Monday, November 14, 2005

Aylesbury Search

For a while at university and after, I conducted a search for the colonial past of the name, "Aylesbury". Famous settlements in 'the new world' often took names from settlements in the old world, where the settlers could take away a piece of home to their new land. For example the Dutch settlers that settled at the mouth of the Hudson river called their new settlement New Amsterdam. A while later after the British became dominant in the area, from general scheming politics, they renamed it New York, a name which you may recognise.
Before my seach, my proposition was this: If settlements in the 'new world' bore the name Aylesbury, it was almost certainly going to refer to the town of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. Firstly because the place is not descriptive of its location, e.g. Springfield, literally a sping in a field, a common American place name, so any towns called Aylesbury must have routes from the place Aylesbury.
Secondly Aylesbury is not a device, commodity, or a brand, or was not, now it is. A brand named after the original town to evoke something about it's nature. Therefore the places named Aylesbury cannot be named after the brand.
Thirdly, Aylesbury is a merge of Saxon and medieval english. Ayles or egels place, literally. Therefore it is in a unique position in that it is a name transformed by languages only Britain has. egels' place in Scandanavia and Northern Europe would not now have the name Aylesbury.
Therefore my search is on for informantion pertaining to the whereabouts of Aylesburys around the world.
These are some I know about:
Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire.
Aylesbury estate in London.
Aylesbury in Saskwatchen Canada, nr Moose Jaw.
Aylesbury Way,Wellington, New Zealand
Aylesbury, New Zealand, North Island
Aylesbury Ice Cream, made by Parmalat in South Africa.
West and East Aylesbury Road in Timonium, Maryland, USA.
Aylesbury Plantation located 35 miles east of Tallahassee, Florida.
If you have any information pertaining to these places, or objects, live in any of these places or know of any Aylesburys that I have missed, please leave a comment or Email me at aylesburys@gmail.com . We can then build a picture of what Aylesbury around the world looks like.

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