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Aylesbury, the County Town of Buckinghamshire, is a bustling market town which is confidently moving forward into the 21st century. Its origins, however, are of great antiquity. The name ‘Aylesbury’ is thought to be a derivative of ‘Aigle’s Burgh’ meaning hill town or fort. Excavations in 1985 on a site adjacent to Nelsons Terrace and Oxford Road in Aylesbury old town found the remains of an Iron Age hillfort dating back to 650 BC.

The Romans built Akeman Street, which runs through Aylesbury Vale as the A41. It was part of their great road network in Britain, created initially for moving troops and equipment rapidly from one base to another. It ran for 78 miles from Verulamium (St Albans) to Corinium (Cirencester). Later this military convenience served to facilitate the rapid growth of Romano-British trade and commerce. The Romans left Saxon mercenaries guarding Akeman Street, and the remains of a Roman-British settlement from the 1st/2nd Century were found in 1979 in Buckingham Street, where Sainsbury’s store now stands.

In 571 Cuthwulf and his army of Anglo-Saxons drove the resident Celtic Britons out of the area. Later the Danes came, ousted the Anglo-Saxons and settled in their place, but they in turn were overrun in the 10th century by Edward the Confessor’s troops. About 90 years of instability then followed and the area was not pacified until after the Norman conquest of 1066.

Aylesbury was given it’s charter and borough status in 1554 by a grateful Mary Tudor, in appreciation of the town’s loyalty in declaring her Queen of England against the competing claims of Lady Jane Grey.

During the English Civil War Aylesbury at times took centre-stage. At the Battle of Holman’s Bridge in 1642 the defence of Aylesbury was led by John Hampden, cousin to Oliver Cromwell. As an MP John had opposed Charles I on the Ship Money issue, refusing to pay the tax which was being levied to underwrite an expansion of the Royal Navy. A bronze statue at the top of Market Square commemorates his contribution to the Parliamentary cause. Another radical MP for Aylesbury was John Wilkes, who, spent time in the Tower of London during the 18th century, accused of seditious libel

In the early 18th century Aylesbury gradually assumed the role of County Town from Buckingham. Buckingham is a long way from the south of the county and Aylesbury slowly replaced it as the centre of administration. The Summer Assizes and the law courts moved here in 1707 and this took much trade away from Buckingham. In 1725 a terrible fire in Buckingham destroyed much of the town centre and made more than 500 people homeless. This confirmed Aylesbury as the centre of government for the County and thus began a period of constructing numerous civic buildings.

During the 19th century Aylesbury developed links with transport networks connecting with other parts of the country. The Aylesbury Branch of the Grand Union Canal was opened in 1814 and is thought to have been used as a staging post in the transportation of slaves, before slavery was abolished. In 1839 Aylesbury was the first place in the world to have its own railway branch line. The Great Western Railway built a branch line from Princes Risborough in 1863 and The Metropolitan Railway arrived in 1892. A connection to Buckingham was completed in 1868 and in 1899 Aylesbury was finally on a main line from London to Manchester, when the Great Central Railway arrived.

The town grew very slowly from mediaeval times until the beginning of the 19th century when the population of Britain started to increase generally. The 1811 census showed that the population of Aylesbury was 3,447; the 1841 census recorded 5,414 residents and in 1901, 9,243. The number of townspeople increased steadily until the 1960s, when Aylesbury was selected as an overspill town for Londoners and a massive expansion in the housing stock took place. At the same time, the centre of Aylesbury was extensively renovated and modernised. By 1995 the population had increased to about 60,000. This has risen to roughly 65,000 in 2008 but is expected to reach 100,000 over the next 20 years.