Aylesbury

Market town and administrative headquarters of Buckinghamshire, England, 60 km/37 mi northwest of London; population (2001) 69,000. It is the centre of the fertile Vale of Aylesbury and lies to the north of the Chiltern Hills. Industries include printing, publishing, food production, and light engineering, though the public sector is the largest employer.

The first sign of any significant population in Aylesbury was during the Bronze Age. Excavations have revealed many artefacts and traces of a hill-fort from the Iron Age. The Romans came to Aylesbury in 55 BC and the remains of their villas have been found nearby. Aylesbury was captured from the Britons by the Saxons in 571. During the English Civil War, a battle was fought near here in 1642. The town has had a market since the 13th century.

The parish church of St Mary is Early English style (late 12th-early 13th century); its font is Norman. The lead spire was added to the tower around 1670, and the whole church was drastically restored in 1850. Buckinghamshire County Museum, some of whose buildings date from the 15th century, is located in Aylesbury. Exhibitions include the Buckinghamshire Art Gallery and the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery. Roald Dahl invented his children's stories in the Aylesbury area.

Aylesbury gives its name to a breed of large white domestic duck.