Buckinghamshire’s unique mixture
Buckinghamshire and Britain have received newcomers for centuries. Prehistoric
settlers, Romans, Saxons, Vikings, Normans, and more recently large numbers
of immigrants from Africa, the Caribbean, South-East Asia and the Far East and
many other places. See this article on the BBC History website for information
about early settlers: www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/prehistory/peoples_01.shtml.
Palaeolithic and Mesolithic
Ultimately, all human life started in Africa, so all people living in Buckinghamshire
have the same ancestry. In the earliest periods of human history, the Palaeolithic
(from 2-3 million years ago in Africa, though the earliest sign of human
occupation in Britain is from c.700,000 years ago in Suffolk), Britain was joined to
the continent by a land bridge, connecting Kent and East Anglia to Belgium,
Northern France and Holland. This land bridge was exposed when sea levels
were low during the Ice Ages. When the land bridge was exposed, people could
walk to Britain. When the ice melted, the sea flooded the land bridge. This
happened in cycles for thousands of years. The last time the land bridge was
flooded was 6000 BC.
Neolithic
In the past archaeologists used to think that when things like pots changed in
style, this meant that a new group of people had invaded and brought the new
style of pots with them. We now think that most of the time this happened, it was
just changing fashion within the country, or the transmission of ideas, but not
necessarily people, from abroad. However, Britain would have been an attractive
island with a good climate for growing food, plenty of rainfall most of the time and
good resources such as tin from Cornwall and copper from Wales.
It is possible that there was some foreign settlement at the start of the Neolithic
period (c.4000 BC), as this was when farming was introduced to the islands.
However, it seems as though the British only decided to use what they wanted
from the new technology, and did a lot more livestock farming than growing
crops. This suggests that the British learnt of the new technology by contact with
the continent, but that there was no huge influx of people from abroad bringing
the technology with them. Another time when there may have been some
incomers from abroad is at the end of the Neolithic (c.2300 BC).
Buckinghamshire’s unique mixture
Bronze Age
Though it is unfashionable now, there was an idea that there was a group of
people called the ‘Beaker Folk’ who brought new types of pots and other
artefacts and the first metal tools. More recent theories are that these artefacts
may have originally come from abroad, through trading activities perhaps, and
became fashionable in Britain as well. However, a burial found near Stonehenge
was analysed for the mineral content contained in the bones. This showed that
the person, who is known as the Amesbury Archer (after all the archery gear
found in the grave), grew up in Switzerland. This new technique of analysing
bones could show that there was much more travel in prehistory than
archaeologists have thought. Beaker pottery has been found at excavations of
barrows at Lodge Hill, Saunderton, Bledlow Cop and in Dorney. None of the
bones of the accompanying burials have yet been analysed to see where the
deceased grew up.
Iron Age
Many people in the past have suggested that ‘Celts’ spread from Eastern
Europe, where the Greek scholar Herodotus described them in the 8 th century
BC, through Western Europe and even to Britain in the Iron Age. There is no
evidence that Celts were ever in Britain. By the time of Julius Caesar in the first
century BC, people in central Gaul (France) called themselves Celts but no one
in Britain did. Caesar does mention people in southeast England, mainly what is
now Kent, called themselves Belgae i.e. from the area that is now Belgium. It is
possible either that a large number of Belgae did settle in south-east England at
the end of the Iron Age or that there had always been such close links between
the two tribes on either side of the channel that they ended up identifying
themselves as the same tribe. Many items in the Unlocking Buckinghamshire’s
Past database are still described as Celtic or Belgic, though both descriptions are
now called into question.
Figure 1: Reconstruction of the Iron Age hillfort at Ivinghoe Beacon
Buckinghamshire’s unique mixture
Romans
An urn that had been used to hold the ashes and burnt bones of someone who
died in the Roman period was found in the Thames at Taplow. There was an
inscription in Greek on the pot, suggesting he had originally come to Britain from
there or had Greek family. The inscription, incidentally, also said that he was a
mule doctor! The Roman Empire was very large and extended around the
Mediterranean and into northern and eastern Europe. This meant that people
from places as far away as the Near East, North Africa and what are now
countries like Hungary and Bulgaria came to Britain, either in the auxiliary units of
the Roman army or as merchants and other travellers. An auxiliary unit from
Morocco was stationed at Hadrian’s Wall and a Libyan Roman Emperor,
Septimus Severus, ruled from and died in York. See
www.bbc.co.uk/tyne/roots/2003/10/blackhistoryromans.shtml.
Figure 2: Reconstruction of Roman villa at Yewden, Hambleden
Saxons
After the last Roman legion left Britain in AD 410, the country was left open to
attack by invaders from the continent. People known as Angles, Saxons and
Jutes from what is now Denmark and Germany established settlements, at first in
the east of England, and then further inland. There has been recent evidence to
suggest that there was a lot of inter-marrying between the native Britons and the
newcomers. It used to be thought that the Anglo-Saxons (as the mixture of
settlers has come to be known) pushed the previous inhabitants of Britain to the
western and northern fringes of the British Isles, to Cornwall, Wales, Scotland
and Ireland and did not mix with them at all, but this seems to be an oversimplification of the evidence. There are a great deal of Saxon remains in
Buckinghamshire. An important burial of a local ‘prince’ or chief was excavated at
Buckinghamshire’s unique mixture
Taplow in the nineteenth century. The burial, which contained such grave goods
as a lyre, shields, spears, glass cups, drinking horns, a jewelled buckle and a
garment made with gold thread, was later covered by a barrow, a round mound
of earth.
Figure 3: Reconstruction of Saxon settlement at Walton, Aylesbury
Vikings
Vikings attacked Britain in the later Saxon period, from the eighth and ninth
centuries. They came from Norway or Denmark and at first raided coastal
settlements before starting to settle here. In the end the Vikings ruled a large
swathe of England from East Anglia to Cheshire, Lancashire and Yorkshire. It
was known as the Danelaw as Danish law ruled in this area, and the inhabitants
had to pay tribute to the Danes. Buckinghamshire was on the edge of the
Danelaw. In 914 King Edward the Elder, a Saxon king, built two fortified towns
called burhs on either side of the River Great Ouse at what is now Buckingham
to defend remaining English land against Viking attacks. Viking artefacts have
been found in Buckinghamshire, such as the spearheads at the Stone Bridge on
Bicester Road outside Aylesbury, and near the burh at Buckingham, possibly
suggesting loss in battle or Viking burials in these areas. Viking weapons were
also found near Sashes Island off Hedsor in the Thames. The Vikings used the
Thames to make attacks on Saxon settlements. Later in the ninth century the
Danelaw was incorporated into the new Kingdom of England. A Viking style pin
was found in Hambleden parish and a similarly styled mount in Fingest. This may
suggest trade and contact between Vikings and Saxons, or English as they were
increasingly being known, as well as fighting. The Vikings attacked again in the
eleventh century and Cnut became the King of England from 1016 to 1035 as
well as of Denmark and Norway. There was a mint (a place where coins are
Buckinghamshire’s unique mixture
made) in Aylesbury during Cnut’s reign, and a coin of King Cnut was found in
Bierton.
Normans
In 1066 Duke William of Normandy, who had been named heir to Edward the
Confessor, one of the English kings, conquered England. The Normans were
actually descended from Vikings from Norway. The name Norman is a corruption
of Norsemen. They had been given this part of north France in the tenth century
to stop them raiding further inland. After the invasion of England most manors
and lordships were taken from English and given to Normans but the majority of
the population were still English. William the Conqueror ordered that all the land
and people who paid tax were recorded so that he knew what he was due. This
book was called Domesday because it was thought to bring everyone to account,
similar to what would happen at the end of the world as described in the Bible.
Most of the Buckinghamshire villages are described in Domesday. The Normans
built many castles to make sure that England was theirs. The early castles were
made of wood and built on top of mounds of earth called mottes, such as the one
in the Manor House grounds, Weston Turville. Outbuildings were outside the
motte but often surrounded by a bank of earth, possibly topped with a wooden
palisade. This secondary area was called a bailey. There are several motte and
bailey castles left in Buckinghamshire, though the wooden castles themselves
have rotted away. Many of them were built later in the twelfth century, however,
when there were battles for the crown of England.
Figure 4: Aerial photograph of Bolebec Castle, Whitchurch
An article on the First Black Britons on the BBC History website:
www.bbc.co.uk/history/society_culture/multicultural/black_britons_01.shtml
Buckinghamshire’s unique mixture
mentions that there were black people in Britain from the twelfth century, but we
know there was already diversity in the Roman period. Britain was not cut off
from the rest of the world in the medieval period and there would be visitors, for
instance, to the royal court from foreign ambassadors. There are records of visits
by ambassadors of European countries, from the Ottoman Empire, what is now
Turkey, and from further afield. England sent ambassadors back. Medieval
monarchs travelled around a lot and stayed in various Buckinghamshire
properties. It is likely they brought some of these foreign ambassadors with them.
Stuarts
Oliver Cromwell allowed Jews back into Britain in the 1655. There had been a
proclamation of 1290 to banish all Jews from England. This was because they no
longer had royal protection as the monarch had found other ways to raise money
other than borrowing from Jewish bankers. As royal protection vanished, Jews
were attacked and blamed for many problems within the country. Cromwell
wanted to readmit Jews to the country as he felt it would benefit Britain. Though
no doubt there were Jews living in Buckinghamshire in the medieval period and
since the seventeenth century, nothing archaeological has been found that can
be definitely identified as Jewish. The Museum of London Archaeology Service
(MoLAS) recently excavated two medieval Jewish ritual baths called mikveh in
London. One was at Gresham Street and the other at Milk Street. You can find
out more details by looking at the MoLAS website www.molas.org.uk and going
to the projects section. From the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
Buckinghamshire has been home to some very prominent Jewish families,
including the Rothschilds of Waddesdon manor (See www.rothschild.info/history
and www.rothschildarchive.org for more information)
Figure 5: Waddesdon Manor, one of the Rothschild houses
Buckinghamshire’s unique mixture
We also know that a man called Edward Boswell who was described as the King
of the Gypsies was executed 1641 in Aylesbury and was buried at a crossroads
outside Quainton. People were afraid of gypsies and vagabonds in the
seventeenth century. It was actually against the law to wander from place to
place. If people were travelling they had to prove they had a destination. It was
thought that if gypsies and vagabonds could flout the law by moving about all the
time, in what other ways could they be willing to break the law? Also, the parish
had to pay to look after the poor and nobody wanted to pay for those who had
travelled from somewhere else.
Post-medieval period
Slavery was more common from the seventeenth century onwards until it was
abolished in the early nineteenth century. Some of the rich landowners in
Buckinghamshire probably owned African slaves both on plantations in the
Caribbean and also working here in Buckinghamshire. There would also be free
Africans in Britain, and possibly in Buckinghamshire, too. It is thought there were
between 10,000 and 15,000 black people, both free and servants, living in
London in the seventeenth century. More details about Black and Asian presence
in Britain from the Romans to the Victorian period can be found on the National
Archives website www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/blackhistory. After the
abolition of slavery altogether in 1833, some Indians became indentured
servants, a form of temporary and “voluntary” slavery, in Britain and British
Colonies. In reality it was the poor and those who had committed crimes who had
no choice but to become indentured servants.
World Wars
During the two World Wars in the twentieth century many people from around the
British Empire and Commonwealth fought in the British army, navy and RAF.
Men from South Africa, Australia, Canada and New Zealand were stationed at
the many airfields in Buckinghamshire during the Second World War. There were
quite a few New Zealanders at Oakley airfield and one of the local girls fell for a
Maori. When the USA joined the war in 1942, several of the RAF airfields were
turned over to the USAAF, such as Cheddington and Booker near High
Wycombe. There is more about the range of people who came to
Buckinghamshire during the Second World War in the Buckinghamshire in the
Wars package on the Unlocking Buckinghamshire’s Past website.
Buckinghamshire’s unique mixture
After the Second World War, some Italians and Germans who had been in
prisoner-of-war camps in Buckinghamshire decided to stay. Czechoslovaks and
Poles also stayed. There had been platoons of soldiers and members of the
government of Czechoslovakia, for instance, at The Abbey, Aston Abbots, during
the Second World War.
Since the Second World War
In the decades after the Second World War many people came to Britain from
the Caribbean, Africa and Southeast Asia to work. Buckinghamshire has the
largest St Vincentian population outside St Vincent itself, an island in the
Caribbean. Many people travelled from the Mirpor and Kashmir regions of
Pakistan to settle in Buckinghamshire as well. Part of the BBC History website is
devoted to Multicultural Britain
www.bbc.co.uk/history/society_culture/multicultural/. The Moving Here website
charts the experiences of people settling in Britain: www.movinghere.org.uk.
There is also an animation showing changing populations of Britain over time on
the BBC website at
www.bbc.co.uk/history/society_culture/society/launch_ani_population.shtml.
A final activity could be to throw a party:
Your teacher will split the class into small groups or pairs and each group
should research a meal, game, song or dance from one or more of the
countries or cultures mentioned above and recreate it for a party.
There are resources you can borrow from the Minority Ethnic and Traveller
Achievement Service (METAS) to support this activity. See the METAS web
pages for resources that can be borrowed or hired:
http://www.bucksgfl.org.uk/resources/mod/resource/view.php?id=1425
www.buckscc.gov.uk/archaeology