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Wolverton park
Holy Trinity Church in the snow

Old Wolverton

The town name is an Old English language word, and means ‘Wulfhere’s Estate’. It was recorded in the Domesday book of 1086 as ‘Wluerintone’. The Longville family owned the land, built the manor house and had a park at Old Wolverton in 1501. The manor of Old Wolverton was held by the de Wolverton family until the mid-fourteenth century, after which the settlement moved about 1km to the east for the railways in the 19th century and assumed the Wolverton name rather than Old Wolverton. Sir Edward Longville sold the manor to John Radcliffe in 1713. John Radcliffe died a year later and left his estates in Buckinghamshire to Trustees for charitable purposes. The Radcliffe Trustees are still ‘lords of the manor’ and much of the land for the railway and the houses was bought from the Radcliffe Trustees.

The original medieval settlement is now known as Old Wolverton and although the medieval village is all but gone the ridge and furrow pattern of agriculture can still be seen in the nearby fields. The saxon Church of Holy Trinity which was rebuilt in 1819 still sits next to the Norman Motte and Bailey site. Only the earth remains of the Norman castle, though the Saxon tower still stands as central to the rebuilt church. The desertion of Old Wolverton was caused by the large strip cultivation fields being broken down into small ‘closes’ by local landlords. The peasants lost their land and tillage/grazing rights and were forced to find work elsewhere or starve. Today, the site of the medieval village is bisected by the Grand Union canal: the name ‘Old Wolverton’ has been given to the area east of the canal and that to the west (which includes the water mill site) is called Wolverton Mill.

Wolverton Mill

Wolverton Mill sits on the west side of the Grand Union Canal and is named so because it has within its boundaries a water mill. The mill was first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. At that time there were around 200 people living in what was the original Wolverton. Landlords drove the land workers off the land by breaking the large fields down into small ‘closes’. The workers lost their tillage/grazing rights and were forced to find work elsewhere.

The water mill would have been extended and rebuilt many times over the years and was last rebuilt in the 18th century and is now a private house. The millrace (the channel carrying the swift current of water that drives a mill wheel) here is lined by hybrid black poplars and lesser spotted woodpeckers can sometimes be seen in their upper branches.

Wolverton

In 1836 Wolverton was chosen as the site of the locomotive repair shop as it was situated midway between London and Birmingham and the railway between the two points was under construction at this time. The area was called ‘Wolverton Station’. The line did not open until 1838 and the first railway refreshment in the world opened at Wolverton. The last locomotives to be built at Wolverton were in 1863 although repairs were carried out there until 1877, after which the Works concentrated on carriages including railway owned road vehicles. Wolverton was the home of the Royal Train Fleet for many years. During the Second World War, the Works were used to build parts for Lee-Enfield rifles, bomber plane timber frames, Hawker Typhoon wings, Horsa Gliders and ambulances.

The London and Birmingham Railway Company (LBRC) had built some 200 houses for its workers by 1844 along with schools (first one to be built was in Creed Street), a church (St George) and a market (the Market Hall was built in 1846) followed by the Lecture Room, Library, Reading Room and Music Room in 1847. The LBRC became London & North Western Railway Company in 1845. Building work continued which included McCorquodale Printers, the Wolverton Wall, Wolverton Park, Wolverton Boys School and the Grandstand in Wolverton Park which opened in 1899 (the first football stand ever built). By 1900 Wolverton Urban District Council’s population had reached 15,000 with expansion continuing.

Although the railways have always been a massive part of the community we must not forget the Grand Union Canal which runs through Wolverton. Prior to the railways this would have been used to transport goods and people from one end of the country to the other. The canal originally crossed the River Great Ouse by descending 10 metres to the river by nine locks, crossing the river on the level and then ascended by eight locks on the other side. This was time consuming and was prone to disruption from flood until a wooden aqueduct was built. This collapsed in 1808 and an iron aqueduct replaced it.

Wolverton continued to prosper throughout the 20th century despite the two world wars and in 1974 became part of the New Town of Milton Keynes. Development was carried out in Wolverton including the building of Glyn Square where the Little Streets had previously stood and the demolition of the Congregational Church later to be replaced by a new church housed above a supermarket, now occupied by MK Christian Foundation and the building of the controversial Agora Centre. In the late eighties the Railway Works downsized to buildings at the western end of town. At the same time people from South Asia became prominent in the community and transformed the town’s shopping facilities to include retailers specialising in world foods and restaurants not seen before in the area. In recent times these have been added to with shops and restaurants varying from Polish origin to South African. Today the town boasts a mosque housed in what had previously been the post office sorting office and what was the Empire Cinema. The town also hosts faith groups from a wide range of cultures.

In 1988 the town celebrated the 150th anniversary of the town becoming a railway town. It marked the event with an art exhibition, locomotion exhibition, quizzes, performances of Glance from a Train – a performance of song and anecdotes about Wolverton, arts, dance and craft workshops and much, much more. It was also the year of the birth of the Lantern Festival, an annual parade by the community with their hand-crafted lanterns through the streets of Wolverton. This has carried on since and is now a significant date in the Wolverton community diary. 2013 saw a similar series of celebratory events to mark the 175th anniversary culminating again in the Lantern Festival at the end of the year. Other events included Victorian Tennis and Cricket matches taking place and a steam train making a scheduled stop at Wolverton Station with the passengers being offered Banbury Biscuits adapted from the traditional Banbury Cakes recipe.

Stacey Hill Farm, now MK Museum

Stacey Bushes

Stacey Bushes sits on the outskirts of Wolverton. In recent times Stacey Hill is probably best known as the location for the Milton Keynes Museum. The site for the museum was originally Stacey Hill Farm. Before the development of Milton Keynes, the farm was part of the Wolverton Estate owned by the Radcliffe Trust and was let out to tenant farmers. The first tenant of Stacey Hill Farm was William Battams, whose family farmed at Stacey Bushes from 1800. The present farm was built in 1847 to replace the previous building which had become dilapidated. William Battams family continued to farm the land until 1888. It was then taken over by a Welsh sheep farmer who held the tenancy until 1911, when it was taken over by Edward Norman. Under his tenancy the land, was often used by the local community to hold various events due to its position adjacent to Wolverton. One such event took place in September of 1934 when it hosted an Air Pageant in aid of the British Hospital Funds (pre NHS). The object of the day was to popularise flying and assist local hospitals at the same time. The programme for the day stated that ‘The Sky Devils’ were the most reliable yet daring aviators in the country! The public were able to see thrilling demonstrations of super-airmanship and all the latest type of flying machines and were even able to enjoy the experience of taking a flight.

The farm continued to operate through the Great War, the depression of the 1930s and the Second World War until the Milton Keynes Development Corporation Landscape Department took it over in the 1960s. The majority of the land may have been developed but the buildings still remain and now provide a home for the Milton Keynes Museum. The museum was originally called the Stacey Hill Collection of Industry & Rural Life and was formed when a group of residents started trying to save historic items before they were swept away with the tide of development.

The development at Stacey Bushes included housing and industrial units. These units are very well established and there is a variety of businesses operating from them. The name ‘Stacey Bushes’ comes from the Old English ‘stumpy bushes’ that covered the area. The roads are named after heathers and shrubs.

Greenleys

The land where Greenleys is situated used to be part of the agricultural area of Wolverton. Before the development of Greenleys in 1975 the land was used for allotments with many ponds nearby. The ponds were used by the plot holders to water their produce and by the children as an area for play. Greenleys is an Anglo-Saxon word for ‘field’ or ‘land under grass or pasture’.

With the development of Milton Keynes came the development of the allotment site and in the early 1970s people began moving to the site now named Greenleys. Haywards Croft was the first to be occupied followed by Pinders. At first there were not any shops or schools on Greenleys and the children had to attend schools in Wolverton and adults had to shop either in Wolverton or Stony Stratford. A flat in Pinders Croft became a temporary shop and 1 Pinders Croft became a temporary doctor’s surgery. The shopping area was built five years later. The names of the crofts and closes on the estate took their name from old manorial occupations, for example: Akerman Close was named after the the old word for farmer, ‘Akerman’ and Barkers Croft was named after the old word for a shepherd, ‘Barker’.

While the school was being built there were temporary huts used for class rooms. During the seventies, when Vietnamese people were fleeing their country at the end of its war many refugees came to live on Greenleys a temporary hut on the school site was used for English classes for them. Greenleys First School opened in 1975 with an intake of 18 which grew to over 300 in less than four years.

Now there are three schools on Greenleys, Greenleys First and Greenleys Junior plus St Mary Magdalene. Greenleys is also now served by a variety of shops and has a large community centre.

Stonebridge

Stonebridge is an industrial area without residential dwellings. It consists of two main roads, Twizel Close and Fingle Drive and can be accessed via Grafton Street (V6). It is bordered by both the Grand Union Canal and the main London to Birmingham railway line.

As the Milton Keynes grid road system was being built and extended, the existing canal network had to be taken into account. As the canal is located higher up than the road an aqueduct was needed to carry the water over the road below. Stonebridge boasts the first aqueduct to be built on the Grand Union Canal for over 50 years. It carried a footpath on either side and opened to boat traffic in March 1991, though a separate bridge for the Railway Walk redway and bridle path was not complete until later.

Facts about the construction of the aqueduct:

  • 1,700 tons of concrete and 121 miles of steel cable were used
  • It took a year to build
  • The structure is 125 metres long
  • The cost was £4,500,000