Bancroft, Milton Keynes
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Stantonbury is a district 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
of
Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...
,
Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...
, England, situated roughly 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 ...
. The
toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...
''Stanton'' is derived from an
Old English Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
term for "stone-built farmstead" and the ''bury'' element from the French family who held it in 1235. The original Stantonbury is a
deserted medieval village In the United Kingdom, a deserted medieval village (DMV) is a former settlement which was abandoned during the Middle Ages, typically leaving no trace apart from earthworks or cropmarks. If there are fewer than three inhabited houses the conve ...
now known as Stanton Low; the Stantonbury name has been reused for the modern district at the heart of the civil parish.


Civil parish

As well as Stantonbury itself, the
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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
of Stantonbury includes the districts of Bancroft and Bancroft Park, Blue Bridge, Bradville and Linford Wood. The population of the parish of Stantonbury grew from 19 at the 1971 census to 3,938 according to the 1981 census. By the time of the 2001 census its population had reached 9,010. At the 2011 census, it had 10,084 people.


Bancroft

Liz Leyh's '' Concrete Cows'' (copy) in Bancroft The residential Bancroft district is divided by Shenley Brook into Bancroft Park to the west and Bancroft to the east. The brook valley here is part of the flood control system and is a
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 Esplanade, shorelines. Examples o ...
for most of the year. There is a permanent wetland with associated plants and wildlife. The foundations of a
Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...
farm known as Bancroft Roman Villa are in what is now the North Loughton Park, overlooking the Shenley Brook. Rescue excavations in 1957 identified a group of perhaps four buildings, traces of a
hypocaust A hypocaust () is a system of central heating in a building that produces and circulates hot air below the floor of a room, and may also warm the walls with a series of pipes through which the hot air passes. This air can warm the upper floors a ...
and sherds of
Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
pottery. A section of mosaic flooring recovered from the site is in the "guest services lounge" of
Central Milton Keynes shopping centre The Central Milton Keynes shopping area is a regional shopping centre located in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England which is about north-west of London. It comprises two adjacent shopping centres, (a grade II listed building, originall ...
. A copy of the famous ''
Concrete Cows The ''Concrete Cows'' in Milton Keynes, England are an iconic work of sculpture, created in 1978 by the American artist Liz Leyh. There are three cows and three calves, approximately half life size. The ''Cows'' are constructed from scrap, s ...
'' sculpture is at the southern end of the park (the original is in the
Milton Keynes Museum Milton Keynes Museum is an independent local museum in the parish of Wolverton and Greenleys in Milton Keynes, England. It is mostly run by volunteers with a small number of paid staff. The museum is housed in a former Victorian farmstead. It ...
). The ''Cows'' were originally sited here. Bancroft is a haven for birds and one of the best places to see a
common kingfisher The common kingfisher (''Alcedo atthis''), also known as the Eurasian kingfisher and river kingfisher, is a small kingfisher with seven subspecies recognized within its wide distribution across Eurasia and North Africa. It is resident in much of ...
. This is because of the wide variety of habitats the Parks Trust has created, from old grassland managed as wildflower meadows, through patches of thorn scrub to extensive marsh. cowslips and
salad burnet ''Sanguisorba minor'', the salad burnet, garden burnet, small burnet, burnet (also used for ''Sanguisorba'' generally), :wiktionary:pimprenelle, pimpernelle, Toper's plant, and burnet-bloodwort, is an edible perennial plant, perennial herbaceou ...
flower in the spring, followed in summer to the customary flowers of traditional hay meadow:
lady's bedstraw ''Galium verum'' (lady's bedstraw or yellow bedstraw) is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Rubiaceae. It is widespread across most of Europe, North Africa, and temperate Asia from Palestine, Lebanon and Turkey to Japan and Kam ...
and birdsfoot trefoil. Bancroft
pétanque Pétanque (, ; ; ) is a sport that falls into the category of boules sports (along with Raffa (boules), raffa, bocce, boule lyonnaise, Bowls, lawn bowls, and Crown green bowls, crown green bowling). In these sports, players or teams play thei ...
Piste, which is near the Roman villa site, is provided by the Parks Trust free of charge. Also known as boules, pétanque is a traditional game played with steel balls on any sandy or gravelly surface across a large part of Europe. The Bancrofts comprise just half the H2/H3/V5/V6 grid square, which is divided by 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, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...
; the line is also the parish boundary, with Stacey Bushes (in
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 Wol ...
parish) on the other side of the tracks. Monks Way (H3,
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, Brackley, Banbury and Stratford-upon-Avon. For most of its length, it is a nar ...
) bounds the parish from the neighbouring Bradwell.


Blue Bridge

This small district is mainly residential, near 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, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...
and the
Grand Union Canal The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the Canals of the United Kingdom, British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another to Birmi ...
(which separates it from Stonebridge, the rest of the grid square). It is also home to its own residential club, which it shares with Bancroft Park. The original Blue Bridge (1835), now closed to all traffic, is one of the oldest bridges over 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, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...
and is a Grade II listed structure. It was built to provide access across the new railway cutting from Stacey Hill Farm (now the
Milton Keynes Museum Milton Keynes Museum is an independent local museum in the parish of Wolverton and Greenleys in Milton Keynes, England. It is mostly run by volunteers with a small number of paid staff. The museum is housed in a former Victorian farmstead. It ...
) to its lands to the east, which subsequently became the Blue Bridge neighbourhood.


Bradville

This district, between Bradwell,
New Bradwell New Bradwell is (mainly) an Edwardian era village, modern district and civil parish in north-west Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of Central Milton Keynes. Together with Wolverton (on the other side of the West Coast ...
and Stantonbury itself, is mainly residential. The windmill is a Grade II
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
.


Linford Wood

As well as the
ancient woodland In the United Kingdom, ancient woodland is that which has existed continuously since 1600 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (or 1750 in Scotland). The practice of planting woodland was uncommon before those dates, so a wood present in 1600 i ...
that gives it its name, this district is mainly for high-tech industry. It is best known in Milton Keynes as the site of the telecommunications tower, for which it was chosen for its high elevation. It was originally part of the Linford demesne.


Oakridge Park

This small district of private housing development, part of the northern expansion of Milton Keynes outside its 1967 designated boundary, dates from about 2010. There is a small local centre with an Asda supermarket, a pharmacy and other small shops.


Stantonbury

This district lies 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 ...
, between
Great Linford Great Linford is a historic village, district and wider civil parish in the north of Milton Keynes, England, between Wolverton and Newport Pagnell, and roughly north of Central Milton Keynes. Great Linford village Great Linford was one of the ...
and
Wolverton Wolverton ( ) is a constituent town of Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban ar ...
, and south of Oakridge Park. It is largely residential, but the greater proportion of the area is taken up by two secondary schools ( Stantonbury School and the Webber Independent School), a Theatre, leisure centre with a 25m swimming pool and an all-weather, competition standard, athletics track. Modern Stantonbury lies on land historically known as "Stanton High" (as opposed to "Stanton Low").


Stanton Low

Stanton Low lies near 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 ...
and is the deserted village of historic Stantonbury, one of the rural Buckinghamshire villages that were included in the area designated in 1967 to become Milton Keynes. Today this is an uninhabited agricultural area near the river. Little if anything remains of the deserted village other than the ruins of the parish church of St Peter. In the late 1950s the ruins of a Roman villa were discovered here, but were completely destroyed by gravel extraction.


Church of St Peter

The former
Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...
of
Saint Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...
in Stanton Low is
Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...
, with a mid-12th century
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 ...
and even earlier
chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...
. There was a
squint Squinting is the action of looking at something with partially closed eyes. Squinting is most often practiced by people who suffer from Refractive error, refractive errors of the eye who either do not have or are not using their glasses. Squint ...
in the south wall of the chancel, but this was later blocked. St. Peter's was extensively rebuilt in the 13th century; the
Decorated Gothic English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed a ...
east window and
piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Lutherans and Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a pisci ...
were added in the 14th century. By the latter part of the 17th century Stantonbury was almost deserted but the church was still in use; between 1668 and 1674 the
Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...
poet and hymnwriter John Mason was its parish priest. In 1736 only four houses remained in the village, but St Peter's was still in use in 1927 and John Piper painted a
watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the ...
of it in about 1940. By 1955 the church had been disused for a number of years; the following year the roof collapsed. and was not repaired. By 1973 St. Peter's was a ruin, and the east window and ornamented Norman
chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...
arch had been removed (in 1963, to the Church of St James in New Bradwell.) The building is a Grade II
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
. Because the civil parish boundary runs along the canal, St Peter's is actually in Haversham-cum-Little Linford civil parish.


References


Sources

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External links


Stantonbury Brass

Running track
{{authority control Villages in Buckinghamshire Areas of Milton Keynes Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire