History of Milton Keynes
This history of Milton Keynes details its development from the earliest human settlements, through the plans for a 'new city' for 250,000 people in northern Southeast England, its subsequent urban design and development, to the present day. Milton Keynes, founded in 1967, is the largest settlement and only city in Buckinghamshire. At the 2021 census, the population of its urban area was estimated to have exceeded 256,000.
Before [|its 1967 designation] as the site for a new town, the area to be developed was largely farmland and undeveloped villages. Before construction began, every area was subject to detailed archaeological investigation: doing so has exposed a rich history of human settlement since Neolithic times and has provided a unique insight into the history and archaeology of a large sample of the landscape of north Buckinghamshire.
Pre-history and early human settlement
Long before England existed, this area was at the bottom of a primeval sea. The most notable of the fossils uncovered is that of an ichthyosaur from Caldecotte, now on display in the central library.Human settlement began in this area around 2000 BCE, mainly in the valleys of the rivers Ouse and Ouzel, and their tributaries. Archaeological excavations revealed several burial sites dating from 2000 BCE to 1500 BCE. Evidence for the earliest habitation was found at Blue Bridge production of flint tools from the Mesolithic. In the same area, an unusually large round house was excavated and dated to the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age, about 700 BCE. Other excavations in this Blue Bridge/Bancroft hill-side uncovered a further seven substantial settlement sites, dating from then until 100 BCE.
Milton Keynes Hoard
The area that was to become Milton Keynes was relatively rich: the Milton Keynes Hoard is one of the largest hoard of Bronze Age jewellery ever found in Britain: the British Museum described it as 'one of the biggest concentrations of Bronze Age gold known from Britain and seems to flaunt wealth'. It was discovered in September 2000 at Monkston and consists of two Bronze Age gold torcs and three gold bracelets in a datable clay pot.Roman Britain
Before the Roman conquest of Britain of 43 CE, the Catuvellauni controlled this area from their hillfort at Danesborough, near Woburn Sands. Under Roman occupation, the area thrived. The obvious reason for this is the major Roman road, Iter II, that runs through the area and that gave rise to an associated Roman town at Magiovinium. A 'superb example' of the first type of coin to circulate in Britain was found here, a gold stater from mid-second century BCE.The foundations of a large Romano-British villa were excavated at Bancroft Park, complete with under-floor heating and mosaic floor. Further excavations revealed that this area, overlooking the fertile valley of the Bradwell Brook, was in continuous occupation for 2,000 years, from the Late Bronze Age to the early Saxon period. Cremation grave goods from the Iron Age found on the site included jewellery and fine pottery. Other Romano-British settlements were found at Stanton Low, Woughton, and Wymbush. Industrial activity of the period included bronze working and pottery making at Caldecotte, pottery also at Wavendon Gate, and many iron-working sites.
Anglo-Saxon period
It seems that most of the Romano-British sites were abandoned by the Romano-British by the fifth century and the arable land reverted to scrub and woodland. Arriving in the sixth century, the Anglo-Saxons began to clear the land again. Bletchley and the Shenleys date from this period. Large settlements have been excavated at Pennyland and near Milton Keynes village. Their cemeteries have been found at Newport Pagnell, Shenley, and Tattenhoe.Excavations in and around the modern villages have failed to find any evidence of occupation before the 10th or 11th centuries, except in Bradwell where Bradwell Bury is traced to the 9th century. The Domesday Book of 1086 provides the first documentary evidence for many settlements, listing Bertone, Calvretone, Linforde, Lochintone, Neuport, Nevtone, Senelai, Siwinestone, Ulchetone, Wluerintone and Wlsiestone.
Administration of the area that was later to become the City of Milton Keynes was in 'Hundreds' initially Sigelai 'Hundred, Bunstou Hundred and Moulsoe Hundred, amalgamated as the 'three hundreds of Newport' in the middle of the 13th Century.
Secklow Mound', the moot mound of Sigelai Hundred, has been found, excavated and reconstructed: it is on the highest land in the central area and is just behind the Central Library in modern Central Milton Keynes. It is a scheduled monument.
Newport Pagnell, established early in the 10th century, was the principal market town for the area.
Norman conquest and the medieval period
After the Norman conquest, the de Cahaignes family held the manor of Middleton from 1166 to the late 13th century as well as others in the country. Walter Giffard, Lord of Longueville was overlord of most of the land that became the modern city almost 1000 years later. There are Norman motte and bailey castle sites in Old Wolverton and Shenley Church End.Stony Stratford and Fenny Stratford were founded as market towns on Watling Street in the late 12th or early 13th centuries
By the early 13th century, North Buckinghamshire had several religious houses: Bradwell Abbey is within modern Milton Keynes and Snelshall Priory is just outside it. Both were Benedictine priories.
Britain's earliest windmill is in Great Linford. The large oak beams forming the base supports still survived in the mill mound and were shown by radio carbon dating to originate in the first half of the 13th century.
Only one medieval manor house survives: the 15th century Manor Farmhouse in Loughton. There are sites of other manor houses in Little Woolstone, Milton Keynes village, and Woughton on the Green. The oldest surviving domestic building is Number 22, Milton Keynes, the house of the bailiff of the manor of Bradwell.
Early modern Britain
Enclosures
Most of the eighteen medieval villages in Milton Keynes are still extant and are at the heart of their respective districts. But some, such as Old Wolverton, remain only as field patterns marking a deserted village. The desertion of Old Wolverton was due to enclosure of the large strip cultivation fields into small 'closes' by the local landlords, the Longville family, who turned arable land over to pasture. By 1654, the family had completely enclosed the parish. With the end of the feudal system, the peasants had lost their land and tillage/grazing rights and were forced to find other work or starve. Thus Old Wolverton was reduced from about thirty peasant families in the mid 16th centurThere are also deserted village sites in Tattenhoe and Westbury.Turnpike roads
Some important roads cross the site of the new city. Most important of these is Watling Street between London and Chester. The OxfordCambridge route came through Stony Stratford, Wolverton and Newport Pagnell. Unfortunately, the heavy clay soils, poor drainage and slow-running streams made these routes frequently impassable in winter. The HockliffeDunchurch stretch of Watling Street became a Turnpike in 1706. Until about 1830, the LondonNorthampton road through Simpson "was generally impassible without wading through water three feet deep, for a distance of about 200 yards ". In 1870, the new NorthamptonLondon turnpike diverted away at Broughton to take the higher route through Wavendon and Woburn Sands to join Watling Street near Hockliffe. On the east–west route, the Stony StratfordNewport Pagnell turnpike of 1814 extended the WoodstockBicesterStony Stratford turnpike of 1768.Turnpikes provided a major boost to the economy of Fenny Stratford and particularly Stony Stratford. In the stage coach era, Stony Stratford was a major resting place and exchange point with the east–west route. In the early 19th century, over 30 coaches a day stopped here. In September 1838, the London and Birmingham Railway opened through nearby Wolverton and took over much of this traffic.Grand Junction Canal
The Grand Junction Canal came through the area between 1793 and 1800, with canal-side wharfs in Fenny Stratford, Great Linford, Bradwell and Wolverton. The route bypassed Newport Pagnell but, in 1817, an arm was dug to it from Great Linford. Trade along the canal stimulated the local economy. A large brickworks was established near the canal in Great Linford: two bottle kilns and the clay pits can still be seen on the site.London and Birmingham Railway, Wolverton and New Bradwell new towns
The London and Birmingham Railway brought even more profound changes to the area. Wolverton was the halfway point on the rail route, where engines were changed and passengers alighted for refreshments. Wolverton railway works was established here, creating work for thousands of people in the surrounding area. In the period 1840 to 1880, new towns were built in New Bradwell and Wolverton to house them. A narrow gauge railway, the Wolverton to Newport Pagnell Line, was built to Newport Pagnell in 1866, much of it by closing and reusing the Newport Arm of the canal. The Wolverton and Stony Stratford Tramway ran to Stony Stratford from 1888 and, in 1889, was extended to Deanshanger in Northamptonshire.Bletchley, on the 1846 junction of the London and Birmingham railway with the Bedford branch, was to become an important railway town too. In 1850, another branch from Bletchley to Oxford was built, later to become the Varsity Line. Bletchley, originally a small village in the parish of Fenny Stratford, grew to reach and absorb its parent. In Stony Stratford, expertise learned in the works was applied to the construction of traction engines for agricultural use and the site of the present Cofferidge Close was engaged in their manufacture.