Castlethorpe is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

with a population of about 1000 in the unitary authority area of the

City of Milton Keynes The City of Milton Keynes is a unitary authority area with both borough and city status, in Buckinghamshire. It is the northernmost district of the South East England Region. The borough abuts Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and the remainder ...

, Buckinghamshire, England. It is about north-east of Stony Stratford, north-west of Newport Pagnell and north of

Central Milton Keynes Central Milton Keynes is the central business district of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England and a civil parish in its own right, with a town council. The district is approximately long by wide and occupies some of the highest land in Mi ...

. It is separated from the county of

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

by the River Tove.

History

The village is relatively more recent than those around it, and it started out in life as a castle belonging to the

lord of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...

of nearby

Hanslope Hanslope is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority area of the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The village is about west northwest of Newport Pagnell, about north of Stony Stratford and north of Central Milt ...

.'Parishes : Hanslope with Castle Thorpe'

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. 348-362. A settlement of servants and manual workers grew up around the castle and this became the village of Castlethorpe (''thorpe'' is an

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

language (particularly Danish) word for ''homestead'', and it is not unreasonable to assume that there may well have been a Danish settlement nearby as the area was, if not part of, certainly close to, the

Danelaw The Danelaw (, also known as the Danelagh; ang, Dena lagu; da, Danelagen) was the part of England in which the laws of the Danes held sway and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons. The Danelaw contrasts with the West Saxon law and the Mercian ...

). The castle was damaged in 1215 in a feud between Foulkes de Brent who had been sent by King John and William Mauduit, the castle's owner. Mauduit was reputedly in rebellion against the King. Although Mauduit returned to claim his seat after the King's death, the castle was demolished shortly afterward. All that is left today are the grassy mounds of the former

Motte-and-Bailey castle A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy t ...

Listed buildings and structures

The parish has one

scheduled ancient monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

, one grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, and twenty grade II.

Ecclesiastic parish

Church of St Simon and St Jude, the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

, is dedicated to St Simon and St Jude, and possibly dates back to Anglo-Saxon times: although no evidence of a pre-Norman building survives, its existence has been conjectured from the structure of the north

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

. In 1350, the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

was widened and the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

rebuilt. The church at Castlethorpe was originally superior to that of Hanslope but Bishop Grosteste changed the precedence in about 1250. Castlethorpe has grown up around the church and some traditional old stone cottages at the centre of the village which is designated a conservation area.

Rail and canal

Castlethorpe station, site geograph-3298512-by-Ben-Brooksbank

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 ...

runs alongside the west side of Castlethorpe, and the village had its own railway station until September 1964 when, to the outrage of the village, it was closed down.Castlethorpe Station Closure - 6 September 1964
- Milton Keynes Heritage Association 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 ...

also runs by on the outskirts of the village, and it is a short walk along the towpath to the neighbouring village of Cosgrove in Northamptonshire.

References

External links

Parish Website for the village of Castlethorpe in Milton KeynesCastlethorpe Village Historical Records & Photographs
{{authority control Villages in Buckinghamshire Areas of Milton Keynes Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire