Aylesbury

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle portrays Aylesbury as being captured from the Britons by one Cuthwulf following the Battle of Bedcanford; the historicity of this event is doubtful, but the portrayal at least indicates that in the early Middle Ages the settlement was thought to be of some strategic importance [1]. During the early medieval period, Aylesbury became a major market town and the burial place of Saint Osgyth, whose shrine attracted pilgrims [1]. The town was a royal manor, with eight attached hundreds in 1086, and some historians have supposed that it was already a royal manor before the Norman conquest [1]. Traditionally, the town was a commercial centre with a market dating back to the Saxon period [1]. This is because it was established on the main Akeman Street which became an established trade route linking London to South West England [1]. Aylesbury lies immediately south-east of the upper River Thame [1].