BUCKINGHAM-SHIRE (supposed to derive its name from the Saxon word Buc, denoting a hart or buck),
an inland county of England. During the time prior to the landing of the Romans it was included in the division of Catuechlan; and after their conquest it was included in their third province of Flavia Caesariensis. During the heptarchy it belonged to the kingdom of Mercia, which commenced in 582, and terminated in 827, having had 18 kings; and it is now included in the Norfolk circuit, the diocese of Lincoln, and the province of Canterbury. It is bounded on the north by Northamptonshire; south by Berkshire; east by Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, and Middlesex; and west by Oxfordshire. It is of an oblong form, whose greatest extent is from north to south. It contains 441,000 acres, has above 111,400 inhabitants, 185 parishes, 73 vicarages, is 39 miles long, 18 broad, and 109 in circumference. It has 15 market towns, viz. Buckingham and Aylesbury the county towns, Marlow, Newport Pagnel, Winflow, Wendover, Beaconsfield, Wiccomb, Cheffam, Amerham, Stony Stratford, Colnbrook, Ivingho, Oulney, Risborough; besides the considerable villages of Eaton and Fenny Stratford, and 613 others inferior. It is divided into eight hundreds, provides 560 men for the militia, sends 14 parliament-men, and pays 12 parts of the land-tax. Its rivers are the Thames, Ouse, Coln, Wicham, Amerham, Isa, Tame, and Loddon. Its chief produce is bone-lace, paper, corn, fine wool, and breeding rams. The most noted places are the Chiltern Hills, Vale of Aylesbury, Bernwood-Forest, Wooburn-Heath, and 15 parks. The air is generally good, and the soil mostly chalk or marle.