Beaconsfield
town in Buckinghamshire, England
Beaconsfield ( BECK-ənz-feeld) is a market town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, 24 miles (39 kilometres) northwest of Central London and 16 miles (26 kilometres) southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within 5 miles (8 kilometres): Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High Wycombe.
The town is adjacent to the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and has Georgian, neo-Georgian and Tudor revival high street architecture, known as the Old Town. It is known for the first model village in the world and the National Film and Television School.
Beaconsfield was Britain's richest town (based on an average house price of £684,474) in 2008. In 2011 it had the highest proportion in the UK of £1 million-plus homes for sale (at 47%, compared to 3.5% nationally).
History and description
The parish comprises Beaconsfield town and land mainly given over arable land. Some beech forest remains to supply an established beech furniture industry in High Wycombe, the making of modal and various artisan uses.
Beaconsfield is recorded in property returns of 1185 where it is spelt Bekenesfeld, literally beechen field which would less archaically be read as clearing in the beeches. Nearby Burnham Beeches is a forest named after the beech genus.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Beaconsfield” is town in Buckinghamshire, England. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Beaconsfield, town and Buckinghamshire, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “town in Buckinghamshire, England” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q812906. VIAF identifies the subject as 130188215. The Library of Congress control number is n80139565. Authority coordinates are 51.601, -0.635. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2008, 2011 and 1185.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Beaconsfield”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Beaconsfield primary sources, Beaconsfield archive and Beaconsfield research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Beaconsfield”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Beaconsfield” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.