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The village is a mile from Uxbridge yet remains unspoiled with the Colne Valley Regional Park nearby. Thanks to Pamela Reed and Stuart Pomeroy for help with the captions. The photographs were taken in March-May 2009.

48 photos

Dunstable grew as a market town from the 12th century. Its origins lie at the crossroads of the Roman Watling Street with the prehistoric Icknield Way. Nowadays it is bounded by the M1, the Chiltern hills, Milton Keynes and the approaches to London.

11 photos

Eaton Bray and Ivinghoe Aston lie a few miles west of Dunstable at the foot of the Chiltern escarpment. Originally agricultural communities, the villages are now predominantly residential. John Fitzgerald took the photographs in 2007.

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These photographs link together the three villages of Edlesborough, Dagnall and Northall which were placed into a co-ordinated parish named EDaN in 2008. Each village has a sign made by a local company to reflect the common and specific history of the area. The story of their conception and manufacture is told here.

Edlesborough means ‘Eadwulf’s beorg’, ‘hill or barrow of a man called Eadwulf’. The village, now predominantly residential, is a few miles west of Dunstable. The photographs were taken by John Fitzgerald in 2007, Quiller Barrett in 2012 and John Hockey, mostly in 2021.

Dagnall derives from the Old English Dagganheale, meaning ‘nook of land belonging to a man called Dagga’. The photographs were taken by John Hockey, mostly in 2021.

Northall means ‘nook of land in the north. The hamlet lies north of Edlesborough on the way to Leighton Buzzard. The photographs were taken by John Hockey, mostly in 2021.

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The village lies at the foot of the Chilterns near Wendover and the Prime Minister’s country home, Chequers. Most of the photographs were taken in 2010.

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Ewelme has some splendid 15th century buildings and artefacts tucked away in a Chiltern valley next to RAF Benson airfield, near Wallingford, Oxon. Geoffrey Chaucer and Henry VIII were early visitors. The photographs were taken in July 2007.

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The village lies north of Skirmett in the Hambleden valley. The photographs were taken in 2005 unless otherwise captioned.  

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Rural Flamstead lies 150 metres above sea level on a hilly plateau close to Junction 9 of the M1 and the A5, once the Roman Watling Street. The photographs were taken and captioned by John Hockey in January 2012.

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The village is southwest of West Wycombe. PhotoGroup members took these photographs, mostly in the summer of 2005.

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The Gaddesdens lie close to the Ashridge estate, north of Berkhamsted. Both villages have interesting historical features which were photographed in 2004-5.

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Gerrards Cross lies in the south Chilterns on the historic main road between London and Oxford, now the A40. Although it is home to Bulstrode Camp, the largest Iron Age hill fort in Buckinghamshire, it is only relatively recently that it has become a settlement of any size. In the medieval period a hamlet grew up where the road crossed the Common, over which no fewer than five parishes had grazing rights – Langley Marish, Chalfont St. Peter, Fulmer, Iver and Upton. The name “Jarrets Cross” appears in 14th century records and was probably a crossroads near the present Bull Hotel next to the entrance to the deer park at Bulstrode. The presence of the great house at Bulstrode attracted visitors to the area. This was good hunting country and in the 19th century the Old Berkeley Hunt moved its kennels here. Genteel residences were built around the Common and the construction of St. James’ church added to the air of gentility; Gerrards Cross became the “Brighton of Bucks”.

By the time the railway arrived in 1906 property developers were already busy laying-out a new “garden village” north of the Common with architect-designed houses in Arts and Crafts style. London was only a 30 minute train ride away and Gerrards Cross became, and remains, an affluent commuter village. In 2006 local residents celebrated the centenary of the railway with an exhibition of plans for many of those Arts and Crafts houses. At that time there was increasing local concern over the loss of large Edwardian houses and their replacement with apartment blocks. The area around the Common was already protected by a Conservation Area and the research carried out by the GX2006 team provided the evidence for South Bucks District Council to designate a new Conservation Area to help preserve the special character of the “new” Gerrards Cross, appropriately called the Gerrards Cross Centenary Conservation Area. You can find out more online about the history of Gerrards Cross from the GX 2006 website www.gx2006.co.uk.

The photographs were taken by John Harrison, Anthony Howlett-Bolton and Tony Hyde between 2008 and 2013. Historical details in the introduction and captions were kindly provided by Marian Miller.

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The large village of Goring-on-Thames lies on the western edge of the Chiltern Hills. The photographs were taken in September 2009.

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Great Kingshill is a parish in the Hughenden Valley (formerly called Hitchendon), just to the north of High Wycombe. The photographs were taken between 2005 and 2010.

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The parish is 10 miles from Aylesbury and includes the historic village with its Augustine Abbey and the Roald Dahl Museum. It's right in the middle of the Chilterns and is surrounded by lovely hills, woods and valleys. The most recent photos were taken in 2015 and 2018.

Click here to see location on a map

28 photos

Halton, near Wendover, is dominated by Alfred Rothschild and the Royal Flying Corps camp (later RAF station) that was first based there in WW1. The photographs were taken in July 2008.