High Wycombe

High Wycombe Buckinghamshire UK Hub

Approximate Population: 92,300

High Wycombe is a large town in Buckinghamshire, England. It is 29 miles (47 km) west-north-west of Charing Cross in London; this figure is engraved on the Corn Market building in the centre of the town. According to the 2001 census High Wycombe had a population of 92,300, making it the largest town in the non-metropolitan county of Buckinghamshire now that Milton Keynes is a unitary authority area, and the second largest in the ceremonial county. The High Wycombe Urban Area, the conurbation of which the town is the largest component has a population of 118,219.

High Wycombe is mostly an unparished area in the Wycombe district. Part of the urban area constitutes a civil parish of Chepping Wycombe, which had a population of 14,455 according to the 2001 census — this parish represents that part of the ancient parish of Chepping Wycombe which was outside the former municipal borough of Wycombe.

The name Wycombe comes from the river Wye, and the old English word for a wooded valley, combe. Wycombe appears in the Domesday Book and was noted for having six mills. The town once featured a Roman Villa (2 A.D) which was excavated three times, most recently in 1954. Mosaics and a bathhouse were uncovered at the site on what is now the Rye parkland. High Wycombe was the site of a minor English Civil War battle featuring John Hampden, and the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli.

High Wycombe is home to the main campus of Buckinghamshire New University (BNU). The university college had plans for expansion in the Hughenden area of High Wycombe, and while these plans fell through, there are now plans to enlarge the main campus which will provide more up to date facilities. The university has now achieved full university status, (summer, 07) and it is now called Buckinghamshire New University / Bucks New Uni for short.

High Wycombe Buckinghamshire UK Hub

Milton Keynes

UK Hub

Milton Keynes Buckinghamshire

Approximate Population: 184,506

The flood plains of the Great Ouse and of its tributaries (the Ouzel and some brooks) have been protected as linear parks that run right through Milton Keynes.  The Grand Union Canal is another green route (and demonstrates the level geography of the town - there is just one minor lock in its entire 10 mile route through from Fenny Stratford to the “Iron Trunk” Aqueduct over the Ouse at Wolverton.

The Milton Keynes redway system of cycleways and footpaths uses these and other routes.   The Park system was designed by landscape architect Peter Youngman, who also developed landscape precepts for the whole town: groups of grid squares were to be planted with different selections of trees and shrubs in order to give them distinct identities.   However the landscaping of parks and of the grid roads was evolved under the leadership of Neil Higson, who from 1977 took over as Chief Landscape Architect and made the original grand but not entirely practical landscape plan more subtle.

A policy of creating “settings, strings, beads” for landscape features was introduced: ’settings’ for historic villages and landscape features, ’strings’ of landscape to make the linear parks hang together and ‘beads’ of public space where residents might linger.   Higson also made the landscaping of the Grid Roads, one of the glories of Milton Keynes, more subtle, with ‘windows’ cut into the roadside planting so that motorists travelling through had a sense of the major town they were in; early critics had said of Milton Keynes ‘there is no there there’, as the town could not be seen by the motorist just passing through.   Now that the trees and shrubs have matured, the skill and lavish scale of the Grid Road planting makes a dramatic and welcome change from the monotony of many British towns.

UK Hub

Milton Keynes Buckinghamshire

Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes Buckinghamshire UK Hub

Approximate Population: 184,506

Milton Keynes, often abbreviated to MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, England, about 45 miles (72 km) north-west of London. It is also the principal town of the Borough of Milton Keynes. It was formally designated as a new town on 23 January 1967. Its 89 km2 (34 sq mi) area incorporated the existing towns of Bletchley, Wolverton and Stony Stratford along with another fifteen villages and farmland in between.

The flood plains of the Great Ouse and of its tributaries (the Ouzel and some brooks) have been protected as linear parks that run right through Milton Keynes.  The Grand Union Canal is another green route (and demonstrates the level geography of the town - there is just one minor lock in its entire 10 mile route through from Fenny Stratford to the “Iron Trunk” Aqueduct over the Ouse at Wolverton.

The Milton Keynes redway system of cycleways and footpaths uses these and other routes.   The Park system was designed by landscape architect Peter Youngman, who also developed landscape precepts for the whole town: groups of grid squares were to be planted with different selections of trees and shrubs in order to give them distinct identities.   However the landscaping of parks and of the grid roads was evolved under the leadership of Neil Higson, who from 1977 took over as Chief Landscape Architect and made the original grand but not entirely practical landscape plan more subtle.

A policy of creating “settings, strings, beads” for landscape features was introduced: ’settings’ for historic villages and landscape features, ’strings’ of landscape to make the linear parks hang together and ‘beads’ of public space where residents might linger.   Higson also made the landscaping of the Grid Roads, one of the glories of Milton Keynes, more subtle, with ‘windows’ cut into the roadside planting so that motorists travelling through had a sense of the major town they were in; early critics had said of Milton Keynes ‘there is no there there’, as the town could not be seen by the motorist just passing through.   Now that the trees and shrubs have matured, the skill and lavish scale of the Grid Road planting makes a dramatic and welcome change from the monotony of many British towns.

Milton Keynes Buckinghamshire UK Hub

Aylesbury

Aylesbury Buckinghamshire UK Hub

Approximate Population: 56,392

Aylesbury is the county town of Buckinghamshire in south east England. In the 2001 census the Aylesbury Urban Area, which includes Bierton, Fairford Leys, Stoke Mandeville and Watermead, had a population of 69,021, which included 56,392 for the Aylesbury civil parish.

The town name is of Old English origin. Excavations in the town centre in 1985 found an Iron Age hillfort dating from around 650BC. The town is sited on an outcrop of Portlandian limestone which accounts for its prominent position in the surrounding landscape, which is largely clay. Aylesbury was a major market town in Anglo-Saxon times, famous in addition as the burial place of Saint Osyth, whose shrine attracted pilgrims. The Early English parish church of St. Mary (with many later additions) may be built over the remains of a Saxon crypt. At the Conquest, the king took the manor of Aylesbury for himself, and it is listed as a royal manor in the Domesday Book, 1086.

In 1450 a religious institution called the Guild of St Mary was founded in Aylesbury by John Kemp, Archbishop of York. Known popularly as the Guild of Our Lady it became a meeting place for local dignitaries and a hotbed of political intrigue. The Guild was influential in the final outcome of the Wars of the Roses. Its premises at the Chantry in Church Street, Aylesbury, are still there, though today the site is occupied mainly by almshouses.

Aylesbury was declared the county town of Buckinghamshire in 1529 by King Henry VIII: Aylesbury Manor was among the many properties belonging to Thomas Boleyn the father of Anne Boleyn and it is rumoured that the change was made by the king in order to curry favour with the holders of the manor. (Previously the county town of Buckinghamshire was Buckingham).

Aylesbury Buckinghamshire UK Hub