Wolverton is a constituent town 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. It is located at the northern edge of Milton Keynes, beside 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 ...

, 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 ...

and 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 W ...

. It is the administrative seat of

Wolverton and Greenleys Wolverton and Greenleys is a civil parish with a town council in Milton Keynes, England. It is north-west of Central Milton Keynes, and according to the 2011 census had a population of 12,492. It includes Wolverton, Old Wolverton, Wolverton ...

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 ...

. It is one of the places in historic Buckinghamshire that went into the foundation of Milton Keynes in 1967. The village recorded in

Domesday 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 ...

is known today as Old Wolverton but, because of peasant clearances in the early 17th century, only field markings remain of the medieval settlement. Modern Wolverton is a new settlement founded in the early 19th century as a

railway town A railway town, or railroad town, is a settlement that originated or was greatly developed because of a railway station or junction at its site. North America During the construction of the First transcontinental railroad in the 1860s, temporar ...

, with its centre relocated about to the south-east.

History

Old Wolverton

The town name is an

Old English language Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

word, and means 'Wulfhere's settlement'. It was recorded 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 ...

of 1086 as ''Wluerintone''. The original Wolverton was a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

settlement just north and west of today's town. This site is now known as Old Wolverton, although the medieval village is all but gone. The

ridge and furrow Ridge and furrow is an archaeological pattern of ridges (Medieval Latin: ''sliones'') and troughs created by a system of ploughing used in Europe during the Middle Ages, typical of the open-field system. It is also known as rig (or rigg) and f ...

pattern of agriculture can still be seen in the nearby fields. The Saxon Church of the Holy Trinity (rebuilt in 1819) still sits next to the Norman

Motte and Bailey 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 ...

site. Only the earth mound remains of the Norman castle, though the Saxon tower still stands as central to the rebuilt church, clad in the early 19th century 'Anglo-Norman' style. Next door to the church is a house built in 1729 which later became the vicarage; the front door has stonework from the nearby, demolished manor house of the 16th century including the de Longueville family coat of arms, and pieces from the earlier church building. A

talbot (dog) The Talbot was a type of hunting hound common in England during the Middle Ages. It is depicted in art of the period as small to medium-sized, white in colour, with short legs, large powerful feet, a deep chest with a slender waist, long dr ...

, another symbol of the family, once graced the side-entrance which now marks the boundary between the ground floor of the house and its downstairs toilet. The manor of Wolverton was held by the de Wolverton family until the mid-fourteenth century. Sir John de Wolverton died in 1349 leaving an infant son, Ralph, who died in 1351, and two daughters. The elder daughter Margaret or Margery, married

John le Hunt John le Hunt, or Hunter (died after 1351) was an English-born judge who served briefly as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. He was the ancestor of the prominent Longueville family of Wolverton (which is now part of Milton Keynes). Career He was bor ...

Lord Chief Justice of Ireland The Court of King's Bench (or Court of Queen's Bench during the reign of a Queen) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The Lord Chief Justice was the most senior judge ...

, and had in turn one daughter, Joan le Hunt, who married John Longueville of

Billing, Northamptonshire Billing is a civil parish in eastern Northampton in England, covering the Great Billing, Little Billing, Ecton Brook and Bellinge areas. It is geographically the largest area of Northampton. According to the 2001 census the parish had a popul ...

. They had at least one son, George, through whom Wolverton passed by inheritance to the Longueville/Longville family. Of the historic village itself, only field patterns marking a

deserted village An abandoned village is a village that has, for some reason, been deserted. In many countries, and throughout history, thousands of villages have been deserted for a variety of causes. Abandonment of villages is often related to epidemic, f ...

remain, along with two village ponds. The desertion of Old Wolverton was due to

enclosure Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or " common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...

of the large strip cultivation fields into small "closes" by the local landlords, the Longville family, who turned

arable land Arable land (from the la, arabilis, "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for th ...

over to

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or sw ...

. By 1654, the family had completely enclosed the parish. With the end of the

feudal system Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structu ...

, the peasants had lost their land and

tillage Tillage is the agricultural preparation of soil by mechanical agitation of various types, such as digging, stirring, and overturning. Examples of human-powered tilling methods using hand tools include shoveling, picking, mattock work, hoein ...

grazing rights Grazing rights is the right of a user to allow their livestock to feed (graze) in a given area. United States Grazing rights have never been codified in United States law, because such common-law rights derive from the English concept of the ...

and were forced to find other work or starve. Thus Old Wolverton was reduced from about thirty peasant families in the mid 16th century to almost none, within the space of a century. The newer area, built about to the south-east for the railways in the 19th century, assumed the Wolverton name.

Canal village

The

passes around the northern and eastern edge of the modern town. The canal originally crossed 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 W ...

by descending 10 metres to the river by nine locks, crossing the river on the level and ascended by eight

locks Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

on the other side. This was time consuming for navigators and subject to disruption in time of flood.

Railway town

Wolverton Carriage Works geograph-2219108

In 1838, Wolverton was established as the site of the locomotive repair shop at the midpoint of the

London and Birmingham Railway The London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom, in operation from 1833 to 1846, when it became part of the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR). The railway line which the company opened in 1838, betw ...

then under construction. In 1846 the became part of the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

, who subsequently decided that locomotives would be built and repaired at

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...

. The last locomotives at Wolverton were built in 1863 and repaired until 1877, after which it concentrated on carriages including railway owned road vehicles. The Works has been the home of the

Royal Train A royal train is a set of railway carriages dedicated for the use of the monarch or other members of a royal family. Most monarchies with a railway system employ a set of royal carriages. Australia The various government railway operators of ...

fleet. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, the Works built parts for Lee–Enfield rifles, bomber plane timber frames,

Hawker Typhoon The Hawker Typhoon is a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was intended to be a medium-high altitude interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, but several design problems were encountered and i ...

wings, Horsa Gliders, and ambulances. Like many older industrial sites, camouflage paint from the period can still be seen on the factory buildings. A pillbox remains opposite the Works Wall. The railway company built some 200 houses for its workers by 1844 along with schools, a church and a market. L&NW also invited

George McCorquodale George McCorquodale (10 May 1817-1895) was an English printer who founded the McCorquodale Group, once one of the UK's largest printing companies. Career McCorquodale was the son of Hugh McCorquodale and Lucia Hall. He started his printing caree ...

to establish what became a substantial

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...

works in the town.

Church of St George the Martyr

A new

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...

parish church was built in 1843 to serve the new town centre: like the Church of the Holy Trinity in Old Wolverton, it is a

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 I ...

rated a II*.

Historic football ground

The football ground beside the railway works and the station was home to the works team and subsequently to Wolverton Town football club. The stand, built in 1899, is believed to be the oldest covered football stand in the world. It was set to be demolished by September 2006 because its owners wished to redevelop the site for housing and a community park. The development went ahead and a replica stand now sits on the original site to mark the significance of the original construction, painted green as it used to be.

The Wolverton Agora

The Agora Centre was built by the Milton Keynes Development Corporation in 1978 to replace the old market hall in Creed Street. The Agora Centre was known for its shops as well as regular roller-disco events throughout the 1980s. The building was either loved and hated by residents who either viewed the building as a community asset or as a blight on the town that split the town in two (due to the size of the site). The building was often called a "spaceship" and, when redevelopment plans were released, a "farewell" ceremony was held for the building at the 2019 Wolverton Lantern Festival where the "Agoran" aliens (represented by remote controlled robots) returned to the Agora and shut the shutters for the final time. The Agora Centre was demolished in 2022 and is due to be replaced with a development which reinstates the original Victorian road structure and a plans to include 86 new properties and 8 shops. Another Agora Centre is currently open for business in

Bletchley Bletchley is a constituent town of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated in the south-west of Milton Keynes, and is split between the civil parishes of Bletchley and Fenny Stratford and West Bletchley. Bletchley is best know ...

's high street, Queensway.

Listed buildings and structures

, Wolverton and Greenleys civil parish has two scheduled monuments and two Grade II*

s. Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton. ();
Church of St George the Martyr ();
Stephenson's railway bridge over the Grand Union () There are a further 38 Grade II listed buildings or objects in the parish.

Green spaces

Wolverton was built with a park (Victoria Park) with a cricket ground, an expanse of allotments for the country people who became the railway works employees, and access to the footpaths to north and south. An extensive section of the

flood plain to the north of Wolverton has been excavated for sand and gravel and the resulting area developed into a nature reserve of flood-tolerant trees, called the Flood Plain Forest.

Secret Garden

In 1999 a group of Wolverton residents clubbed together to persuade

Railtrack Railtrack was a group of companies that owned the track, signalling, tunnels, bridges, level crossings and all but a handful of the stations of the British railway system from 1994 until 2002. It was created as part of the privatisation of ...

to sell to the Town Council a piece of derelict land for £1. The council then leased the land to the residents' group for a garden to be created. This piece of land, which sits alongside the Grand Union Canal, has been turned into a small park known locally as the “Secret Garden”, something the residents felt was missing from the largely industrial area. It is maintained by volunteers and hosts outdoor music events in the summer months. It is open to all throughout the year. Previously the garden was the site of several

townhouse A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type of city residence ...

s built in the early

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwa ...

for the railways. One of the houses was the residence of the station master for Wolverton. Now the foundations and cellars of two of these houses have been excavated and form a feature in the “Secret Garden”.

Wolverton railway station

A "toy town" wooden ticket office that stood on the railway bridge, facing out onto Stratford Road, with steps leading down to the platform was actually the third location for a station in Wolverton. The original temporary stop was on the embankment above Wolverton Park,Mapley family history
– Accessed 7 December 2007 a larger station and refreshment rooms were soon built at a location behind what is now Glyn Square. In the 1880s the main line was re-routed to the east to allow for expansion and the current station site has been in use since. The wooden station stood here for over 100 years, however Milton Keynes Borough Council did not nominate it to be a

and

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four (British ra ...

demolished it in 1991, putting a "temporary" unit on platform one instead. Since then, passengers must use stairways connecting an overhead open walkway to access the other three platforms of the station, making them inaccessible to passengers with mobility impairments. The Council's 'Regeneration Strategy for Wolverton' aimed to build a new station in the original position on the road bridge over the railway. But the new station was built at platform level, starting in summer 2011 and completed in summer 2012. Following its completion Milton Keynes Council undertook an internal audit to establish why the project had incurred a £2 million overspend, and identified failings including a rushed initial decision to accept a defective tender and weak management thereafter.

Education

The town has a secondary school (the Radcliffe School), a primary school (Bushfields) and a

special school Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

(Slated Row).

Civil parish

Wolverton formed a

within the Stratford and Wolverton Rural District from 1894 to 1919, that also contained the parishes of Calverton,

Stony Stratford Stony Stratford is a constituent town of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. Historically it was a market town on the important route from London to Chester ( Watling Street, now the A5). It is also the name of a civil parish with a town ...

East and Stony Stratford West. The parishes had previously been part of the Potterspury Rural Sanitary District until it was disbanded in 1894. In 1919 these parishes, combined with

New Bradwell New Bradwell is (mainly) an Edwardian era village, modern district and civil parish in north-west Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. Together with Wolverton (on the other side of the West Coast Main Line), it was built primarily to house ...

, became part of the 'Stratford and Wolverton Urban District' (renamed the 'Wolverton Urban District' in 1920). This urban district would remain in existence until 1974 when it became part of the then District of Milton Keynes. Today, Wolverton is the larger element of the modern parish of

Sport in Wolverton

The town's sports clubs include * Wolverton Town Cricket Club: the club plays in Divisions 2 and 6 of The Oxford Times Cherwell League and play their home matches at the Cricket Ground on Osborne Street. * Wolverton Town F.C., an amateur football club * Wolverton Tennis Club * Wolverton Town Bowls Club * Wolverton Bowls Club * Wolverton Pool & Sports Centre – The new centre is on the site of the former 'Wolverton Lido', an open-air pool open during the summer months.

Twin town

* Comines-Warneton, Belgium. It was declared a

sister city A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...

of Wolverton in 2006; this was partly initiated through the finding of letters from a 16-year-old soldier from Wolverton named Albert French. He is buried in Hyde Park Corner (Royal Berks) Cemetery at Comines-Warneton, just outside the village of Ploegsteert.

ONS urban sub-area (former)

For the 2001 census, the

Office for National Statistics The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament. Overview The ONS is responsible for ...

used the boundaries of the former Wolverton Urban District Council to designate an Urban Sub-area that it called Wolverton/Stony Stratford. The area covered included Stony Stratford CP, Wolverton and Greenleys CP, New Bradwell CP, Stantonbury CP and part of Great Linford CP. At the 2001 Census, the population of the Sub-area was 60,359.KS01 Usual resident population: Census 2001, Key Statistics for urban areas, line 1815
/ref> (For the 2011 census, the ONS ceased to use this designation in favour of a much larger 'Built-up Area Sub-Division' it called 'Milton Keynes', despite its excluding Bletchley.)

References

External links

"''Rides on Railways'' by Samuel Sidney"
at

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital libr ...

. See pages 36 to 43 for a contemporary account (and critique) of the early years of the new railway town and the Works.
Wolverton Words at the Living Archive project
: Accents in Wolverton/

and how they have changed between the generations, playground games, and memories of older Wolvertonians, as collected by Year7 children a
Bushfield Middle School

''A Vision of Britain'' – Wolverton Urban District
{{authority control Populated places on the River Great Ouse Milton Keynes Railway towns in England Towns in Buckinghamshire