Architecture of Aylesbury - 19th Century

19th Century

The 19th century saw a period of unprecedented expansion to the town brought about by improved methods of transport allowing increased industry: in 1814 the Grand Union Canal reached the town which then had a population of 3,450. When the London and Birmingham Railway arrived in 1839, the population was 5,000. The second railway, the Great Western in 1863, served a population of 6,170. By this time, the town had the first of its large national employers the printers Hazell, Watson and Viney. By the end of the century, Aylesbury had a population of 10,000, all of whom had to be housed, many in the solid 19th-century houses which grew up on the roads approaching the town - Tring Road, Bierton Road and Wendover Road. Many of these large Gothic villas still stand today.

Two of Aylesbury's earliest notable 19th century buildings were at the time of their erection built for social reasons in open countryside, opposite each other, on the road to Bierton immediately adjacent to the town. These were the Union Workhouse in 1844, and the County Gaol in 1845.

Pevsner dismisses Aylesbury Workhouse as "Red brick, gabled, dull". Workhouses were frequently designed to be as austere and forbidding as possible in order to deter the undeserving. However, Aylesbury's workhouse was built of a mellow redbrick, designed by the architects Strethill Oakes Foden and Henry W. Parker to resemble an inviting Tudor manor house with large bay windows and tall decorative chimneys. The large gatehouse, reminiscent of an Elizabethan or Jacobean manor, was designed to provide the barest legal accommodation for passing vagrants, on whom the town did not wish to spend its money. These unfortunates were allowed one night's refuge before being sent outside of the town's confines. The building still stands, and houses the Tindal Centre, a hospital for people experiencing mental illness.

If the Workhouse was designed to be inviting and warm, the County Gaol most definitely was not. Designed by a Major J Jebb in 1845 the layout of the original design was to serve one of the Victorian eras most controversial methods of penal reform. Prisoners were kept in complete solitary confinement, and silence, for the duration of their sentences. 250 men were kept in individual cells in which they ate, slept and washed alone and in silence. They left their cells only to worship. The prison chapel (described by Pevsner as "elegantly built" had 247 seats designed that while the convicts could see the priest, they could not see each other.

The architecture externally of the Gaol could be described as typical 19th century prison architecture, the principal facade facing onto the Bierton Road, the only part of the prison visible to the public has classical pretensions. Built of red brick with dressed stone quoining the focal point is the large central bay containing the arched entrance. The bay has an entablature but no pediments. The frieze bears the date 1845 in Roman numerals. The central bay is flanked by two short wings containing administrative offices leading to two large cubed blocks which were the residences of the governor and his deputy. An unexplainable architectural mystery here is that the short flanking wings are dwarfed by massive chimneys containing far more chimney pots than the rooms within could possibly require. Behind this severe public face of the prison, all attempts at attractive architecture ceased. Tall red brick cell blocks several stories high under a slate roof surrounded the central courtyard. The architecture was utilitarian in the extreme. The building still stands, the main facade largely unchanged. It remains a prison.

The Old Aylesbury Bank was founded in 1795 by a local entrepreneur William Rickford and was for many years the only banking establishment in the town. The quality of the bank's architecture is a good barometer of the wealth that came from being the sole financial depository within a large rural area. The building dates from 1853. It seems that the highly fashionable Gothic revival had not yet reached Aylesbury, as the owners of the bank selected an Italianate classical style. The ground floor is rusticated but the blocks of ashlar are imitation, as is the quoining on the floors above. The upper floor, which would have been the banks administrative offices, suggests a piano nobile, with tall sash windows crowned by segmental pediments. The Bank standing on the junction of Market Square and Kingsbury Square has a canted facade in order to suit the triangular junction cause by the meeting of the two squares and a common street. The building in style is very reminiscent of those buildings of Thomas Cubitt and Edward Blore in London at this period. The possibility of a notable architect is likely as in nearby Leighton Buzzard the great Gothic revival architect Alfred Waterhouse was commissioned to design an equally small provincial bank (the Basset Bank) in the town's High Street and there was great rivalry between the small rural banks. The appearance of the Bank itself was seen not only as a sign of prestige, but also financial security, both evaluated by small local businessmen and farmers when entrusting their money.

From the beginning of the 19th century, most towns in England had a building known as the corn exchange. Here farmers and grain merchants bartered for, and fixed the price of grain. In a rural community, where the greatest percentage of the community was directly involved with agriculture, this was a very important building, as here was decided the economy of the district. Often other agricultural commodities such as wool, were traded here. The corn exchange was often a grand imposing building which doubled as a venue for public entertainments, such as concerts and plays. The corn exchange in Aylesbury is less grand than some of its contemporaries: at nearby Leighton Buzzard the corn exchange was an Italianate palace. The building was erected by a consortium of local business men known as the Aylesbury Market Company, with capita of £18,000. They purchased and demolished the White Hart Inn replacing it with a new cattle market and the Corn Exchange. The site adjoined the County Hall which conveniently reflected its intended importance in the community. Designed by D Brandom in 1865, the Corn Exchange takes the form of a red brick triple triumphal arch leading to further council offices. Above the arches the reception rooms have large mullioned and transomed windows. This Jacobethan building sits incongruously in the corner of the Market Square next to the classical county hall and opposite a bow fronted regency public house with an ornate entablature. However, this siting of opposing styles of architecture, and constant change is the essence of character of an English market town. The agricultural depression which occurred from the 1870s resulted in a steep decline in the value of grain, the corn exchange never realised the profits its builders intended and in 1901 it was eventually sold to the Urban District Council as a town hall. The Corn Exchange today houses council conference rooms and a youth coffee bar.

Market Square is the historic trading centre of the town, and indeed markets are still held here weekly today. The site at the centre of the square was formerly occupied by the market house which served on the ground level as an open covered market. Stall holders would pay extra to have their market stall here, above it would have been a town meeting room, where the stallholders' fees were collected and kept. Often these upper chambers also served as a form of town hall, a similar market house is at the nearby town of Amersham. The Market House was demolished in 1866: by this time markets while still a popular occurrence had been replaced in importance by regular and permanent shops. Ten years later on the site was built the clocktower, constructed of local stone, in the Gothic revival style, designed by the local architect D Brandon, also responsible for the Corn Exchange and many other public buildings in the town. The clocktower complete with spire sits on a slightly raised dais from the rest of the square and has been used as a platform from which important speeches have been made in the past. The horse troughs that had been placed adjacent to the clocktower when it was constructed have since been removed.