Bradwell Abbey or Bradwell Priory is a Scheduled Monument, urban studies site, district and former civil parish in

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

, England. The site was once the location of a Benedictine priory, founded in 1155.

Historic Bradwell Priory

The Priory was established around 1154. It grew during the Middle Ages to become an important local centre, but declined during the

Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

when, amongst others, its prior William of Loughton died. The Priory was closed in 1524 (some 12 years before the general dissolution of the monasteries) and the site of the monastery and its scanty revenues were granted to

Cardinal Wolsey Thomas Wolsey ( – 29 November 1530) was an English statesman and Catholic bishop. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling figur ...

for the endowment of his new college. All that remains today is a small chapel and a farmhouse that has become a centre for cultural activities and an Urban Studies centre. Many of the medieval trackways converging on the abbey became

rights of way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by Easement#Easement by prescription, prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' ...

and

bridleway A bridle path, also bridleway, equestrian trail, horse riding path, ride, bridle road, or horse trail, is a trail or a thoroughfare that is used by people riding horses, riding on horses. Trails originally created for use by horses often now s ...

s and subsequently became part of the

Milton Keynes redway system The Milton Keynes redway system (locally known as ''redways'') is an over network of shared use paths for cyclists and pedestrians in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It is generally surfaced with red tarmac, and criss-crosses most of ...

(a network of shared paths). The arrival of the West Coast Main Line railway split the Abbey lands, with Bradwell village to the east of the line and the Abbey to the west. Today, the small Bradwell Abbey district includes parkland and industry outside the Abbey grounds. The Abbey site in total is a Scheduled Monument. The Chapel of St Mary is a Grade I listed building. There are a further five Grade II listed buildings or structures on the Abbey grounds.

Bradwell Abbey today

Today, Bradwell Abbey is an Urban Studies Centre, providing a workspace, library and guidance for visiting international town planners and students who wish to study Milton Keynes. It also hosts school visits to see its medieval buildings – the chapel is Grade I listed – its fish ponds and its physic garden, and how they have changed since then. Finally it provides meeting space to local community groups.

Togfest

An annual music festival was started on the site in 1999. Performers have included Vikki Clayton in 1999, Joe Driscoll in 2005. In 2009 the festival dates were 26 and 27 June and acts performing included

The Swanvesta Social Club Swanvesta Social Club were founded in St Albans, and are a British Cuban-influenced group. Career According to the St Albans Review newspaper the group models itself on the Buena Vista Social Club. They are most noted for their lively outdoor ...

Bradwell Abbey district

The modern Bradwell Abbey district is a relatively small one, sandwiched as it is between the West Coast Main Line to the east, the A5 to the west, H3 Monks Way (

A422 The A422 is an "A" road for east–west journeys in south central England, connecting the county towns of Bedford and Worcester by way of Milton Keynes, Buckingham, Banbury and Stratford-upon-Avon. For most of its length, it is a narrow sin ...

) to the north and H4 Dansteed Way to the south. It includes a small industrial estate and the Loughton Valley flood plain "linear park". The Swan's Way long distance path and the Sustrans route 51 follow the valley. Formally, it is in the Bradwell grid-square, but this square is split into three parts by the railway line (on an embankment) and the A5 (in a cutting).

Civil Parish

Bradwell Abbey formerly gave its name to a civil parish on the other side of the A5. This parish has been renamed as Abbey Hill. Today, the abbey district itself is part of Bradwell civil parish.

References

External links

"The architectural secrets of Milton Keynes"
– BBC (with audio content)
Places to go: Bradwell Abbey and City Discovery Centre
– City Discovery Centre
Milton Keynes City Discovery Centre
(Urban Studies educational centre).
Togfest Music Festival'Parishes : Bradwell'
–

Victoria History of the Counties of England The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History or the VCH, is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of En ...

, A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 4 (1927), pp. 283–288. (includes Bradwell Abbey and a history of its parish).
A short video tour of the Abbey today and a virtual tour of the Abbey in its heyday
Milton Keynes City Discovery Centre {{Benedictine houses of England and Wales Areas of Milton Keynes Former civil parishes in Buckinghamshire Monasteries in Buckinghamshire Scheduled monuments in Buckinghamshire 1150s establishments in England 1524 disestablishments in England Christian monasteries established in the 12th century Buildings and structures in Milton Keynes