The civil parish of Loughton and Great Holm includes the districts of

Loughton Loughton () is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. Part of the metropolitan and urban area of London, the town borders Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill, and is northeast of Chari ...

, Great Holm, the

National Bowl The National Bowl (originally the Milton Keynes Bowl) is an entertainment venue located in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The site was a former clay pit (for brick-making), filled in and raised to form an amphitheatre using sub-soil ex ...

and Elfield Park, West Rooksley, Loughton Lodge, and Knowlhill 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 England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is bordered by H4 Dansteed Way to the north, V4 Watling Street to the west, a tiny stretch of H8 Standing Way to the south, and 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 ...

to the east. It was renamed from Loughton to Loughton and Great Holm in 2013

Loughton

Loughton is an ancient village and modern district. The village spreads between

Watling Street Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main R ...

and the modern

A5 road A5 Road may refer to: ;Africa *A5 highway (Nigeria), a road connecting Lagos and Ibadan * A5 road (Zimbabwe), a road connecting Harare and Francistown ;Americas * Quebec Autoroute 5, a road in Quebec, Canada * County Route A5 (California) or Bowm ...

. It is to the west of, and about 1 mile from,

Central Milton Keynes Central Milton Keynes is the central business district of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England and a #Civil parish, civil parish in its own right, with a town council#England and Wales, town council. The district is approximately long by w ...

, with pedestrian access to

Milton Keynes Central railway station Milton Keynes Central railway station serves Central Milton Keynes and the surrounding area of Milton Keynes, England. The station is located on the West Coast Main Line about northwest of London. The station is served by Avanti West Coast int ...

. The original village has now been incorporated into the modern 'grid square' of Loughton. However much of the character of the old village remains; to the north-east of Bradwell Road the area bounded by School Lane and Church Lane contains the Church and remnants of the original parish of Great Loughton. To the south-west of Bradwell Road, around The Green there is a cluster of several sixteenth century buildings (Manor Farm, Manor Farm Cottages and Cell Farm) which constitute the remains of the original parish of Little Loughton. Today Loughton is a mainly residential area but is also home to a large Equestrian Centre, in the grounds of which the medieval field pattern and

fish pond A fish pond or fishpond is a controlled pond, small artificial lake or retention basin that is stocked with fish and is used in aquaculture for fish farming, for recreational fishing, or for ornamental purposes. Fish ponds are a classical g ...

can still be seen. The district is bounded by the A5 to the east, H5 Portway to the north, V4 Watling Street to the west and H6 Childs Way to the south.

Great Holm

Great Holm is primarily a residential district and contains a high point overlooking much of the central area of Milton Keynes. The MacIntyre Charity which provides support for people with learning disabilities has a care home in Great Holm and a large centre providing a variety of day time activities. They also run a popular coffee shop and bakery which is open to the public but provides supported employment for people with learning disabilities.

Loughton Lodge

Loughton Lodge is a small area of Great Holm next to Loughton 'grid square' linked to Loughton by an underpass under which runs the old Bradwell Road and separated from the bulk of Great Holm by Lodge Lake (a

balancing lake A balancing lake (also flood basin or Sustainable urban drainage scheme) is a term used in the U.K. describing an element of an urban drainage system used to control flooding by temporarily storing flood waters. The term balancing pond is also ...

). Loughton Lodge is home to the

National Badminton Centre Badminton England is the national governing body for the sport of badminton in England. It aims to govern, encourage and develop the sport throughout England. Originally established in 1893 as the Badminton Association of England in Portsmou ...

, health club,

Girl Guides Girl Guides (known as Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909 when girls requested to join the then-grassroot ...

site and a small gated development of luxury apartments. This district is bordered by H4 Dansteed Way to the north, V4 Watling Street to the west, H5 Portway to the south and the A5 to the east.

Knowlhill

Knowlhill is primarily an employment area with a large parkland alongside the A5. Much of this area is a

flood plain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

of the Shenley Brook, and contains the "Teardrop Lakes" — small balancing lakes. In the late 1980s, Knowlhill was designated by

Milton Keynes Development Corporation Milton Keynes Development Corporation (MKDC) was a development corporation operating from 1967 to 1992 oversee the planning and early development of Milton Keynes, a new town midway between London and Birmingham. Establishment MKDC established o ...

as being the industrial part of the "Energy Park" – with the residential part across

(in Shenley Lodge), home to the 1986

Energy World Energy World was a demonstration project of 51 low-energy houses constructed in the Shenley Lodge area of Milton Keynes, United Kingdom. The project was promoted by the Milton Keynes Development Corporation and culminated in a public exhibition ...

exhibition. All buildings were expected to meet higher standards of

energy efficiency Energy efficiency may refer to: * Energy efficiency (physics), the ratio between the useful output and input of an energy conversion process ** Electrical efficiency, useful power output per electrical power consumed ** Mechanical efficiency, a ra ...

than were normal at the time, and five exemplar offices were built before 1990 including the then headquarters of Royal Mail

Parcelforce Parcelforce Worldwide is a courier and logistics service in the United Kingdom. Parcelforce Worldwide is a trading name of the Royal Mail and is organised within the UK Parcels, International and Letters division of the group. The company del ...

. In 1990 the rest of the area was unsuccessfully marketed as a single large-scale development opportunity, intended to fund a National Energy Centre through development gain. Although this plan failed, the area retains a strong link with

sustainable energy Energy is sustainable if it "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". Most definitions of sustainable energy include considerations of environmental aspects such as greenh ...

and hosts the main offices for the

National Energy Foundation The National Energy Foundation (NEF) is an independent British charity, established to improve the use of energy in buildings. Aims The charity aims to ''improve the use of energy in buildings''. This statement simplified the earlier stated ...

(which occupies a low energy building on the intended site of the National Energy Centre), th
Zero Carbon HubUnited Sustainable Energy Agency
and the

National Home Energy Rating The National Home Energy Rating Scheme (NHER) is both a UK accreditation scheme for energy assessors and a rating scale for the energy efficiency of housing. The NHER was owned and operated by National Energy Services (NES). Until 2011, NES was ...

Scheme. The area also contains the head office of the

National House Building Council The National House Building Council, usually known as the NHBC, states its primary purpose as raising the construction standards of new homes in the United Kingdom (UK), and providing consumer protection for homebuyers through its 10-year Buildm ...

(NHBC) and a testing laboratory set up by the Consumers' Association but subsequently owned by

Intertek Intertek Group plc is a British multinational assurance, inspection, product testing and certification company headquartered in London, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. History I ...

, as well as lawyers, graphic design companies and warehousing. This district is bordered by H6 Childs Way to the north, V4 Watling Street to the west, H7 Chaffron Way to the south and the A5 to the east.

Tear-drop lakes

The

linear park A linear park is a type of park that is significantly longer than it is wide. These linear parks are strips of public land running along canals, rivers, streams, defensive walls, electrical lines, or highways and shorelines. Examples of linear p ...

through the district is an important local leisure amenity for most of the year but its technical purpose is to provide flood control for the Loughton Brook, a tributary of the

River Ouzel The River Ouzel , also known as the River Lovat, is a river in England, and a tributary of the River Great Ouse. It rises in the Chiltern Hills and flows north to join the Ouse at Newport Pagnell. It is usually called the ''River Ouzel'', e ...

(itself a tributary of the

River Great Ouse The River Great Ouse () is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the Wa ...

). Flooding is controlled by a cascade of tear-drop shaped

s, though in extreme conditions the neighbouring park land can accept flooding without undue property damage.

National Bowl and Elfield Park

The National Bowl and its associated land is almost triangular, bordered by H7 Chaffron Way to the north, V4 Watling Street to the west, a tiny stretch of H8 Standing Way to the south, and the A5 to the east. The adjacent Elfield Park is a narrow strip of land between the A5 and the railway line, in part a

nature studies The nature study movement (alternatively, Nature Study or nature-study) was a popular education movement that originated in the United States and spread throughout the English-speaking world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Nature study ...

reserve and in part a general utility space.

References

External links

Official parish council website

Official MacIntyre charity website
{{Milton Keynes parishes Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire Milton Keynes