Ten Gems about the Jewel of Milton Keynes

 Evening Light (High Street) Stony Stratford by David Pilgrim
Oil Framed in hand finished Moulding £775

Following on from the Princes In The Tower post, I have found some more interesting snippets on Stony Stratford on the town Council and MK Heritage websites.

• Stony Stratford is mentioned in Shakespeare (Richard III, Act 2 Scene 4), when Richard Duke of Gloucester (later Richard III) finds out the location of the young King Edward V and his brother, the Duke of York. These two were rivals to Richard's claims to the throne. Edward was arrested in Stony Stratford, taken to the Tower of London and never seen again.

• When Queen Eleanor (wife of Edward I) died at Lincoln in 1290, her body was transported to London for burial. Stony Stratford was one of the eleven resting places on the journey. Each was marked with a memorial cross, although the one at Stony Stratford no longer exists.  The Eleanor Cross stood in a prominent position in the High Street of Stony Stratford, at the north end of the town near the river.

• Stony Stratford was originally on the main London to Holyhead Roman road, Watling Street.

• In the last century, ocean going steam launches were built in Stony Stratford.  In the late 1860's work progressed following his steam engine success to making marine engines and then onto boat-building.Edward Hayes (senior) died in 1877 but had been part of the beginning of boat-building at Stony Stratford. By this time, Edward Hayes junior was receiving regular commissions from prestigious customers and went into production building tugs, ocean-going vessels, steam boats and river launches. Despite being almost as far away as you can be from the sea, and not next to any significant waterways, they gained a worldwide reputation and the boat-building flourished. By 1900 they were building vessels up to 80 feet long which were being sent all over the world to Russia, Egypt, etc, to private companies and to Governments.

• The concrete cows are perhaps the most famous landmarks in Milton Keynes. They were created by a locally based artist in the 1970s and can now be found in a field close to the railway which runs through the city.

• The inaugural meeting of the Grand Union Canal Company was held in the Bull Inn, Stony Stratford. However, the closest the canal came to the town was at Old Stratford, part of the Buckingham Arm of the main canal.

• The Cock Inn and Bull Inn gave their names to the Cock & Bull Story.

• Scenes from Indiana Jones and Superman films were shot nearby in Milton Keynes.

• The Wolverton & Stony Stratford Tram was the last steam hauled rural tram in the UK. It also had the largest carriages ever made for a tram in England. The last tram ran in 1926. One of the company's chairmen was a certain Louis Clovis Boneparte, and his successor Mr Braggins was the last man in Stony Stratford to wear a top hat.

• Stony Stratford is the home of Folk on the Green, the area's major local free folk music festival.