Great Linford

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Coordinates: 52°04′05″N 0°45′49″W / 52.0680°N 0.7637°W / 52.0680; -0.7637
Great Lindford

The Pavilion Great Linford Arts Centre.
Great Lindford

 Great Lindford shown within Buckinghamshire
Population 19,350 [1]
OS grid reference SP854414
Civil parish Great Lindford
Unitary authority Milton Keynes
Ceremonial county Buckinghamshire
Region South East
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town MILTON KEYNES
Postcode district MK14
Dialling code 01908
Police Thames Valley
Fire Buckinghamshire
Ambulance South Central
EU Parliament South East England
UK Parliament North Milton Keynes
List of places
UK
England
Buckinghamshire


Great Linford Manor.

Great Linford is a historic village, district and civil parish[2] in the northern part of Milton Keynes, England, between Wolverton and Newport Pagnell.

Great Linford village

Great Linford was one of the North Buckinghamshire villages incorporated into Milton Keynes at its designation in 1967.

Written as Great Linford to distinguish it from the even tinier Little Linford, the village is another on the Grand Union Canal. The name Linford is thought to derive from the crossing point over the River Ouse which now separates Great Linford from Little Linford to the north, where there were linden trees. The first reference to Linford occurs in 944, when "King Edmund gave to his thegn Aelfheah, land at Linforda with liberty to leave it to whom he wished"; it appears in the Domesday Book as Linforda.[3] Today, the outer buildings of the seventeenth-century Linford Manor form an Arts Centre, and the house itself is a recording studio.

In the early sixteenth century, the rector of this parish Dr Richard Napier was widely known as a medical practitioner, astrologer and curer of souls.[4] He was referred to by many in the upper classes, including the Earl of Sunderland who lived under his care for some time in 1629.[5]

Between 1817 and 1864 the village was the site of the junction between the Newport Pagnell Canal and the Grand Junction Canal.[6]

For a hundred years (1867 to 1967) Great Linford was served by Great Linford railway station on the Wolverton to Newport Pagnell branch line.

St. Andrews C. of E. Infant School, on the High Street, founded in 1901, has survived various threats of closure from the local education authorities. The school was also home to Sir William Pritchard in the later part of that century, who was president of St Bartholomew's Hospital in London. He founded almshouses in Great Linford, which are still there today. As part of the development of Great Linford's integration into Milton Keynes, a new primary and middle school was opened in 1977, originally known as Great Linford County Combined School, and more recently as Great Linford Primary School.

The Anglican parish church of Saint Andrew is a Grade II* listed building[7] and dates from 1215.

Great Linford has two pubs; The Nag's Head, on the High Street and The Black Horse at the edge of Great Linford, by the Grand Union Canal.

Linford Manor

Main article: Linford Manor

Linford Manor, also known as Great Linford Manor, is a seventeenth century mansion or manor house converted into a recording studio complex in Great Linford, Milton Keynes, England. It is now owned by Pete Winkelman who is chairman of Milton Keynes Dons.[8]

The former stables and associated gate houses are now an Arts Centre.[9] The former almshouses beside the stables are now used as artists' studios.

Civil parish

In addition to Great Linford district itself (with the historic village at its core), the civil parish also includes the districts of Giffard Park, Blakelands, Neath Hill, Pennyland, Tongwell, Conniburrow, Downs Barn, Downhead Park and, since 1 April 2012, Newlands, Willen Lake and Willen.

The parish is bounded to the north by Newport Road, to the west by the B4034/V8 Marlborough Street (as far as H4 Dansteed Way), then along Dansteed Way as far as V7 Saxon Street, south along Saxon Street as far as the A509/H5 Portway, then east along Portway to the M1, then north along the motorway until it reaches Newport Road again. The Grand Union Canal bisects the parish.

The parish increased in population from 263 in the 1971 census to 11,882 in the 1981 census, an increase of some 4,400%.

Little Linford is in the adjoining parish of Haversham-cum-Little Linford. Linford Wood is in the adjoining Stantonbury parish.

Newlands

Hill at the cathedral of trees, Newlands

Newlands district is small, composed primarily of low-lying parkland. It is notable as the site of Gulivers Land, a small theme park; and the location of the Cathedral of Trees, a group of trees planted so that it has the appearance of a Norman cathedral, with the tree-trunks taking the place of columns.

Willen Lake

Willen Lake is one of the bigger lakes in Milton Keynes. It is mainly used as a water sports lake with a resident sailing club and a towed water skiing feature.

The lake is split into two sections with one side used for water sports and the other side kept as a nature reserve with bird watching boxes on the north-west side of the dividing road, H5 Portway.

The lake is particularly popular in the summer, attracting in numbers in excess of 5,000 people on a summer day.

Willen Lake has many features to attract a wide variety of interests including the mini golf area, the exercise Trim Trail, the Buddhist Peace Pagoda, a mini railway, a climbing activity centre, an extensive child's play area, and frequently on weekends bouncy castles and ball pits are erected in Andi Circle.

The lake is very popular with runners and dog walkers for its serene atmosphere and picturesque views.

Willen

Main article: Willen

Willen village has a long history. It is best known for its church and for Willen Hospice. Willen was originally part of a parish known as Woolstone-cum-Willen[10] that was formed on 1 April 1934 as a merger of Great Woolstone, Little Woolstone and Willen.[11] The parish was part of Newport Pagnell Rural District until it became part of the borough of Milton Keynes in 1974.[11] Following the reorganisation of parishes on 1 April 2012, the districts are separate again with the Woolstones remaining in the Campbell Park parish.

References

  1. ↑ Neighbourhood Statistics 2011 Census, Accessed 4 February 2013
  2. ↑ Parishes in Milton Keynes – Milton Keynes Council.
  3. ↑ 'Parishes : Great Linford', Victoria History of the Counties of England, A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 4 (1927), pp. 387–392. Date accessed: 21 September 2009
  4. ↑ 'Parishes : Great Linford', Victoria History of the Counties of England, A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 4 (1927), pp. 387–392. Date accessed: 21 September 2009, See under "Advowson"
  5. ↑ "Great Linford". GEN UKI. Retrieved 9 January 2012. 
  6. ↑ Hadfield, Charles (1970). The Canals of the East Midlands (including part of London) (Second ed.). David & Charles (Publishers) Limited. pp. 272–273. ISBN 071534871X. 
  7. ↑ British Listed buildings, retrieved 4th July 2013
  8. ↑ Jackson, Jamie (30 March 2008). "From Wimbledon to Winkelman, a crazy new journey". The Observer. Retrieved 9 January 2012. 
  9. ↑ [http://www.artworks-mk.co.uk/home/our-sites/great-linford-site/ Artworks MK – Great Linford site
  10. ↑ "The Story of Campbell Park Parish Council". 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, Woolstone Cum Willen. Retrieved on 16 April 2010.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Great Linford.
Civil parishes in Milton Keynes


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.