England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Milton Keynes All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Milton Keynes lies in eastern Buckinghamshire, indeed it almost forms part of the border with neighbouring Bedfordshire missing out by a few hundred yards. Milton Keynes is located about 3 miles southeast of the market town of Newport Pagnell. Nowadays Milton Keynes is famous, or indeed notorious, for the vast "New Town" that collected its name (one of many that could have been chosen from the villages engulfed by this edifice). Milton Keynes was formerly a relatively small village lying in lanes about 3 miles east of the A5 road from London to Holyhead. Nowadays it is merely one of many residential districts of Milton Keynes New Town, of roundabout & concrete cow fame. The former village sitting just west of the modern A4146 road connecting the A5 with the M1. Milton Keynes, at the time of this transcript, would largely have earned its living through agriculture in particular arable crops. Milton Keynes is drained to the north by the River Ouzel which reaches the Great Ouse at Newport Pagnell and eventually the North Sea through The Wash. Milton Keynes is cited at around 60 metres above the sea and there are few contours close by indicating a gentle sloping plain to the east of the river. By the standards of this area Milton Keynes parish was fairly typically sized, it covered just over 1,800 acres and would have supported a population of almost 350 parishioners. In Domesday time Milton Keynes was shared three-ways, the largest holding by one Godric Cratel with small holdings held by William son of Ansculf & Walter Giffard, the parish was relatively poor offering just 16 ploughs, small meadows and a mill.

The Church

All Saints' church sits in the old village on the western side of Willen Road. The majority of the church is in the Decorated style of the early 14th century albeit with some minor features indicating a building was here for possibly a century earlier. The chancel arch is tentatively dated by Pevsner to 1200. The building follows an unusual layout, there is the normal nave & chancel but the tower, rather than being at the western end, sits on the northern side. All of these major portions are dated to the Decorated era and it would appear that the current building was not overly restored and altered during Victorian times. All Saints sits behind a low wall of local stone, a metal gateway at the southern end of the site grants access. The site is relatively open but there are trees spoiling the perspective from the southwest limiting the angles for photography.