The Chiltern Hills is a

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''esca ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The area, northwest of London, covers stretching from

Goring-on-Thames Goring-on-Thames (or Goring) is a village and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, England, about south of Wallingford and northwest of Reading. It had a population of 3,187 in the 2011 census, put at 3,335 in 2019. Goring ...

in the southwest to Hitchin in the northeast - across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

. The hills are at their widest. In 1965 almost half of the Chiltern Hills was designated as an

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of ...

(AONB). The northwest boundary is clearly defined by the

. The

dip slope A dip slope is a topographic (geomorphic) surface which slopes in the same direction, and often by the same amount, as the true dip or apparent dip of the underlying strata.Jackson, JA, J Mehl and K Neuendorf (2005) ''Glossary of Geology.'' Amer ...

is by definition more gradual, and merges with the landscape to the southeast. The southwest endpoint is the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

. The hills decline slowly in prominence in northeast Bedfordshire.The Changing Landscape of the Chilterns
Chilterns AoNB, Accessed 19 February 2012

Geology

The chalk

of the Chiltern Hills overlooks the

Vale of Aylesbury The Aylesbury Vale (or Vale of Aylesbury) is a geographical region in Buckinghamshire, England, which is bounded by the Borough of Milton Keynes and South Northamptonshire to the north, Central Bedfordshire and the Borough of Dacorum (Hertfordsh ...

and roughly coincides with the southernmost extent of the

ice sheet In glaciology, an ice sheet, also known as a continental glacier, is a mass of glacial ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than . The only current ice sheets are in Antarctica and Greenland; during the Last Glacial Period at La ...

during the Anglian

glacial maximum An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...

. The Chiltern Hills are part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England, formed between 65 and 95 million years ago, comprising rocks of the Chalk Group; this also includes Salisbury Plain, Cranborne Chase, the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

and the

South Downs The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the eas ...

in the south. In the north, the chalk formations continue northeastwards across Hertfordshire, Norfolk and the Lincolnshire Wolds, finally ending as the

Yorkshire Wolds The Yorkshire Wolds are low hills in the counties of the East Riding of Yorkshire and North Yorkshire in north-eastern England. The name also applies to the district in which the hills lie. On the western edge, the Wolds rise to an escarpment wh ...

in a prominent escarpment, south of the Vale of Pickering. The beds of the Chalk Group were deposited over the buried northwestern margin of the Anglo-Brabant Massif during the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', ...

. During this time, sources for siliciclastic sediment had been eliminated due to the exceptionally high sea level. The formation is thinner through the Chiltern Hills than the chalk strata to the north and south and deposition was tectonically controlled, with the Lilley Bottom structure playing a significant role at times.Rawson, P.F. 2006. Cretaceous: sea levels peak as the North Atlantic opens. In: P.J. Brenchley and P.F. Rawson (Eds) The Geology of England and Wales, p.365-393. The Geological Society The Chalk Group, like the underlying Gault Clay and

Upper Greensand Greensand or green sand is a sand or sandstone which has a greenish color. This term is specifically applied to shallow marine sediment that contains noticeable quantities of rounded greenish grains. These grains are called ''glauconies'' and c ...

, is diachronous.Anderson, R., P.H. Bridges, M.R. Leeder and B.W. Sellwood (Eds) 1979. A Dynamic Stratigraphy of the British Isles: A Study in Crustal Evolution. p. 241. George Allen and Unwin, London. During the late stages of the Alpine Orogeny, as the

African Plate The African Plate is a major tectonic plate that includes much of the continent of Africa (except for its easternmost part) and the adjacent oceanic crust to the west and south. It is bounded by the North American Plate and South American Plate ...

collided with

Eurasian Plate The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate that includes most of the continent of Eurasia (a landmass consisting of the traditional continents of Europe and Asia), with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent and ...

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretace ...

extensional structures, such as the

Weald Basin The Weald Basin () is a major topographic feature of the area that is now southern England and northern France from the Triassic to the Late Cretaceous. Its uplift in the Late Cretaceous marked the formation of the Wealden Anticline. The rock str ...

of southern England, underwent structural inversion. This phase of deformation tilted the chalk strata to the southeast in the area of the Chiltern Hills. The gently dipping beds of rock were

eroded Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is disti ...

, forming an escarpment. The chalk strata are frequently interspersed with layers of

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

nodules which apparently replaced chalk and infilled pore spaces early in the

diagenetic Diagenesis () is the process that describes physical and chemical changes in sediments first caused by water-rock interactions, microbial activity, and compaction after their deposition. Increased pressure and temperature only start to play a ...

history. Flint has been mined for millennia from the Chiltern Hills. They were first extracted for fabrication into flint axes in the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

period, then for

knapping Knapping is the shaping of flint, chert, obsidian, or other conchoidal fracturing stone through the process of lithic reduction to manufacture stone tools, strikers for flintlock firearms, or to produce flat-faced stones for building or facing w ...

into

flintlocks Flintlock is a general term for any firearm that uses a flint-striking ignition mechanism, the first of which appeared in Western Europe in the early 16th century. The term may also apply to a particular form of the mechanism itself, also known ...

. Nodules are to be seen everywhere in the older houses as a construction material for walls.

Physical characteristics

Topography

The highest point is at 267 m (876 ft.) above sea level at Haddington Hill near

Wendover Wendover is a market town and civil parish at the foot of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated at the point where the main road across the Chilterns between London and Aylesbury intersects with the once important road a ...

in Buckinghamshire; a stone monument marks the summit. The nearby

Ivinghoe Beacon Ivinghoe Beacon is a prominent hill and landmark in Buckinghamshire, England, 233 m (757 ft) above sea level in the Chiltern Hills, close to Ivinghoe and Aldbury. Dunstable, Berkhamsted and Tring are nearby. The Beacon lies within the ...

is a more prominent hill, although its altitude is only 249 m (817 ft.). It is the starting point of the

Icknield Way Path Icknield is a parliamentary ward, of the Luton district, in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The ward takes its name from the Icknield Way, a pre-Roman road which passes through Luton. Situated towards the northeast of Luton, the ward is ...

and

the Ridgeway The ancient tree-lined path winds over the downs countryside The Ridgeway is a ridgeway or ancient trackway described as Britain's oldest road. The section clearly identified as an ancient trackway extends from Wiltshire along the chalk ...

long-distance path A long-distance trail (or long-distance footpath, track, way, greenway) is a longer recreational trail mainly through rural areas used for hiking, backpacking, cycling, horse riding or cross-country skiing. They exist on all continents exc ...

, which follows the line of the Chiltern Hill for many miles to the west, where they merge with the

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

downs and southern Cotswolds. To the east of Ivinghoe Beacon is Dunstable Downs, a steep section of the Chiltern scarp. Near Wendover is Coombe Hill, 260 m (852 ft.) above sea level. The more gently sloping country – the dip slope – to the southeast of the Chiltern scarp is also generally referred to as part of the Chiltern Hills; it contains much beech

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...

and many villages.

Landscape and land use

Enclosed Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...

fields account for almost 66% of the "

" (AONB) area. The next most important, and archetypal, landscape form is

, covering 21% of the Chiltern Hills, which is thus one of the most heavily wooded areas in England. Built-up areas (settlements and industry) make up over 5% of the land area; parks and gardens nearly 4%, open land (commons, heaths and downland) is 2%, and the remaining 2% includes a variety of uses, including communications, military, open land, recreation, utilities and water.

Rivers

The Chiltern Hills are almost entirely located within the

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

, and also drain towards several major Thames tributaries, most notably the

Lea Lea or LEA may refer to: Places Australia * Lea River, Tasmania, Australia * Lake Lea, Tasmania, from which the Lea River flows * RAAF Base Learmonth, IATA airport code "LEA" England * Lea, Cheshire, a civil parish * Lea, Derbyshire, a set ...

, which rises in the eastern Chiltern Hills, the

Colne Colne () is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England. Located northeast of Nelson, north-east of Burnley, east of Preston and west of Leeds. The town should not be confused with the unrelated Colne Val ...

to the south, and the Thame to the north and west. Other rivers arising near the Chiltern Hills include the Mimram, the Ver, the Gade, the Bulbourne, the

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

, the Misbourne and the Wye. These are classified as

chalk stream Chalk streams are rivers that rise from springs in landscapes with chalk bedrock. Since chalk is permeable, water percolates easily through the ground to the water table and chalk streams therefore receive little surface runoff. As a result, th ...

s, although the Lea is degraded by water from road drains and sewage treatment works. The Thames flows through a gap between the

Berkshire Downs The Berkshire Downs are a range of chalk downland hills in South east England split between the counties of Berkshire and Oxfordshire. They are part of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The western parts of the downs ...

and the Chiltern Hills. Portions around Leighton Buzzard and Hitchin are drained by the Ouzel, the Flit and the Hiz, all of which ultimately flow into the River Great Ouse (the last two via the Ivel).

Transport

Several transport routes pass through the Chiltern Hills in natural or man-made corridors. There are also over of public footpaths in the Chiltern Hills, including long-distance trackways such as the

Icknield Way The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern and eastern England that runs from Norfolk to Wiltshire. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills. Background It is generally said to be, wi ...

and

The Ridgeway The ancient tree-lined path winds over the downs countryside The Ridgeway is a ridgeway or ancient trackway described as Britain's oldest road. The section clearly identified as an ancient trackway extends from Wiltshire along the chalk ...

.DidYouKnow.pdf
Chilterns AoNB, Accessed 19 February 2012 The M40 motorway passes through the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire sections with a deep cutting through the Stokenchurch Gap. The

M1 motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the country was the Preston By-pass, which ...

crosses the Bedfordshire section near

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable a ...

. Other major roads include the A41 and the

A413 The A413 is a major road in England that runs between Gerrards Cross (west of London) to Towcester (northwest of Milton Keynes). It passes through or near various towns and villages including (in northbound order) Amersham, Great Missenden, ...

. The

Chiltern Main Line The Chiltern Main Line is a railway line which links London () and Birmingham ( Moor Street and Snow Hill), the United Kingdom's two largest cities, by a route via High Wycombe, Bicester, Banbury, Leamington Spa and Solihull. It is one of t ...

Railway via

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye, Buckinghamshire, River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, ...

and Princes Risborough, the

London to Aylesbury Line London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

via , the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

via

Berkhamsted Berkhamsted ( ) is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, in the Bulbourne valley, north-west of London. The town is a civil parish with a town council within the borough of Dacorum which is based in the neighbouring large new town ...

, and the

Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line is a major railway line in England from London to Nottingham and Sheffield in the Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras station via Leicester, Derby/Nottingham and Chesterfield in the East Midlands ...

all run through the Chiltern Hills. The Great Western Main Line and its branches such as the Henley and Marlow branch lines link the southern side of the Chiltern Hills with London Paddington. The

Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway The Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway is a preserved standard gauge heritage railway with its headquarters and main station at Chinnor in South Oxfordshire, England. It runs along the foot of the Chilterns escarpment. Although a few fi ...

is a preserved line.

High Speed 2 High Speed 2 (HS2) is a planned high-speed railway line in England, the first phase of which is under construction in stages and due for completion between 2029 and 2033, depending on approval for later stages. The new line will run from its m ...

(HS2) will pass underneath the Chiltern Hills in the Chiltern tunnel. This tunnel, the longest under construction on the HS2 route, will be in length. The Conservation Board has made clear it was opposed to the routing of HS2 through the Chiltern Hills AONB. Bus services are provided by Arriva Shires & Essex and Carousel Buses. Air corridors from Luton Airport pass over the Chiltern Hills. Apart from the

, there are no navigable rivers. The

Grand Union Canal The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another ends in Birmingham, with the latter ...

passes through the Chiltern Hills between

and Marsworth following the course of the Gade and Bulbourne. Also, after crossing a watershed, the Ouzel is partly in the Chiltern Hills.

History

During the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

, the Chiltern ridge provided a relatively safe and easily navigable route across southern Britain. The

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

''Chiltern'' is believed to be

Brittonic Brittonic or Brythonic may refer to: *Common Brittonic, or Brythonic, the Celtic language anciently spoken in Great Britain *Brittonic languages, a branch of the Celtic languages descended from Common Brittonic *Britons (Celtic people) The Br ...

in origin. According to Eilert Ekwall, Chiltern is possibly related to the broader ethnic name '' Celt'' (''Celtæ'' in early Celtic languages); the root ''celto-'' "high" (and suffix ''-erno-'') could be the origin of Chiltern. Before the 18th century, the population was dispersed across the largely rural landscape of the Chiltern Hills in remote villages, hamlets, farmsteads, and market towns along the main turnpike routes which coursed through the navigable valleys. The development of canals in the 18th century and railways in the 19th century encouraged settlement and growth of

Tring Tring is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Dacorum, Hertfordshire, England. It is situated in a gap passing through the Chiltern Hills, classed as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, from Central London. Tring is linked to ...

, and

. Significant housing and industrial development took place in the first half of the 20th century and continued throughout the 20th century. In 1965 almost half of the Chiltern Hills was designated as an

(AONB).

List of towns and villages in the Chiltern Hills

* Aldbury, Amersham, Apsley, Ashridge,

Aston Clinton Aston Clinton is a historic village and civil parish in the Vale of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England. The village lies at the foot of the Chiltern Hills, between the Wendover and Aylesbury arms of the Grand Union Canal. Surrounding towns i ...

Barton-le-Clay Barton-le-Clay is a large village and a civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire Borough in Bedfordshire, England, bordering Hertfordshire. The village has existed since at least 1066 and is mentioned in the ''Domesday Book''. History Ancien ...

, Bellingdon,

Bledlow Ridge Bledlow Ridge is a village in the civil parish of Bledlow-cum-Saunderton in Buckinghamshire, England. In 2004 the population was 940. It is situated in the Chiltern Hills, about 4 miles SSW of Princes Risborough and on the road between the High ...

Bovingdon Bovingdon is a village in Hertfordshire, England, southwest of Hemel Hempstead, and it is a civil parish within the local authority area of Dacorum. It forms the largest part of the ward of Bovingdon, Flaunden and Chipperfield, which had a ...

, Bradenham, Breachwood Green, Buckland Common *

Caddington Caddington () is a village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. It is between the Luton/Dunstable urban area (to the north), and Hertfordshire (to the south). The western border of the parish is Watlin ...

Chalfont St Giles Chalfont St Giles is a village and civil parish in southeast Buckinghamshire, England. It is in a group of villages called The Chalfonts, which also includes Chalfont St Peter and Little Chalfont. It lies on the edge of the Chiltern Hills, we ...

, Chalfont St Peter,

Chartridge Chartridge is a village in Buckinghamshire, England situated 2 miles North West of Chesham. Chartridge is also the name of a civil parish in Chiltern District which also includes the village of Bellingdon and the hamlets of Pednor, Hundridge an ...

, Checkendon,

Cheddington Cheddington is a village and civil parish in the Buckinghamshire district of the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire, England. The parish has an area of . The village is about 6 miles north-east of Aylesbury and three miles north of Tring in Her ...

Chesham Chesham (, , or ) is a market town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, south-east of the county town of Aylesbury, north-west of central London, and part of the London commuter belt. It is in the Chess Valley, surrounded by farmla ...

, Chiltern Green,

Chinnor Chinnor is a large village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire about southeast of Thame, close to the border with Buckinghamshire. The village is a spring line settlement on the Icknield Way below the Chiltern escarpment. Since 1932 the ci ...

, Cholesbury, Christmas Common, Coleshill *

Dagnall Dagnall is a village in the parish of Edlesborough, in Buckinghamshire, England. The place name is derived from the Old English for "Daegga's Knoll". In manorial rolls of 1196 it was listed as ''Dagenhale''. The spelling ''Dagenhale'' appears ...

, Dunsmore,

Dunstable Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the ...

Edlesborough Edlesborough is a village and civil parish in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire, England. Edlesborough is also next to the village of Eaton Bray just over the county boundary in Bedfordshire, about west-south-west of Dunstable. ...

Ellesborough Ellesborough is a village and civil parish in the south of Buckinghamshire, England. The village is at the foot of the Chiltern Hills just to the south of the Vale of Aylesbury, from Wendover and from Aylesbury. It lies between Wendover and t ...

* Fawley,

Fingest Fingest is a village in Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the Chiltern Hills near the border with Oxfordshire. It is about six miles WSW of High Wycombe. It lies in the civil parish of Hambleden. The parish church of St Bartholomew's date ...

Flackwell Heath Flackwell Heath is a village in the civil parish of Chepping Wycombe on the outskirts of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. With an elevation of about , in the Chiltern Hills. It has a population of around 6000. History The name 'Flack ...

Frieth Frieth is a village in the parish of Hambleden, in Buckinghamshire, England. It lies on the top of "Frieth Hill", which is part of the chalk escarpments of the Chiltern Hills. Frieth lies at a height of around , on the edge of a broad and dee ...

Gerrards Cross Gerrards Cross is a town and civil parish in south Buckinghamshire, England, separated from the London Borough of Hillingdon at Harefield by Denham, south of Chalfont St Peter and north bordering villages of Fulmer, Hedgerley, Iver Heath and ...

Goring-On-Thames Goring-on-Thames (or Goring) is a village and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, England, about south of Wallingford and northwest of Reading. It had a population of 3,187 in the 2011 census, put at 3,335 in 2019. Goring ...

, Great Hampden, Great Kingshill,

Great Missenden Great Missenden is an affluent village with approximately 2,000 residents in the Misbourne Valley in the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England, situated between the towns of Amersham and Wendover, with direct rail connections to London Mar ...

Great Offley Offley is a civil parish in the English county of Hertfordshire, between Hitchin and Luton. The main village is Great Offley, and the parish also contains the nearby hamlets of Little Offley and The Flints. In the south-west of the parish, ne ...

* Halton,

Hambleden Hambleden is a small village and civil parish in south-west Buckinghamshire, England. The village is around west of Marlow, and around north-east of Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. The civil parish also includes the villages of Fingest and ...

, Harlington,

Hawridge Hawridge, (recorded as Hoquerug in the 12th century) is a small village in the Chilterns in the county of Buckinghamshire, England and bordering the county boundary with Hertfordshire. It is from Chesham, from both Tring and Berkhamsted. H ...

, Hazlemere,

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500. Developed after the Second World War as a new ...

, Henley-on-Thames,

Hexton Hexton is a small village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, about west of Hitchin. This parish is a salient of Hertfordshire jutting northwards into Bedfordshire. The southern half of the parish is part of the chalky downs of the Ch ...

, Hitchin, Holmer Green,

Hughenden Hughenden may refer to: *Hughenden, Queensland, a town in Australia *Hughenden, Alberta, a village in central Alberta, Canada *Hughenden Valley Hughenden Valley (formerly called Hughenden or Hitchendon) is an extensive village and civil parish in ...

Hyde Heath Hyde Heath is a village in the civil parish of Little Missenden, in the Buckinghamshire district of the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire, England. It is located in the Chiltern Hills, around northeast of the village of Little Missenden a ...

* Ibstone,

Ivinghoe Ivinghoe is a village and civil parish in east Buckinghamshire, England, close to the border with Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. It is northwest of London, north of Tring and south of Leighton Buzzard, close to the village of Pitstone. Ety ...

, Jordans,

Kensworth Kensworth is a village and civil parish located in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. The parish is located on the edge of Dunstable Downs, and includes the hamlets of California and Kensworth Lynch. The parish was origi ...

* Lacey Green, Lane End, Latimer, Ley Hill, Lilley,

Little Chalfont Little Chalfont is a village and civil parish in south-east Buckinghamshire, England. It is one of a group of villages known collectively as The Chalfonts, which also comprises Chalfont St Giles and Chalfont St Peter. Little Chalfont is located ...

Little Gaddesden Little Gaddesden (pronounced ) is a village and civil parish in the borough of Dacorum, Hertfordshire north of Berkhamsted. As well as Little Gaddesden village (population 694), the parish contains the settlements of Ashridge (population 53), H ...

, Little Kingshill,

Little Missenden Little Missenden is a village and civil parish on the River Misbourne in Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the Chiltern Hills, about southeast of Great Missenden and west of Amersham. The village lies on the River Misbourne in the Misbourne v ...

Markyate Markyate is a village and civil parish in north-west Hertfordshire, close to the border with Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Geography The name of the village has had several former variants, including ''Markyate Street'', ''Market Street'' and ...

, Marlow, Marlow Bottom, Medmenham *

Naphill Naphill is a village in the parish of Hughenden Valley, in Buckinghamshire, England. It is north-west of Hughenden, on the ridge of one of the Chiltern Hills, and is adjacent to the village of Walter's Ash. The origin of its name is obscure. It ...

Nettlebed Nettlebed is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire in the Chiltern Hills about northwest of Henley-on-Thames and southeast of Wallingford. The parish includes the hamlet of Crocker End, about east of the village. The 2011 Census recor ...

, Nuffield, Oxfordshire * Penn, Pishill, Pitstone,

Prestwood Prestwood is a village in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located in the Chiltern Hills, about two miles west of Great Missenden and six miles north of High Wycombe. History Early history and creation of parish The village name is Anglo Sax ...

, Princes Risborough,

Radnage Radnage is a village and civil parish in the Buckinghamshire district of Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the Chiltern Hills about two miles north east of Stokenchurch and six miles WNW of High Wycombe. The parish is set in folds of the Chilter ...

Redbourn Redbourn is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, lying on Watling Street, from Harpenden, from St Albans and from Hemel Hempstead. The civil parish had a population of 5,113 according to the 2011 Census. The three tiers of ...

* Seer Green, Sharpenhoe,

Shiplake Shiplake consists of three settlements: Shiplake, Shiplake Cross and Lower Shiplake. Together these villages form a civil parish situated beside the River Thames south of Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. The river forms the parish bounda ...

Skirmett Skirmett is a hamlet in the parish of Hambleden, in Buckinghamshire, England. It lies in the Hambleden Valley in the Chiltern Hills, between the villages of Hambleden and Fingest. Toponymy * The moot or meeting-place of the shire or district ...

Southend Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

, South Heath, Speen,

St Leonards St Leonards may refer to: Places Australia *St Leonards, New South Wales **St Leonards railway station *St Leonards, Tasmania, suburb of Launceston *St Leonards, Victoria Canada *St. Leonard's, Newfoundland and Labrador New Zealand * St L ...

, Stokenchurch, Stonor, Streatley (Beds),

Studham Studham is a village and civil parish in the county of Bedfordshire. It has a population of 1,128. The parish bounds to the south of the Buckinghamshire border, and to the east is the Hertfordshire border. The village lies in the wooded south ...

* Thame, The Lee,

, Turville,

Tylers Green Tylers Green is a village in the civil parish of Chepping Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The village is adjoined on one side by Hazlemere and on the other by Penn. "Penn and Tylers Green" are often referred to as one. Tylers Green centre ...

* Walter's Ash, Watlington,

West Wycombe West Wycombe is a small village famed for its manor houses and its hills. It is three miles west of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The historic village is largely a National Trust property and receives a large annual influx of touri ...

Whipsnade Whipsnade is a small village and civil parish in the county of Bedfordshire, England. It lies on the eastward tail spurs of the Chiltern Hills, about 4.2 km south-south-west of Dunstable on the top of the Dunstable Downs which drop away steepl ...

, Whitwell, Wigginton,

Winchmore Hill Winchmore Hill is a suburb and electoral ward in the Borough of Enfield, North London, in the N21 postal district. With the Winchmore Hill conservation area as a focal point, the district is bounded on the east by Green Lanes (the A105 road ...

Woodcote Woodcote is a village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire, about southeast of Wallingford and about northwest of Reading, Berkshire. It is in the Chiltern Hills, and the highest part of the village is above sea level. Woodcote lies betwe ...

Strip parishes associated with the Chiltern Hills

The western edge of the Chiltern Hills is notable for ancient

strip parish A strip parish is a parish with a narrow, elongated shape, typically formed during the Anglo-Saxon and early medieval period. The shape is influenced by landscape, political and economic factors. Evidence of such parishes can be found throughout En ...

es, elongated parishes with villages in the flatter land below the escarpment, and woodland and summer pastures in the higher land. *Bedfordshire:

Eaton Bray Eaton Bray is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England. It is situated about three miles south-west of the town of Dunstable and is part of a semi-rural area which extends into the parish of Edlesborough. In the 2011 United Kingdom ...

, Toddington, Totternhoe *Buckinghamshire:

, Aylesbury,

Bledlow Bledlow is a village in the civil parish of Bledlow-cum-Saunderton in Buckinghamshire, England. It is about WSW of Princes Risborough, and is on the county boundary with Oxfordshire. The toponym "Bledlow" is derived from Old English and m ...

, Buckland, Drayton Beauchamp, Great Kimble,

Horsenden Horsenden is a hamlet in Wycombe district, Buckinghamshire, England and is in the civil parish of Longwick-cum-Ilmer. It is approximately one mile West of Princes Risborough, seven miles south of Aylesbury and three miles south-west of Chinnor ...

, The Lee, Marsworth, Monks Risborough, Pitstone, Princes Risborough,

Saunderton Saunderton is a village in the Saunderton Valley in the Chiltern Hills, Buckinghamshire, England, in the civil parish of Bledlow-cum-Saunderton. The village consists of three main areas: a linear settlement along Bledlow Road about southwest ...

, Stoke Mandeville, Weston Turville *Hertfordshire:

, Wigginton *Oxfordshire:

Aston Rowant Aston Rowant (anciently ''Aston Rohant'') is a village, civil parish and former manor about south of Thame in South Oxfordshire, England. The parish includes the villages of Aston Rowant and Kingston Blount, and adjoins Buckinghamshire to the ...

, Checkendon,

, Ipsden,

Lewknor Lewknor is a village and civil parish about south of Thame in Oxfordshire.The civil parish includes the villages of Postcombe and South Weston. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 663. Early history Iron Age and Roman era Tw ...

, Mongewell, Newnham Murren, Nuffield,

Pyrton Pyrton is a small village and large civil parish in Oxfordshire about north of the small town of Watlington and south of Thame. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 227. The toponym is from the Old English meaning "pear-tre ...

, Shirburn, South Stoke, Watlington

Economic use

The hills have been used for their

natural resources Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. ...

for

millennia A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (ini ...

. The chalk has been quarried for the manufacture of cement, and

for local building material. Beechwoods supplied furniture makers with quality hardwood. The area was once (and still is to a lesser degree) renowned for its chair-making industry, centred on the towns of Chesham and High Wycombe (the nickname of

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their ho ...

Football Club is the Chairboys). Water was and remains a scarce resource in the Chiltern Hills. Historically it was drawn from the

aquifer An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials ( gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characteris ...

via

ponds A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from t ...

, deep

well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

s, occasional springs or bournes and chalk streams and rivers. Today the chalk aquifer is exploited via a network of

pumping station Pumping stations, also called pumphouses in situations such as drilled wells and drinking water, are facilities containing pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are used for a variety of infrastructure system ...

s to provide a public supply for domestic consumption, agriculture and business uses, both within and well-beyond the Chiltern Hills area. Rivers such as the

River Chess The River Chess is a chalk stream that rises near Chesham in the Chiltern Hills, and flows for through Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire to its confluence with the River Colne in Rickmansworth. The Chess, along with the Colne and Gade, gi ...

directly supply

watercress Watercress or yellowcress (''Nasturtium officinale'') is a species of aquatic flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae. Watercress is a rapidly growing perennial plant native to Europe and Asia. It is one of the oldest known leaf v ...

beds.

Over-exploitation Overexploitation, also called overharvesting, refers to harvesting a renewable resource to the point of diminishing returns. Continued overexploitation can lead to the destruction of the resource, as it will be unable to replenish. The term ap ...

has possibly led to the disappearance of some streams over at least long periods. In a region without building stone, local

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

provided the raw materials for brick manufacture. Timber and

were also used for construction. Mediaeval

es reflected the diversity of land from clay

farmland Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with bo ...

, through wooded slopes to downland. Their boundaries were often drawn to include a section of each type of land, resulting in an irregular county boundary. These have tended to be smoothed out by successive reorganisations. As people have come to appreciate the open country, the area has become a visitor destination and the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

has acquired land to preserve its character, for example at Ashridge, near

. In places, with the reduction of sheep

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to roam around and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible (by human gut) cellulose within grass and other ...

, action has been taken to maintain open downland by suppressing the natural growth of scrub and

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains ...

woodland. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Youth Hostels Association established several

youth hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared ...

s for people visiting the hills. The hills have been used as a location for telecommunication relay stations such as Stokenchurch BT Tower and that at

Zouches Farm Zouches Farm transmitting station is a microwave radio link site located near the top of Blows Downs at Zouches Farm, Caddington, Bedfordshire, England (). It was part of the British Telecom microwave network#London to Birmingham 900 MHz, Londo ...

Protection

The Chiltern Hills is an

(AONB) and so enjoys special protection from major developments, which should not take place in such areas except in exceptional circumstances. This protection applies to major development proposals that raise issues of national significance. In 2000 the government confirmed that the landscape qualities of AONBs are equivalent to those of National Parks, and that the protection given to both types of area by the land use planning system should also be equivalent.

Chilterns Conservation Board

The Chiltern Hills Conservation Board was established by Parliamentary Order in July 2004. It is an independent body comprising 27 members drawn from the relevant local authorities and from those living in local communities within the Chiltern AONB area. The Board's purposes are set out in

Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (c. 37), known informally as the CRoW Act or "Right to Roam" Act is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament affecting England and Wales which came into force on 30 November 2000. Right to roam The Act imp ...

: In summary these are:- First, to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of the AONB, and increase the understanding and enjoyment by the public of the special qualities of the AONB. Second, while taking account of the first purpose, to foster the economic and social wellbeing of local communities within the AONB. Third, to publish and promote the implementation of a management plan for the AONB. In contrast to

National Parks A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individua ...

, The Chiltern Hills – as other AONBs – do not possess their own

planning authority A local planning authority (LPA) is the local government body that is empowered by law to exercise urban planning functions for a particular area. They exist in the United Kingdom and India. United Kingdom Mineral planning authorities The role ...

. The Board has an advisory role on planning and development matters and seeks to influence the actions of local government by commenting upon planning applications. The local authorities (two County Councils, three Unitary Authorities and four District and Borough Councils) are expected to respect the area's status as a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Heritage

Examples of historical architecture in the Chiltern region are preserved at the Chiltern Open Air Museum near

. This open-air

folk museum A folk museum is a museum that deals with folk culture and heritage. Such museums cover local life in rural communities. A folk museum typically displays historical objects that were used as part of the people's everyday lives. Examples of such ...

contains reconstructed buildings which might otherwise have been destroyed or demolished as a result of redevelopment or road construction.

Chiltern Hundreds

The Chiltern Hills includes the

Chiltern Hundreds The Chiltern Hundreds is an ancient administrative area in Buckinghamshire, England, composed of three " hundreds" and lying partially within the Chiltern Hills. "Taking the Chiltern Hundreds" refers to one of the legal fictions used to effect ...

. By established custom,

Members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MPs) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, who are prohibited from resigning their seats directly, may apply for the Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds as a device to enable their departure from the House.

List of hills

Hills in The Chiltern Hills more than 200 metres in elevation and with more than 30 metres of

topographic prominence In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...

are listed from southwest to northeast.

References

External links

Chilterns AONBChilterns Conservation BoardChilterns Tourism NetworkA Year in The Chiltern HillsChiltern Society
{{Authority control Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England Geology of England Hills of Bedfordshire Hills of Buckinghamshire Hills of Hertfordshire Hills of Oxfordshire Protected areas of Bedfordshire Protected areas of Buckinghamshire Protected areas of Oxfordshire Protected areas of Hertfordshire History of Berkshire History of Oxfordshire Escarpments of England