A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



sold by the ' tipplers ' at the price fixed by the 

 mayor of the borough. The more important 

 breweries, in the modern sense, seem to have 

 been established during the i8th century. At 

 Great Marlow brewing is the most important 

 industry in the town, the chief brewery having 

 been established by the Wethereds in 1758. 

 The same family still carries on the business, 

 which, however, was formed into a company in 

 1899. The brewery now carried on by the 

 Newport Pagnell Brewery Co., Ltd., has also 

 been established for at least a hundred years. 

 There were also breweries at Buckingham, 

 Bletchley, and Aylesbury, but these are now all 

 in the hands of the Aylesbury Brewery Co., 

 Ltd. 



The oldest nursery gardens in Buckinghamshire 

 are the Royal nurseries at Slough, which were 

 founded by Mr. Thomas Brown in 1774.. In 

 1848 they passed into the hands of the late 

 Mr. Charles Turner, and they have remained in 

 his family to the present day. The nurseries 

 have always been noted for ' Florists' Flowers/ 

 the chief kinds grown being carnations, picotees, 

 pinks, roses, auriculas, pelargoniums, dahlias, etc. 



Roses grown at Slough were specially famous, 

 and Dean Hole described Mr. Charles Turner 

 as ' the king of florists.' " At the present day 

 the gardens cover about 150 acres of ground. 

 In the same neighbourhood Messrs. Veitch & 

 Sons, of Chelsea, have opened nurseries at 

 Langley Marish. In 1880, 20 acres of land were 



purchased, and more has been added till the 

 nursery includes about sixty acres in all. The 

 principal culture is that of fruit trees, roses, and 

 herbaceous plants, but flower and vegetable seeds 

 are also grown there. The nursery is particu- 

 larly noted for its pears and apples. There are 

 various nurseries in different parts of the county, 

 which have been developed of late years and have 

 profited by the new lines of railway. Of these, 

 the nursery near Claydon was started about four- 

 teen years ago ' to develop a local trade for small 

 orders for ready money.' 21 Tomatoes, bedding 

 plants, and chrysanthemums are grown in large 

 quantities, and cut flowers are also supplied. 

 Fruit of all kinds is grown, and some twelve 

 years ago a Fruit Growers' Association was 

 formed, so that customers living near could 

 obtain the best variety of fruit trees at wholesale 

 prices. To encourage fruit-growing amongst 

 the tenants of Sir Edmund Verney, bart., on 

 whose estate the Claydon Nurseries are situ- 

 ated, compensation for disturbance is given to 

 the cottagers and others who have purchased 

 fruit trees through the Association and have left 

 their cottages within six years after planting. 

 Various other branches of work have also been 

 undertaken, such as fruit-preserving, bee-keeping, 

 and wood-growing. The Claydon Nurseries 

 Company is co-operative so far as the horticul- 

 tural department is concerned, the profits being 

 annually divided amongst the permanent em- 

 ployees of that branch of the work. 



LACE-MAKING 



Lace-making for a very long period formed 

 the most important industry of Buckinghamshire. 

 There seems some doubt as to its origin in the 

 county, but tradition attributes it to Queen Ka- 

 therine of Aragon, who besides holding several 

 manors in Buckinghamshire as part of her dower, 

 also lived for two years at Ampthill in the neigh- 

 bouring county of Bedford. 1 Thread-lace was 

 made in England as early as 1463^ and bone-lace, 

 the original name for pillow-lace, is mentioned 

 in 1577.* The type of lace made in England at 

 this time was Flemish, and may have been first 

 brought to England by refugees from Flanders. 

 Pennant * speaks ' of the lace-manufacture which 

 we stole from the Flemings,' but Queen Kather- 

 ine may still, in the first instance, have brought 



19 From information kindly given by Mr. Charles 

 Turner, The Royal Nurseries, Slough. 



" Memoirs of Dean Hole (1893), 207. 



" From information kindly given by Mr. J. Milsom, 

 Claydon Nurseries. 



1 L. and P. Hen. Fill, vi, 66 1. 



1 Par!. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 507^. 



' New Engl. Diet, 



4 Journey from Chester to Land. 342. 



the industry to Buckinghamshire. It seems to 

 have been flourishing by the beginning of the 

 I7th century, since in 1611 men 'who continu- 

 allie travelled to sell bone-lace on the Sabbath 

 day ' were presented at an ecclesiastical visitation. 5 

 A time of depression, however, followed, prob- 

 ably owing to the monopolies granted by 

 James I. In High Wycombe and the neigh- 

 bourhood there was a great deal of distress in 

 1623 mainly due to lack of employment, since 

 both the clothing and bone-lace trades were 

 daily becoming more depressed. 6 This depres- 

 sion was, however, merely temporary. Three 

 years later, in the neighbouring town of Great 

 Marlow, Sir Henry Borlase founded a school for 

 twenty-four boys and twenty-four girls, and 

 the latter were to learn to knit, spin, and make 

 bone-lace. The chief centres of the lace indus- 

 try were Newport Pagnell, or Olney, High 

 Wycombe, and Aylesbury. Fuller, in 1660,' 

 specially mentions Olney, but the industry was 

 already widely spread in the county. A few 



6 F. W. Bull, Hist, of Newport Pagnell, 17. 



6 S.P. Dom. Jns. I, cxlii, 44. 



' Worthies of Engl. (NuttalFs ed.), 193. 



106 



