Aylesbury is a market town and is the county town of Buckinghamshire. It’s the location of the first Paralympic Games, known at the time as the World Wheelchair and Amputee Games which took place in 1948 at the nearby Stoke Mandeville hospital. It’s also famous for the Aylesbury duck, but sadly we didn’t see any on our visit! We hadn’t visited Aylesbury before, and found it to be a very pretty town with plenty of beautiful old buildings. The Waterstones is located in a modern shopping centre.
David Bowie
David Bowie debuted his character Ziggy Stardust in Friars – a music venue in the town – in 1972. This statue, Earthly Messenger is the work of Andrew Sinclair and was unveiled in 2018 – it shows Bowie as Ziggy and as he was in 2002 as well as other smaller images of him. Apparently, it plays music hourly, although we didn’t know this or we might have stayed around to listen.
The Kings Head
The Kings Head public house was originally a private house built in 1455. It became a coaching inn in 1620, and apparently at one stage it even housed a post office! It has been owned by the National Trust since 1925. We had lunch here and it was delicious.
I Am
The two sculptures below by Colin Spofforth are inspired by the town’s links to the Paralympics. There are three in total – these are I Am Free (standing) and I Am Me (crouching).
Below. Top row – Bucks & Oxon Union Bank (founded in 1853 and taken over by Lloyds Bank in 1902). Bottom row – Church Street, Aylesbury Crown Court, Aylesbury Clock Tower, Market Square, the Clock Tower.
Janet's Adventures in Waterstones 