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Buckinghamshire
Art, History & Archaeology Sites & Museums

Home to much of the Chiltern Hills, Buckinghamshire is one of the Home Counties that surround Greater London. Prehistoric inhabitants of this area established the small hillfort at Ivinghoe Beacon, while its subsequent Romano-British residents left behind the villa at Bancroft. Several burial mounds were erected in the county, used in the Roman era at Thornborough and in the early medieval period at Taplow. When it comes to heritage, however, Buckinghamshire is probably best-known for its stately homes, being the location of Cliveden, Stowe House, Waddesdon Manor, Claydon House, and Hughendon Manor. One of these elite homes, the late 19th-century Bletchley Park, later played a crucial role during the Second World War as the base for a much-celebrated team of code-breakers.

Archaeology & History Sites in Buckinghamshire

Cliveden

The grand Italianate manor at Cliveden was built in the mid-19th century for the Duke of Sutherland. The prominent architect Charles Barry designed the present building, which replaced an earlier 17th century house that had burned down. Much of the interior design and decoration is late 19th century. Situated on a ridge along the Chiltern Hills, the building offers impressive views over the River Thames. This National Trust-owned building is now a luxury hotel, although guided tours take place several times a week.

© Hans A. Rosbach / Wikimedia

Hughendon Manor, Benjamin Disraeli's Home

A Victorian redbrick manor house, Disraeli’s country residence is set in the Chilterns of Buckinghamshire. Now run by the National Trust, the rooms and displays off an insight into the flamboyant and colourful personality of Victoria’s favourite Prime Minster. The house is decorated as it might have been at the time it was occupied by Disraeli and contains a collection of memorabilia including family portraits, Disraeli’s furnishings, a library with Disraeli’s novels and one written and signed by Queen Victoria. Also open are rooms in the west wing that housed the Hillside operation. In these exhibits reveal the story of the top secret map-making facility that operated here in WWII.

Waddesdon Manor

One of Buckinghamshire’s grand country estates, Waddesdon Manor dates from the 1870s and 1880s. Designed in the Neo-Renaissance style by the architect Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur, it deliberately resembles the French chateaux of the Loire valley. The prominent banker Ferdinand de Rothschild commissioned it to serve as a weekend residence where he could entertain and store his large collection of artworks, many of which are still on display. It remained a home to the Rothschild family until the 1950s.

Museums & Art Galleries in Buckinghamshire

Amersham Museum

A local museum with a large collection of objects that relate to the history of the area, that ranges from palaeontological fossils to the not so distant past of Amersham. There are archaeological displays of Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age objects, as well as various artefacts from the Roman period. The museum occupies an original Tudor hall house – a half timbered house built in the 15th century. The museum has just re-opened to the public after substantial renovation.

Chiltern Open Air Museum

The Chiltern Open Air Museum was launched in 1976 and since that time the organisation has rescued a varied range of historic buildings. It presently has over thirty buildings in its collection, including a medieval barn, a Victorian tin chapel, and a 1940s prefabricated house. The site also has a reconstructed Iron Age roundhouse. A working farm exists on the site, run according to traditional methods of agriculture and centering around the preserved historic farm buildings.