Ravenstone is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Milton Keynes and ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire, England.[1] It is located two and a half miles west of Olney, four miles north of Newport Pagnell (and of the northern boundary of Milton Keynes itself).
The village name is an Old English language word, and means 'Hrafn's farm'.
In 1255 a priory of Augustinian canons was founded in Ravenstone by King Henry III. Later, in 1525 it was taken over by Cardinal Wolsey but seized by the Crown in 1544 along with the rest of Wolsey's possessions. After changing hands privately a number of occasions the building was eventually demolished, and today nothing remains.
The parish church in Ravenstone is dedicated to All Saints. It contains the tomb of Heanage Finch, the 1st Earl of Nottingham. He also built the neighbouring almshouses, originally 6 for men and 6 for women, now converted to 6 cottages. The original inhabitants had to be single and members of the Church of England, and received a small pension, firewood, and a new cloak every Christmas.[2]
The church was also presided over for a brief period by Thomas Scott, author of popular theological works and one of the founders of the Church Missionary Society.
The only communal facility in the village is a village hall. A post office and The Wheatsheaf pub closed in the early 1990s.
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