family history research - focus on buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire is situated to the northwest of London and stretches from Newport Pagnell in the north to High Wycombe and Beaconsfield in the south. Part of the south of the county consisting of Slough and the surrounding area was transferred to Berkshire in the 1974 reorganisation. Today Buckinghamshire county council administer almost all the old county, apart from Milton Keynes which has its own unitary authority.

The original county town was Buckingham but back in the sixteenth century Henry VIII changed it to Aylesbury (allegedly to curry favour with Anne Boleyn's father!) and the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies has its home there at County Hall. The county has always been largely rural and your Buckinghamshire ancestors are likely to be connected to the land in some way, as agricultural workers or in rural industries such as lace making for which Buckinghamshire was once famous. Later many workers went to London to find alternative work, particularly with the advent of the railways.

The map below shows Buckinghamshire in about 1855. Click on the map for a larger version.

Buckinghamshire map


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