Chilterns at Work

Stretching from Oxfordshire’s Goring in the south to Royston, Hertfordshire, in the north, the Chilterns forms a meandering chalk spine right across four counties: Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. The Chilterns landscape is justly famous, but this beautiful area reflects centuries of people working the land – including the woodland – and exploiting resources in an imaginative way. This same landscape also gives us glimpses of a once much more widespread industrial past.

In Chilterns at Work we explore the rich mixture of work in the area that has developed through the years to the present day. From farming and agriculture, watercress beds, woodland industries and furniture making, milling, wine and beer making, cottage industries and work derived from the Chilterns’ strategic position on transport routes from London to the Midlands, to wartime industries, the chalk, flint and gravel quarries, cement manufacture, brick and tile making, the sarsen industry, modern-day industries based around recreation and leisure, and many others that typify the area. This exploration of the Chilterns provides an interesting, intriguing and sometimes surprising look at professions and industries of the past and the present day. It will appeal to all those with an interest in this corner of south-east England.