Calverton is a

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 ...

in the

unitary authority area A unitary authority is a type of local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed ...

of the

City of Milton Keynes The City of Milton Keynes is a Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status, in Buckinghamshire, England. It is the northernmost district of the South East England Regions of England, Regio ...

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 England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and just outside the Milton Keynes urban area, situated roughly south of

Stony Stratford Stony Stratford is a market town in Buckinghamshire and a constituent town of Milton Keynes, England. It is located on Watling Street, historically the Roman road from London to Chester. It is also a civil parish with a town council in the Cit ...

, and west of Central Milton Keynes. The parish consists of one

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

, Lower Weald, and two

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

, Upper Weald and Middle Weald. Lower Weald is the largest of the three settlements, and Manor Farm, the parish church and the former parochial school are within its boundaries. The settlement name is

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 ...

, and means 'farm where calves are reared'. 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 the village was recorded as ''Calvretone''. The west side of nearby Stony Stratford was once included with the

ecclesiastic parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

of Calverton (the east side being in

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 ...

). "The manorial rights over the west side were held with those of Calverton,

hich Ij () is a village in Golabar Rural District of the Central District in Ijrud County, Zanjan province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq ...

led to the manor of Calverton being often called 'the manor of Calverton with Stony Stratford', and the fair and market of Stony Stratford were included among its

appurtenance An appurtenance is something subordinate to or belonging to another larger, principal entity, that is, an adjunct, satellite, or accessory that generally accompanies something else. until an Act of Parliament in the 18th century separated them. The parish of Calverton was part of Stratford and Wolverton Rural District from 1894 to 1919, when the rural district became an urban district, subsequently renamed

urban district in 1920. The area was re-established as a separate parish in 2001. The parish church is dedicated to All Saints. "It was rebuilt in stone in the 12th- and 14th-century styles between 1818 and 1824, when some of the old details were re-used".

Lower Weald

Lower Weald is the location of the parish church and Calverton Manor; the hamlets are located to the south east of the village centre, on the road to Whaddon. On 2 August 2011, Calverton Manor house featured in

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

's Restoration Home television series. The manor was acquired in 1616 by Sir Thomas Bennett, who had been

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the Mayors in England, mayor of the City of London, England, and the Leader of the council, leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded Order of precedence, precedence over a ...

in 1603. The house was extended in 1659 by his grandson Sir Simon Bennett. The manor house is reputedly haunted by the ghost of Simon's wife, Lady Grace Bennett, who was murdered there in 1694. The Bennett family also owned the neighbouring manor of Beachampton. The titles of the Lord de Calverton and Lord de Beachampton, but not the formerly-associated lands, of these two manors remain in the Bennett family to the present day.

Middle Weald

Middle Weald is a hamlet of about ten dwellings, about half a mile (1 km) from the parish church.

Upper Weald

Upper Weald is a hamlet of about twenty dwellings, a little over a mile (about 2 km) from the parish church. The hamlet includes the farmhouse of Fairfield Farm, which gives its name to the modern neighbourhood and civil parish, Fairfields, being developed on part of its former lands adjacent to

Watling Street Watling Street is a historic route in England, running from Dover and London in the southeast, via St Albans to Wroxeter. The road crosses the River Thames at London and was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the M ...

Listed buildings and structures

The parish has two 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 ...

s (Calverton Manor farm house and the parish church), and a further 24 buildings and structures with grade II listings. (the search function returned a further seven entries that are not in Calverton)

References

External links

{{Milton Keynes parishes Areas of Milton Keynes Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire