Great Linford is a historic village, district and wider
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 authority ...
in the northern part of
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 ...
,
England, between
Wolverton
Wolverton is a constituent town of Milton Keynes, England. It is located at the northern edge of Milton Keynes, beside the West Coast Main Line, the Grand Union Canal and the river Great Ouse. It is the administrative seat of Wolverton and Gre ...
and
Newport Pagnell
Newport Pagnell is a town and civil parish in the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The Office for National Statistics records Newport Pagnell as part of the Milton Keynes urban area.
It is separated from the rest of the urban ...
.
Great Linford village
Great Linford was
one of the North
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 ...
villages incorporated into Milton Keynes at
its designation in 1967.
History
The origin of the name Linford is not recorded. The first reference to Linford occurs in 944, when "King Edmund gave to his
thegn
In Anglo-Saxon England, thegns were aristocratic landowners of the second rank, below the ealdormen who governed large areas of England. The term was also used in early medieval Scandinavia for a class of retainers. In medieval Scotland, there w ...
Aelfheah, land at Linforda with liberty to leave it to whom he wished"; it appears in the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
as ''Linforda''.
In the early sixteenth century, the rector of this parish
Dr Richard Napier was widely known as a medical practitioner,
astrologer
Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Dif ...
and curer of souls.
He was referred to by many in the upper classes, including the
Earl of Sunderland
Earl of Sunderland is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of England. The first creation came in 1627 in favour of Emanuel Scrope, 11th Baron Scrope of Bolton. The earldom became extinct on his death in 1630 while the barony becam ...
who lived under his care for some time in 1629.
Great Linford Manor
Linford Manor, also known as Great Linford Manor, is a seventeenth-century mansion or manor house converted into a recording studio complex in Great Linford, a district in Milton Keynes, England. It is now owned by Pete Winkelman who is chairman ...
was originally built on the hill where the South Pavilion now stands. It was the home of Sir Richard Napier from 1633 to 1676.
The manor was the country seat of Sir
William Prichard (or Pritchard) in the later part of the seventeenth century, who was
Lord Mayor of London
The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...
, a merchant and slave trader.
He bought the Manor of Great Linford in 1682, demolished the original manor house and built the present house below it.
In 1702, he founded the group of
almshouse
An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) was charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the medieval era. They were often targeted at the poor of a locality, at those from certain ...
s and school-house beside the church, which are still there today.
The village grew in importance following construction in 1800 of the
Grand Junction Canal
The Grand Junction Canal is a canal in England from Braunston in Northamptonshire to the River Thames at Brentford, with a number of branches. The mainline was built between 1793 and 1805, to improve the route from the Midlands to London, by-p ...
and associated
wharf
A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring locatio ...
to serve
Newport Pagnell
Newport Pagnell is a town and civil parish in the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The Office for National Statistics records Newport Pagnell as part of the Milton Keynes urban area.
It is separated from the rest of the urban ...
; in 1817 an arm, the
Newport Pagnell Canal
The Newport Pagnell Canal was a 1.25 mile canal in Buckinghamshire that ran from the Grand Junction Canal at Great Linford to Newport Pagnell through seven canal lock, locks. Construction was authorised by an Act of Parliament in June 1814 and i ...
, was built out from here but was unsuccessful and closed in 1867.
For a hundred years (1867 to 1967) Great Linford was served by
Great Linford railway station
Great Linford railway station was a railway station on the Wolverton to Newport Pagnell line. It served the village of Great Linford, Buckinghamshire, which it was located a little to the northeast of. Built next to the Linford Wharf on the Gra ...
on the
Wolverton to Newport Pagnell branch line.
Education
St. Andrews C. of E. Infant School, on the High Street, was founded in 1901. As part of the development of Milton Keynes, a new primary and middle school was opened in 1977, originally known as Great Linford County Combined School, and more recently as Great Linford Primary School.
Parish church
The parish church of
Saint Andrew
Andrew the Apostle ( grc-koi, Ἀνδρέᾱς, Andréās ; la, Andrēās ; , syc, ܐܰܢܕ݁ܪܶܐܘܳܣ, ʾAnd’reʾwās), also called Saint Andrew, was an apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is the brother of Simon Peter ...
is a Grade II* listed building,
dating from about 1250.
By 1708, the church had become dilapidated and Prichard's widow, Sarah, paid for it to be restored; the church was restored again in 1884–5.
Other
Great Linford has two pubs: ''The Nag's Head'', on the High Street and ''The Black Horse'' at the edge of Great Linford on Wolverton Road, by the Grand Union Canal. There is a new Memorial Hall and a Community Hall off Marsh Drive behind the manor house.
Linford Manor is now owned by
Pete Winkelman
Peter John Winkelman is the current chairman of English association football club Milton Keynes Dons, as well as managing director of the property development consortium Inter MK Ltd that was responsible for developing the Denbigh North district o ...
who is chairman of
Milton Keynes Dons F.C.
Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...
The former stables and associated gate houses are now an Arts Centre. , the former almshouses are not in use but in February 2022, Milton Keynes Council transferred them into the care of the
Parks Trust and they are scheduled to be restored.
Civil parish
In addition to Great Linford district itself (with the historic village at its core), the civil parish also includes the districts of Giffard Park, Blakelands, Neath Hill,
Pennyland
A pennyland ( gd, peighinn) is an old Scottish land measurement. It was found in the West Highlands, and also Galloway, and believed to be of Norse origin. It is frequently found in minor placenames.
Skene in ''Celtic Scotland'' says:
: "in th ...
, Tongwell, Conniburrow, Downs Barn, Downhead Park and Redhouse Park.
The parish is bounded to the north by Newport Road, to the west by the B4034/V8 Marlborough Street (as far as H4 Dansteed Way), then along Dansteed Way as far as V7 Saxon Street, south along Saxon Street as far as the
A509
The A509 is a short A-class road (around long) for north–south journeys in south central England, forming the route from Kettering in Northamptonshire to the A5 in Milton Keynes, via M1 J14.
From north to south, the road begins at Wi ...
/H5 Portway, then east along Portway to the
M1, then north along the motorway until it reaches Newport Road again. The Grand Union Canal bisects the parish.
The parish increased in population from 263 in the 1971 census to 11,882 in the 1981 census, an increase of some 4,400%. At the 2011 census, the population had reached 19,350,
and the 2021 census is expected to show a further increase because of construction of Redhouse Park in the intervening period.
Listed buildings and structures
The parish has four Grade II*
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 ...
s (the parish church,
the Almshouses, the Manor House, and the Pavilions), a further 20 Grade II listings, and one
scheduled 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 ...
(two small
brick kiln
Brick Kiln is a settlement in the east of the island of Nevis in Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Kitts and Nevis (), officially the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis, is an island country and microstate consisting of the two islands o ...
s).
[Great Linford Brickworks ]
Images of Great Linford CP
See also
*
Little Linford
Little Linford is a village in the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It is about a mile west of Newport Pagnell, near the M1 motorway. The village is separated from its neighbour and namesake Great Linford (and the rest of the Mi ...
in the adjoining parish of
Haversham
Haversham is a village in the City of Milton Keynes unitary authority area, in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated to the north of (and separated by the River Great Ouse from) the Milton Keynes urban area, near Wolverton and about north of ...
-cum-
Little Linford
Little Linford is a village in the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It is about a mile west of Newport Pagnell, near the M1 motorway. The village is separated from its neighbour and namesake Great Linford (and the rest of the Mi ...
.
*
Linford Wood
Linford Wood is a Local Nature Reserve in East Tilbury in Essex. It is owned and managed by Thurrock Council.
The site has mixed woodland, a willow plantation, hedges, ditches and an open area. Birds include tawny owls, great spotted woodpecker ...
in the adjoining
Stantonbury
Stantonbury is a district and civil parish of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The toponym ''Stanton'' is derived from an Old English term for "stone-built farmstead" and the ''bury'' element from the French family who held it in 1235. ...
parish.
Notes
References
External links
*
The village on navigable 1946 O. S. map
{{authority control
Villages in Buckinghamshire
Areas of Milton Keynes
Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire