Stony Stratford grew out of the small, north Buckinghamshire villages of Wolverton and Calverton as a settlement straddling Watling Street, while the associated hamlet of Old Stratford sprang up in the Northamptonshire parishes on the northern bank of the river Ouse. After the Roman legions left Watling Street, this section became the boundary between opposing forces; firstly of the Saxon king, Edward the Elder, and the Danes; then, much later, Parliament against the King in the Civil War.
By the time of Domesday Book a small community had evolved which developed into a county market town that also catered for the needs of travellers … an ancient ‘service station’. Its earliest surviving records are from the 12th century and, from time to time, royal visitors brought it into prominence. The town had its Eleanor Cross, marking the resting place of the body of Edward I’s wife, on its final journey to London; Royal huntsmen came to the nearby forests of Whittlewood and Salcey and Edward IV developed a romance with Elizabeth Woodville of Grafton manor. The capture of the boy king, Edward V by Richard, Duke of Gloucester, in Stony Stratford changed history as a key episode in the ‘Princes in the Tower’ story.
Two great fires, in 1739 and 1742, changed the face of the town forever, when many stone-built houses had to be replaced, usually in brick. Not long after, the Industrial Revolution brought even greater changes, with a great railway works in Wolverton by 1838 and a pioneering spirit that produced the Wolverton and Stony Stratford steam tramway and the fascinating boat-building firm of Edward Hayes. Much later, the new town of Milton Keynes led to further growth and change, from the 1960s, in a town that had been unchanged in size for many centuries until the nineteenth.
In this well-researched and splendidly illustrated new work, the authors explore the entire history of the town, describing many of the lesser-known characters who contributed to its story: doctors, teachers, architects and even a humble chimney-sweep. The book will be warmly welcomed throughout the area.
