Aylesbury Vale

The Aylesbury Vale (or Vale of Aylesbury) is a large area of gently rolling agricultural landscape located in the northern half of Buckinghamshire, England. Its boundary is marked by Milton Keynes to the north, Leighton Buzzard and the Chiltern Hills to the east and south, Thame to the south and Bicester and Brackley to the west.

The vale is named after Aylesbury, the county town of Buckinghamshire. Two other towns lie within the vale and they are Winslow and Buckingham.

The bed of the vale is largely made up of clay that was formed at the end of the ice age. Also at this time the vast underground reserves of water that make the water table in the Vale of Aylesbury higher than average, were created.

In the 2001 UK census the population of Aylesbury Vale was 165,748, representing an increase since 1991 of 18,600 people. About half of those live in the county town Aylesbury.

Governance

Today the area is a local government district of northern Buckinghamshire, administered by Aylesbury Vale District Council. This district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the boroughs of Aylesbury and Buckingham, Aylesbury Rural District, Buckingham Rural District, Wing Rural District and part of Winslow Rural District. The district offices are based in Aylesbury. The district council's logo includes the historical figure of John Hampden

Aylesbury

Coordinates: 51°49′00″N 0°48′45″W / 51.8168°N 0.8124°W / 51.8168; -0.8124

Aylesbury /ˈeɪəlzbri/ is the county town of Buckinghamshire, England. In 2011, it had a population of 58,740.

History

The town name is of Old English origin. Its first recorded name Æglesburgh is thought to mean "Fort of Ægel", though who Ægel was is not recorded. Since earliest records there have been 57 variations of the name.

Excavations in the town centre in 1985 found an Iron Age hill fort dating from the early 4th century BC. Aylesbury was one of the strongholds of the ancient Britons, from whom it was taken in the year 571 by Cutwulph, brother of Ceawlin, King of the West Saxons; and had a fortress or castle "of some importance, from which circumstance probably it derives its Saxon appellation".

Aylesbury was a major market town in Anglo-Saxon times, the burial place of Saint Osyth, whose shrine attracted pilgrims. The Early English parish church of St. Mary (which has many later additions) has a crypt beneath. Once thought to be Anglo-Saxon, it is now recognised as being of the same period as the medieval chapel above. At the Norman conquest, the king took the manor of Aylesbury for himself, and it is listed as a royal manor in the Domesday Book, 1086. Some lands here were granted by William the Conqueror to citizens upon the extraordinary tenure that the owners should provide straw for the monarch's bed, sweet herbs for his chamber and two green geese and three eels for his table, whenever he should visit Aylesbury.

HM Prison Aylesbury

HM Prison Aylesbury (full title Her Majesty's Young Offender Institution (HMYOI) Aylesbury) is a Young Offender Institution situated in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England. The prison is located on the north side of the town centre, on Bierton Road. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.

History

There has been a prison or gaol of some description in Aylesbury since 1810. The current prison is of early Victorian design and has been on its present site since 1847 following extensive public building in the area that also included the workhouse (now the Tindal Centre). Since construction, it has gone through a variety of changes, starting as a county gaol, then became an adult women's prison in 1890, changing to a girls' borstal in the 1930s, and between 1959-1961 was an adult male prison, after which it became a male YOI, and since 1989 has held only male long term prisoners.

In 1998 Aylesbury Prison was criticised after an inspection report highlighted its poor health regime (the jail saw the rapid turnover of five senior medical officers in two years). The report opened up a wider debate about the pay of medical staff in UK prisons compared to those in the NHS.

Aylesbury Hundred

Coordinates: 51°49′00″N 0°48′45″W / 51.8168°N 0.8124°W / 51.8168; -0.8124

Aylesbury Hundred was a hundred in the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire, England. It was situated in the centre of the county and was bounded on the east by Hertfordshire and on the west by Oxfordshire.

History

Until at least the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086 there were 18 hundreds in Buckinghamshire. It has been suggested however that neighbouring hundreds had already become more closely associated in the 11th century so that by the end of the 14th century the original or ancient hundreds had been consolidated into 8 larger hundreds. Aylesbury became the name of the hundred formed from the combined 11th century hundreds of Aylesbury, Risborough and Stone although these original names still persisted in official records until at least the early part of the 17th century. The court leet for Aylesbury hundred was located at Aylesbury.

Parishes and hamlets

Aylesbury hundred comprised the following ancient parishes and hamlets, (formerly medieval vills), allocated to their respective 13th century hundred: