HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Stony Stratford is a
market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...
in
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 ...
and 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 area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...
, England. It is located on Watling Street, historically the
Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...
from London to Chester. It is also 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 ...
with a
town council A town council, city council or municipal council is a form of local government for small municipalities. Usage of the term varies under different jurisdictions. Republic of Ireland In 2002, 49 urban district councils and 26 town commissi ...
in the City of Milton Keynes. It is in the north-west corner of the Milton Keynes urban area, bordering
Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...
and separated from it by the River Great Ouse. In 2011 the parish had a population of 7736.


History

Since at least Roman times, there has been a settlement here at the ford of Watling Street over the Great Ouse. The town's market charter dates from 1194 and its status as a town from 1215. The town name is
Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...
in origin, and means "stony ford on a Roman road". The road in this instance is Watling Street, which runs through the middle of the town and crosses the River Ouse just outside it (nowadays by bridge). In 1789, at Windmill Field (probably) in the parish of Old Stratford near Stony Stratford, an urn was uncovered which contained three fibulae and two headdresses. Known as the '' Stony Stratford Hoard'', it also contained around thirty fragments of silver plaques which were decorated with images of the Roman gods
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
,
Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...
and
Victory The term victory (from ) originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal duel, combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitutes a strategic vi ...
. There were also inscriptions to
Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...
and Vulcan leading to theories that this was a votive hoard associated with a Roman temple. The hoard is now kept at the
British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
. There has been a chartered market in Stony Stratford since 1194 (by
charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...
of King Richard I).R. H. Britnell, 'The Origins of Stony Stratford', ''Records of Buckinghamshire'', XX (1977), pp. 451–3 (Until the early 1900s, livestock marts were still held in the market square but in more recent times the square has become a car park, apart from a monthly farmers' market in one corner. The weekly market has moved to Timor Court, and of course no longer deals in livestock). Stony Stratford formally became a town when it received
letters patent Letters patent (plurale tantum, plural form for singular and plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, President (government title), president or other head of state, generally granti ...
from King John in 1215. Stony Stratford was the location where, in 1290, an Eleanor cross was built in memory of the recently deceased Queen Eleanor of Castile, as her funeral cortège had stopped overnight in the town en route to London. The cross was destroyed during the
English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
. The former ''Rose and Crown Inn'' at Stony Stratford was reputedly where, in 1483, the boy-king Edward V stayed the night before he was taken to London (to become one of the
Princes in the Tower The Princes in the Tower refers to the mystery of the fate of the deposed King Edward V of England and his younger brother Prince Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, heirs to the throne of King Edward IV of England. The brothers were the only ...
) by his uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who soon became
King Richard III Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Boswor ...
. Edward had been returning from Ludlow Castle in the Welsh Marches to London to claim his crown on the death of his father,
Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...
, when he was met in Stony Stratford by his uncle, who later deposed him. The inn is now a private house but a plaque on the front wall commemorates the event.
Catherine of Aragon Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, historical Spanish: , now: ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England as the Wives of Henry VIII, first wife of King Henry VIII from their marr ...
rode from London to address her troops assembling here for the Battle of Flodden, and went on to stay at Woburn Abbey in September 1513. The town has twice become almost completely consumed by fire, the first time in 1736 and the second in 1742. The only building to escape the second fire was the tower of the
chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...
of St Mary Magdalen, now a
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, visu ...
. Since at least the 15th century, Stony Stratford was an important stop on the road to Ireland via
Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...
, becoming quite rich on the proceeds in the 16th century. In the stage coach era of the 17th and early 18th centuries, it was a major resting place and exchange point with the east–west route with coaching inns to accommodate coach travellers. Traffic on Watling Street and the consequent wear and tear to it was such as to necessitate England's first turnpike trust, from Hockliffe to Stony Stratford, in 1707. In the early 19th century, over thirty mail coaches and
stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...
es a day stopped here. That traffic came to an abrupt end in 1838 when the London to Birmingham Railway (now the West Coast Main Line) was opened at Wolverton – ironically, just three years after the bridge over the Ouse had been rebuilt. Wolverton railway works provided an important source of employment in the town, with the Wolverton and Stony Stratford Tramway being built to serve the workers. With the arrival of the motor car, the town's position on the original A5 road made it again an important stopping point for travellers. The 1841 census lists the population as 1,757.


Cock and Bull Story

Due to the juxtaposition of two hotels in the centre of town, ''The Cock'' and ''The Bull'' (both originally coaching inns on the main London
Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...
turnpike), it is claimed locally that the common phrase ''a cock and bull story'' originated here.


Listed buildings

The parish has one scheduled monument,The tower of the former Church of St Mary Magdalene. nine '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, and a further 134 buildings and structures listed at Grade II.


The modern town

Today Stony Stratford is a busy
market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...
. In early June, ''Stony Live'' is a week of cultural events that culminates in ''Folk on the Green'', a free festival of
folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...
,
folk rock Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...
and eclectic taste that takes over Horsefair Green.


Sport and leisure


Football

Stony Stratford Town F.C. are a Non-League football club, founded in 1898 who play at Ostler's Lane.


Cricket

Stony Stratford Cricket Club is an amateur
cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
club, officially founded in the 1898, that is based at Ostlers Lane. The club has five senior XI teams that compete on Saturdays in the Northamptonshire Cricket League, two women senior XI teams in the Home Counties Women's Cricket League, a Sunday XI team in the Bedfordshire County Cricket League and an established junior training section that play competitive cricket in the Buckinghamshire CB Junior League.


Tennis

Stony Stratford Lawn
Tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
Club was founded in 1923 and is based at Ostler's Lane. The club have 9 courts of which 7 are floodlit and a new club house. Both Men and Women teams compete in the local Milton Keynes leagues, and Juniors also play in the Aegon Team Tennis League.


Bowls

Stony Stratford
Bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...
Club was formed in 1923, and started playing on the present site at Ostler's Lane in 1924. The club compete in the Bletchley and District Bowls League and became league champions in 1994 and 2016.


Croquet

Stony Stratford
Croquet Croquet ( or ) is a sport which involves hitting wooden, plastic, or composite balls with a mallet through hoops (often called Wicket, "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court. Variations In all forms of croquet, in ...
Club play on the Ancell Trust Sports Grounds at Ostler's Lane. The club won the East Anglian Croquet Federation's Handicap League in 2016.


In film

Scenes from the 1987 cult film '' Withnail and I'' were filmed in Stony Stratford. Cox and Robinsons chemist is the 'Penrith tea rooms' where Withnail demands "the finest wines known to humanity." The Crown pub became the 'King Henry pub' in the film. Both premises are on Market Square.


Civil parish


Historic parish

From about 1648, Stony Stratford was divided between the ecclesiastical parishes of Calverton and Wolverton, and covered by two chapelries: St Giles, attached to Calverton; and St Mary Magdalen, attached to Wolverton. St Mary Magdalen dates from about 1450, though only the tower remains from the 1742 fire. St Giles dates from the 15th century (as a
chantry chapel A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings: # a chantry service, a set of Church service, Christian liturgical celebrations for the dead (made up of the Requiem Mass and the Office of the Dead), or # a chantr ...
), but all but the tower was rebuilt in 1776 to accommodate the parishioners of St Mary Magdalen. A single civil parish of "Stony Stratford" is recorded in 1767, which was divided in the "late 18th century" in Stony Stratford East and Stony Stratford West CPs. Both the civil parishes became part of Wolverton Urban District in 1919. These urban parishes were wound up in 1927 and both added to the parish of Wolverton. In 1974, Wolverton Urban District became of the (then) Borough of Milton Keynes.


Modern parish

The civil parish consists of the land north of H2 Millers Way to the south, the boundary with Calverton parish to the west, the Great Ouse (and
Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...
) to the north and west, and the A5 road to the east. The V4 Watling Street becomes Queen Eleanor Street here as it follows the original Stony Stratford bypass. Its districts are these: * Stony Stratford itself (defined H1 Ridgeway (and reservation) to the southeast, the Calverton border to the southwest, then river around west to north, and Queen Eleanor Street to the east and southeast) * Galley Hill (H1 to the southeast, V4 to the southwest and the A5 around to the north-east). * Fullers Slade (H2 to the southeast, H1 to the northwest, V4 Watling Street to the southwest and the A5 to the northeast). The modern civil parish was established in 2001.


Transport


Road

The town is no longer on any national routes. Watling Street, a
Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...
, runs through the town (where it is called "London Road", "High Street" and "Towcester Road"): this was route of the A5 until it was rerouted (twice) onto new alignments in the latter half of the 20th century. Today, the A5 (towards Towcester or Dunstable), the A422 westbound (towards
Buckingham Buckingham ( ) is a market town in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, which had a population of 12,890 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census. The town lies approximately west of ...
) and the A508 (towards
Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...
) meet about away, at a roundabout just north of Old Stratford. Local roads link the town directly to Fenny Stratford, Wolverton and Winslow.


Rail

The nearest station to the town is Wolverton (about away), and is on the West Coast Main Line though only local stopping trains call there. Intercity services stop at Milton Keynes Central, about away. From 1887 to 1926, the Wolverton and Stony Stratford Tramway linked Stony Stratford with Wolverton and (briefly) Deanshanger.


Bus

Bus 6 (
Arriva Arriva Ltd. is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England. The company was originally established on 24 October 1938 as T Cowie Ltd. Initially focused on the sale of motorcycles, it relaunched shortl ...
) connects the town with Wolverton or Central Milton Keynes, Bletchley and the Lakes Estate; bus X6 (also operated by Arriva) connects the town with
Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery and the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, Waterside Theatre. It is located in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wycombe and Milt ...
via
Buckingham Buckingham ( ) is a market town in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, which had a population of 12,890 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census. The town lies approximately west of ...
or Central Milton Keynes via Milton Keynes Central railway station MK City Council also operates an on demand bus service known as "MK Connect", which serves the whole MK unitary authority area, including Stony Stratford.


Images of Stony Stratford


See also

* Wolverton and Stony Stratford Tramway * The Stony Stratford Hoard (actually found in Old Stratford parish).


References


External links


A tour of Stony Stratford, comparing early and modern photographs, at the Milton Keynes Heritage Association web site.


* ttp://stonystratfordmethodistchurch.synthasite.com Stony Stratford Methodist Church
'Parishes : Stony Stratford', A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 4 (1927), pp. 476–482.

Aerial photographs & video of Stony Stratford and the surrounding area.

Aerial panoramas of the landscape surrounding Stony Stratford.

Stony Stratford redevelopment, part of Milton Keynes – A Village Life on BFI Player.
* Historic mapping: ** (Old Stratford and north-west Stony Stratford) ** (South-east Stony Stratford to Kiln Farm ("Brickkiln Farm") ** (east end of Stony Stratford to west end of Wolverton, including Galley Hill and Wolverton Mill) {{authority control Towns in Buckinghamshire Market towns in Buckinghamshire Populated places on the River Great Ouse Milton Keynes Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire