploW and Chalfont St. Giles are square. There are no remains of the buildings of any fortress; hut some earthworks point out the sites of those which formerly stood at Castlethorpe, Lavendon, and Whit- church,'the first of which was called Hanslope Castle. The most remarkable ancient mansions are, Gayhurst, Which was 'built in the reign of Elizabeth, and Liseombe House: the gatehouse of Borstall House is yet standing. At Prince's Risborough, adjoining the churchyard, is ail intrenchment nearly square, supposed to be the site of the Black. Prince's palace. Among the seats of the "landed proprietors, those mo'st distinguished for their architectural beauties are, Stowe, the magnificent mansion of the Duke of Buckingham; Wycombe Abbey, the residence of Lord Carrington; Ashridge, partly in Bucks and partly in Herts, that of the late Earl of Bridgewater; and the modern mansion, at Tyrringham, of William Praed, Esq. The ordinary building materials are bricks, manufactured in various places; tiles, -generally flat; freestone, dug at Olney; lime; and timber. Buckinghamshire contains no mineral waters of any note:,it gives the title of earl to the family o'f Hampden.