New Pilgrim Tales of

ilgrimage was once The trail would take in the rich medieval Britain’s most popular landscape along modern city pathways expression of leisure from the earthwork remains of Snelshall and spirituality, an Priory on the South-western edge of the activity enjoyed by Kings city to St Mary’s Chapel at Bradwell and labourers alike. But the tradition was . We set out to create a record of the cut short in 1538, when Henry VIII and trail through our practices; working with Thomas Cromwell banned pilgrimage in plants, image making and storytelling and Britain. Ever since, the tradition has lain curating these into an almanac, of sorts, fallow. Today, there is a global renaissance which is what you are holding now. of pilgrimage – 250,000 on the Camino to Santiago, 2 million on the Hajj, 100 million We loved the idea of an almanac being a to Kumbh Mela1 and in Britain, the British really accessible form for collecting and Pilgrimage Trust are reopening many of curating our research; a kind of pilgrim’s the old and forgotten routes. holiday album. It’s a folk framework, a way of capturing the inter-related In 2017 I took a photograph of a street connections around us as we move sign in Milton Keynes city centre. It said through the year. Anyone can make one. ‘Pilgrim Street’ but it went nowhere, a Everyone we walked and cycled with, fragment of infrastructure waiting to join made this one. up with future development. It got me wondering though, could one actually As we explored the city’s grid squares make a pilgrimage in the city? The people containing the route, we wove elements of of Milton Keynes have always been the season, the places, colours, weather, considered pioneers – pilgrims of a sort – symbols, plants and people together. Our travelling to a new place, a place of discoveries began to collect themselves possibilities, a new place to live. into stuffed notebooks, pegged up maps, nature tables, votives, photographs, song Fast forward to 2019 and A Word in lyrics, tables and charts and foraged Edgeways, comprising of Nicky Kenny, plants. Walking and cycling with members Philippa Tipper and myself, were of the community helped us unearth their commissioned by Culture MK and the City stories. Discovery Centre to create a new walking and cycling route through Milton Keynes called the ‘Pilgrims’ Trail.’

1 British Pilgrimage Trust, 2019 2 3 New Pilgrim Tales of Milton Keynes

uring June, July and growing city. We measured the age of The Rose; in this case the five petalled August, I gathered ancient oaks by linking arms around their Rosa rugosa which fills the municipal plants along the trail at massive tree trunks, made up stories from planting of MK, one of the oldest species of different locations and objects found discarded, or lost, on the rose and a real survivor in extreme times and in different pathway, created new myths about the environments. The symmetry of its five landscapes. In my studies on plant and folk birds and the blackberries and shared folk petals mirror the the path of Venus, the medicine, I’ve always been drawn to the tales of the past. There’s no limit to the guiding star. The Rose grows on the Tree connection between plants, landscapes and way you can share your stories of the of Life, it symbolises both heavenly their healing and energetic properties. journey through the landscape. perfection and earthly passion, These connections make sense when we regeneration and resurrection.The consider how plant communities are We heard about the passion that people Compass Rose is a symbol for true connected to each other, and to us. have for making community in each of the direction and navigating your way, Plantain, growing along the footpaths from areas; Mary from the retirement village unerring and impartial justice, with the , soothing in their green devoting her time to creating new stories central point signifying the source of life. medicine, are exactly where we might need through tapestry kneelers in St Mary’s them to be if we were looking for a natural Church; Kate and Tony’s enthusiasm for Bees are crucial to our survival, as key blister plaster. Each column and line in the the green woodpecker and the badgers pollinators in our environmental web of tables I created for these three months, that must be protected, the continuing life. They symbolise immortality, rebirth, reflects these connections. I hope they unearthing of the history of the land and order, industry, soul. In folklore they often might suggest an approach to you for archival discoveries from Richard and represent the stars and are winged collecting your sensory experiences of Nick. messengers, carrying news across the places and plants along the trail and we’ve realms, bringing secret wisdom. They are included a blank table for you to play with. The planners of this brave new city linked to the oak and thunder gods. They I hope it’s a devotional plant practice that allowed the space to breathe and tell the are bestowers of eloquence and song, the feels really accessible to you. story of the past, acknowledging the old ‘birds of the Muses’ - the kind of traveller- boundaries and pathways, merging new guide to inspire you on your own pilgrim Nicky, the photographer and cyclist in our routes with ancient trackways and walk. collective, captivated by the hedgerows and hedgerows to ensure we share our walks magnificent landmark oaks along the trail, with our ancestors - from farmers to We hope you are guided by the wrote the song on page 24. She sings it too, soldiers, from merchants to pilgrims. waymarkers, delight in the scent and and you may be lucky enough to hear its strength of the rose, explore your own melodies as you walk or cycle the trail. When it came to waymarking the trail, we path through the landscape, sing your were inspired by Fanboy’s graffiti of a song and share your story of the Pilgrim People have shared their stories along the green man in the underpass by Shenley Trail in Milton Keynes. trail, through the woods, over a cuppa, in Wood and worked with artist Jamfree on company or one to one. Philippa didn’t so waymarking the trail using stencils and Alissa Pemberton, Nicky Green Man – Fanboy, much collect stories as people’s heartfelt involving members of the public/pilgrims Shenley Wood underpass, 2019 experiences of being out and about in their in choosing the sites as we walked and Kenny, Philippa Tipper favourite places, sharing their knowledge cycled. The three images that have formed Milton Keynes, September 2019 of the history, the plants and creatures, the waymarker sign are the rose, the their love for the changing seasons and the compass rose and the bee.

4 5 Tender Pilgrims

e are on a pilgrimage in Will you walk with me and talk of I work on my Materia Medica each I plan to wear them as a crown which will parts that fit around contemplation? Will Mary cure me of my morning. My plant learning is never done. be committed to the fire. They say my hair our everyday lives. terrible visions? I bring moon herbs as Each season brings new changes and is the colour of the meadow in July. We offerings and wax from the meadow bees. observations to be noted. I have only a must try to keep the sun now that she is We gather rose petals to Revelation must be terrible and yet we small amount of paper though so I press here. There is plenty more for ripening. make a honeyed heart medicine. Taking walk towards it, tender pilgrims that we the plants between the thin leaves of my Five coloured ribbons lay upon my bed only what has already been visited by the are. Men make maps but do not care when bible and I make up songs to sing the awaiting the crown and the longest day. bees. The petals, poised to fall, gather they get lost. They have other machines children. My father gifts me two wriggling puppies easily. for knowing and are busy wrestling with from the litter in the farmyard. I name the land. Building moats and fishponds Today on my wanderings, I find a grove of them Juno and Hera. At Westbury Farm we watch the beekeeper around our hearts. Hemlock. Sun blazes in the little clearing separate the queen. Some of the bees get of the spinney. The tall stems of this I sleep longer in these early June days crushed to a propolis golden sludge. It is My father asked me how the knowledge powerful one darken the place with their despite the work there is to do. My night an indelicate operation taking place in the came to me, but my mother didn’t. She blood splashed stems. This deadly dreams are complicated, like puzzles. I am Great Hall while the weather outside knows it is the ancestral line of witches trickster masquerades as cow keck and still piecing them together during the day. foretells of gloom. and wise women. Father thought it might hog’s wort but if you listen, it will warn I draw maps of them but where they start be from the great farmers in our family. you. A foul portent emanates from its and finish is unclear. The patterns of Today we walked at a great pace. The Those that had cleared the land and grown feathery leaves. places and plants and days seem to spiral landscape rushed past and disoriented me. our food. But I know it is older, much older. in on themselves, guided by the weight of I had no time to make a map of the Why would my lips sing the names of Today the dawn chorus quietened and a the sun as it moves towards midsummer. medicine around me. The buttercup haze plants each day when I wake as though stillness hangs in the air. We feel in our of the water meadows are studded with from gathering Pennyroyal to save my bones the last few weeks before solstice. As St John’s day approaches, I begin to see Gospel Oaks. The cow parsley tries to help sisters from being with child? The sun, when I see her, traces great arcs the flashes of moon herb appearing along me see, catching willow pollen on its lacy in the sky. My days on the farm are long. the greenways. What a joy it is to see face and showing me the spun magic of Sixteen hours. These are our haydays. Artemisa’s gift to the people. Artemesia June. Many wander the gyspsy switch paths this vulgaris. Moon Herb of the People. month. The hawkers, the pilgrims and the Mugwort. We worship at St Giles’s church as so traders. There are beautiful trinkets to be many pilgrim parishioners have done. You had, crafted in these long days. There are Her charms will ripen in time to become can see why these edgeland folk worked plants to be traded too, for many have the most important for those pilgrims who and walked hard to keep their little church summer ills from breathing the seed. seek protection. Until then I secretly open. The stumps of old yews ring the bone watch for the ruby resin of the wort of St pale walls and the Hawthorn blossom I am thinking about the plants I shall Joan and my mouth for heresies. hushes and falls. gather for our solstice ritual. Daisy, Queen Anne’s Lace, Betony, Nettle, Elder, This is an extract from Alissa’s trail diary Comfrey, St Joan’s Wort, Rose, Plantain. for June 2019.

6 7 Summer Plant Almanac JUNE Place Landscape Plant Action Colour Image Bradwell Abbey Footpath Plantain Soothing Green Path Loughton Grassland Daisy Bruising Yellow Sundial Shenley Edgelands Comfrey Repairing Purple Bee

o walk the Pilgrim’s Westbury Hedgerow Elder Repelling White Fire Trail in June is to Tattenhoe Parkland Lime Sleeping Lime Gold experience both the old Snelshall Briar Rose Softening Pink Heart greenways and the city planner’s vision of a new, blossoming city of trees. At Bradwell JULY Abbey, common plantain, or ‘waybread’, is trodden in living pathways along the trail Place Landscape Plant Action Colour Image and the valley parkland is dusted with Bradwell Abbey Valley Mugwort Dreaming Silver Smoke daisies, their ubiquity concealing their Loughton Footpath Yarrow Fixing White Blood magical healing. Shenley Wetland Meadowsweet Pleasing Yellow Water This trail is a journey through a jigsaw Westbury Grassland Self heal Soothing Purple Tea city, its fragments creating biodiverse Tattenhoe Settlement Nettle Nourishing Green Seed edgelands where healing plants thrive. Hedgerows old and new fizz with elder, Snelshall Glade St. John’s Wort Comforting Red Resin parks with fairytale Lime trees and everywhere, everywhere, the Rose. AUGUST July brings the brightest colours to the Place Landscape Plant Action Colour Image trail. Shenley Wood’s glades are filled with Bradwell Abbey Brook Rosebay willowherb Pioneering Pink Dragonfly tall, frothy Meadowsweet and butterflies. Loughton Meadow Queen Anne’s Lace Fertility Red Crown Bright white Yarrow lines the redways. Mown, trodden, edged out, these powerful Shenley Wood Oak Courage Green Acorn healing plants are truly resilient. Westbury Orchard Damson Enriching Purple Blossom

Towering spikes of magenta rosebay Tattenhoe Wood Crab apple Wilding Yellow Apple willowherb, the pioneer plant, call August Snelshall Hedgerow Blackberry Astringent Black Thorn in and provide a theatre for dragonflies and damselflies. The wild west of the city at Tattenhoe, with its meanwhile ponies, (Make your own) bakes in the sun. It sits wild and Place Landscape Plant Action Colour Image ungoverned next to the little church in the woods of St Giles. St Mary’s Chapel at Bradwell Abbey is at the opposite end of the trail. A cool, stone sanctuary containing a quiet atmosphere of devotion. What plants will you discover between them?

8 9 The Cracked Pot Drawn to the City

n elderly woman had After years of what it believed to be bitter tories are not to be “It is easy to forget how mysterious and two large pots, each failure, it spoke to the woman one day by taken lightly, have you mighty stories are. They do their work in hung on the ends of a the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, ever asked yourself silence, invisibly. They work with all the pole, which she carried because this crack in my side causes water what is the power behind internal materials of the mind and self. across her neck and filled to leak out all the way back to your house." the words and the images They become part of you while changing with water each day. One of the pots had a that keep us captivated? you. Beware the stories you read or tell: crack in it while the other pot was perfect The old woman smiled, "Did you notice subtly, at night, beneath the waters of and always delivered a full portion of that there are flowers on your side of the “It’s just fantasy”, you may hear, “Fiction – consciousness, they are altering your water, at the end of the long walk from the path, but not on the other pot's side? all made up stuff”, but, is it? world.” stream to the house, the cracked pot That's because I have always known about Ben Okri arrived only half full. the crack, so I sowed flower seeds on your “Like water, stories are much taken for side of the path as I walked along, and granted. They are seemingly ordinary and Stay and watch the folk talk and pass the For years this went on daily, with the every day while we walk back, you water neutral, but are one of humanity’s most time of day. We shouldn’t be so afraid to woman bringing home only one and a half them. For years I have been able to pick powerful weapons for good or evil” share a smile or a joke. Learn a little about pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot these beautiful flowers to decorate the Ben Okri our neighbours, get involved in making was proud of its accomplishments. But the table. Without you being just the way you things happen in your community. poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own are, there would not be this beauty to Buildings don’t make a place. They are imperfection, and miserable that it could grace the house." empty shells, they have no stories, no life That’s what brought me here and keeps me only do half of what it had been made to until they are peopled. here; the passion that people have for do. Traditional tale adapted by making a community. There’s so much Philippa Tipper Milton Keynes can not be defined or happening in quiet ways, extraordinary judged by its buildings. We might talk things achieved by ordinary people. They about them but it’s the people that create, make the city breathe, they are the shape and invest with truth, and love the lifeblood and the heart pulsing life through stories, the histories, the myths of Milton the streets and the buildings of the Keynes. cityscape.

The stories are changing, shifting like the This is what our work celebrates. sand in an hour glass, which runs out and is turned again, the grains fall, the So dear, planners, never forget without patterns change, the stories pour out these people your buildings are dead, afresh. What is so special about these because people hold the stories and tell the stories? What do you understand about stories that make this place real. the people and the place from the stories that you see and hear? Long may the stories be told, chronicled, heard, read, be discovered and re invented. Philippa Tipper Edited extract from ‘Drawn to the City’ ISBN: 0953946746

10 11 The Land Dispute

ne day a man who The Wise Woman walked to the field, lay On the 15th June the owned a field left it in down in the dirt, and put her ear to the Todd Family in the care of another ground. 'What are you doing?' they asked. Loughton created this man. He took good care wonderful display for of the land, ploughing, 'I'm listening.' the 2019 Loughton weeding, planting and harvesting it. When Scarecrow Trail. the owner came back he said to the man 'What are you listening to?' who had been taking care of it, The Scarecrow Trail takes place every two 'The land.' years and is a firm 'Give it back now. The land belongs to me.' local tradition. Both men laughed at her. 'Listening to the 'No,' said the other man, 'I won't. The land land? Listening to the land? What does the belongs to me. You are the owner, but I am land have to say?' the one who has worked the land all this time. The land is mine.' The Wise Woman looked up and said. 'The land, well she says she does not belong to They began to fight, until the neighbours either of you. She belongs to no one. She brought them to the Wise Woman in the says it is you who belong to the land.' village to settle the dispute. Each man said, 'The land is mine! The land belongs to Traditional folk tale adapted by “It is still not too late to act. It will take a far-reaching vision, it will take courage, it will me!' Philippa Tipper take fierce, fierce determination to act now, to lay the foundations where we may not know all the details about how to shape the ceiling. In other words, it will take cathedral thinking. I ask you to please wake up and make changes required possible.” Greta Thunberg Climate Activist

12 13 M for Mary

“ s you go on your way, The 14th century Chapel of St Mary at It was a place of worship for the , You’ll tell good tales and Bradwell Abbey was once such place and but it was also their home and provided a shape yourselves to gives us a glimpse of what life was like 600 livelihood to many other servants and play; For truly there’s no years ago. A shrine that attracted pilgrims farmers too. The pigeons cooing today mirth or comfort, non, from all over, just like the ones Chaucer would have been there, raised as meat in Riding the roads as dumb as is a stone.” wrote about in The Canterbury Tales. the Dovecot to help relieve the winter diet. The great fishpond would be teeming too, The Host of the Tabard Inn at Southwark Bradwell Abbey was a Benedictine Priory carefully managed to ensure fresh fish was gave good advice to the pilgrims stopping that had been established in the 12th available for the Friday meals when no at his tavern on their way to Canterbury century. It owned a vast amount of land meat was allowed. Rabbits would be fair in Chaucer’s tales. around the area and the tenant farmers game too, especially newborn rabbits had to work the land on behalf of the which ‘didn’t count’ as meat. Indeed life would be very dreary if we Abbey and bring their tithe, their rent in travelled through it in silence. So let’s harvested food, to the monks. The pilgrims would have arrived through make the journey seem much shorter by the gateway to the north (off what is now spinning a good yarn or two to share with Monks Way), they would have passed the friends and strangers alike to entertain, fields being ploughed by oxen, creating the enlighten and delight our fellow travellers. ridge and furrow patterns we can see to this day. They would be shown into the For people in medieval times going on a nave of the church from the west door ‘During conservation work in Bradwell Abbey pilgrimage was a bit like going on a (you can follow the route by following the farmhouse in 2019, a 12th century stone package holiday. Pilgrims travelled in gravel pathway that marks out the shape carving of a head was discovered. It is groups for safety and company. They of the abbey buildings), and after making believed to depict Eleanor of Aquitaine, King typically travelled on foot – barefoot even – an offering or saying a prayer there, they Henry II's consort. She had strong links with and were entitled to free refreshment and would be shown to the chapel of St Mary. the Benedictines and was one of the most powerful and influential figures of the Middle shelter, often very basic, in hospitals or Ages.’ hostels set up by religious orders. The This special chapel was built in the 14th more wealthy pilgrims travelled on century on the west wall of the big church horseback and stayed in inns. These were to protect a statue of Mary, ‘Our Ladie of There is a glorious angel that watches over the self financed pilgrimages. For some, Bradwell’. This had become really popular it all, and the walls of the chapel are pilgrimages were life changing, for others as a shrine, and a fine money making stamped with an M for Mary, just in case it was a way to see the world and have a The Abbey buildings were big, really big. opportunity for the abbey. It was hailed as you’d forgotten who to pray to. good time. a healing shrine and people came to seek The Abbey itself was impressive, including cure or relief from their various ailments. Like any good tourist destination there It’s hard today to understand the beautiful stained glass (you can see a The pilgrims would bring with them would be souvenirs to purchase, badges, importance the medieval believer attached replica of the window that was found in images of the bit of their body that needed tokens, little bottles of holy water, things to relics and holy places, as tokens or the cloisters in the city centre church) and healing and would go and pray to Mary by for pilgrims to show where they had totems of salvation. Many of these holy white printed clay tiles made locally at the statue. The paintings on the walls in visited, which might help them get free tokens have been found in the excavations Brickhill. the chapel show this, as well as a lodging on their journey to the next in Milton Keynes and we know that it was judgement scene with an angel weighing shrine. firmly on the pilgrims’ map to visit. up the good and bad things from a life.

14 15 Purple Emperor (Apatura iris)

ritain’s second largest Whether it was my smelly feet or whether butterfly, the Purple it was because it was so quiet I’m not sure, Emperor (Apatura iris) but down from the canopy fluttered a is elusive. It spends most Purple Emperor and sat with me, of its time in the woodland displaying its magnificent wings as it fed canopy, particularly in oak, but comes on the morning dew and other more down to feed on smelly things. dubious comestibles.

In the early morning and late afternoon A woman came along with her dog. I tried the males come to the ground to feed on to indicate that I was not doing anything moisture from the damp earth and animal dodgy but that there was something droppings or carrion for salts and interesting to see. Sure enough, the Purple minerals. Emperor stayed and showed off for her as well. It was magical to see, and even better to share it with someone else. I spent a good 20 minutes or more in the presence of the Emperor. I feel really lucky.”

Butterfly enthusiasts are known to use all sorts of things to lure Purple Emperors down to the ground; banana skins, smelly cheese, shrimp paste. Milton Keynes Parks Trust’s very own Martin Kincaid didn’t need anything other than patience and open toe sandals. Identification tips Caterpillars: bright green with yellow spots and diagonal yellow lines along “The best way to watch them is to lie back sides. and look up into the canopy of oak leaves. large and dark with white It might look a bit odd, or a little Adults: banded wings. Males have an suspicious, a man lying back, near the iridescent purple sheen on upper path with binoculars, so I try to find quiet wings, while females are brown with no spots and times of the day on the off purple sheen. chance that I might spot something 7.5 – 8.4 cm special. Wingspan:

16 17 The New Pilgrims’ Trail – Milton Keynes

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18 17 Treasure in the Woods

Told to us by many local people as we So, he drew all of his savings out of the detector (or in some stories Turing made However their search was in vain, even walked the trail. bank and bought two very large ingots of his own metal detector). Although they though they made use of their well-proven silver bullion to be hidden away until it found the stream and the bridge divining rods to assist in the venture. The id you know that Alan was safe again to cash them in. everything looked very different and they ground in the area in question is covered Turing, the brilliant believed that the bridge was rebuilt and in thick, thorny, undergrowth and fallen mathematician and Turing acquired an ancient perambulator the stream bed had been concreted over. trees, which made the task virtually wartime code-breaker, to secretly transport the ingots on his own Deep in the woods they found the old pram impossible. is reputed to have and headed off, late one moonlit night to but could not locate the other silver ingot. buried silver in Shenley the woods, not far from Bletchley Park. The treasure remains hidden to this day. Wood? Giving up both bars as lost forever, they Like all good treasure stories there is a One silver ingot was buried under the made their way to the Crown Inn at map and the location seems to be Shenley It is said that Turing took the view that if forest floor, the other under a bridge in the for some bread and Wood. Britain were to come under German bed of a stream. He made a cryptic plan of cheese. occupation, bank accounts would be the position, wrote out instructions for the Shenley Wood still exists, but is now useless and his savings would at best be recovery of the buried treasure and Since then, metal detectorists have surrounded on all sides by new roads and frozen, at worst taken over by the enciphered them. investigated further. They have dowsed housing developments. Will the wood ever occupying forces. Either way, he the map, and, with permission, searched give up the secret location of Turing’s calculated, he would lose just about Alan Turing returned after the war with with detectors, more advanced and deeper treasure? Or is it a modern myth? everything he had. his friend Donald Michie to try to find his seeking than Turing’s prototype. treasure. Michie had a commercial metal

Could the treasure be buried beneath the banks of Meadowsweet in the heart of the wood? 20 21 The Clever Hedgehog

eep in the hedgerow, “Yes yes yes I could. I bet you ANYTHING I Owl, who had been recruited to be the buried under the leaves, could outrun you in a race!” judge, cleared his throat, “Once round the the tiniest of noses entire wood, following the hedgerow twitched in the early “Oh you think you can place a bet with the boundary, from this gate and back to it. evening mist. Sniff, sniff – devil do you? Alright then, if you outrun One, two, three - HOOT” oh the creeping scent of fallen rosehip, me I shall never bother this woodland nibbled acorn and juicy slug. again, but if I outrun you I shall EAT you.” And they were off, in a flurry of leaves and twigs, the devil kicking up soil and Hedgehog emerged, pin-cushion covered “Deal! But we can’t race until midnight,” hurtling along as fast as his hooves could with leaf litter, black eyes sparkling. said Hedgehog. “Meet you at the edge of carry him, cackling as he ran. Hedgehog the wood and we will race round the whole scurried along, under and through the “A little dinner, then back to the warmth of wood, from this gate here around the hedgerow, wiggling past tangles of roots my home,” she snuffled, poking under twig entire perimeter, right back here.” and stems, humming a little tune to and through moss. herself. The devil laughed. They shook paw and Suddenly a terrible stench filled the air. claw and with a puff of stinky smoke the At the first ‘corner’ of the woodland The crows ‘caw-cawed’ and, with a devil disappeared. boundary, the devil paused and looked “Hoot, hoot hoot. I declare Hedgehog the clattering of wings, rose up through the back. Seeing nothing he went to sit down. winner. You, devil, are never to visit this skeletal branches of the woodland, high Now, you may know that hedgehogs are “Oh, here you are at last. Off we go again!” woodland ever again!” into the dusky night. very chatty, and when they chat they are There at his feet was hedgehog, as if she’d very, very noisy. Hedgehog began to sing been waiting for ages. Quick as anything “Pah, I wouldn’t want to,” he said as he A pair of green hooves and a forked tail out, her voice carried through the woods she scurried off down the bank into the stomped his hooves into the ground and a crushed the snail that Hedgehog was and across the fields loud and clear. Soon hedge and off around the wood. billowing cloud of yellow stink enveloped sniffing out, and a crackly laugh split the there was a whole gathering of grunting, him. True to his word, and not a little misty air. snuffling, snorting hedgehogs gathered by The devil was taken aback, hmm, lucky frightened of Hedgehog, he never, ever, the gate to the wood. A plan was hatched this time, but she’ll soon tire out. And he came back. “That was my dinner!” shouted Hedgehog. and the hedgehogs headed off deep into set off following the edge of the wood to the “And you could be my dinner,” the devil the hedgerow, and woodland undergrowth. next big boundary oak. Hedgehog breathed deeply in, the night replied. was getting chilly. She slurped up a slug “Bong” the church bells rang at midnight, Again, this time a bit puffed out, he looked and crunched a beetle. “It’s good to have Hedgehog prickled up to her spikiest. the damp mist was lit by a yellowish glow back, went to sit and there was hedgehog. friends” she sighed to herself as she “I don’t think so,” she said, “you’d have to as the same sickly stench filled the air and “Here you are at last. Off we go again!” and burrowed deep into her safe wintery catch me first and I’m way faster than the devil appeared. hedgehog ran off into the night. home, deep in the leaves, hidden in the you, you stinky old devil.” The Devil was amazed, and getting tired hedgerow, watchful of the wood. “So my spikey friend, now for the fun part too. Each time he went to rest or stop, The devil snorted and spluttered, “You? of my night visit. Are you ready?” there was hedgehog, fresh as a daisy and Traditional tale adapted by Fast? Look at the size of you? Yes, you ready to keep running. At last he dragged Philippa Tipper have prickles, yes you can climb with your “Oh, yes. I’m ready. Very ready.” Hedgehog himself puffing back to where they had lanky little legs... but really? Outrun me?” did a few stretches, the devil lined up next started and rested himself on the gate. to her. There was hedgehog looking bright and ready for action.

22 23 Under Snelshall Oak

Under the hawthorn Spent out and heavy He lays A bank full of nettles Protects from the path Where he lays And he turns As he winds in the dusk As all that he loved they are lost

Under the blackthorn Busy and silent She sees A web full of twilight Awakens the moth And she sees Under the oak tree And she weaves Binding the wound as And she winds in the dusk He prays As all that she turns they are lost A handful of flowers And rose for his heart Sleep comes in waves and in dreams As he prays Of memories and things yet unseen Sowing seeds The sounds of the daylight begin As he winds in the dusk The cycle complete, holding him With hope in his heart all’s not lost

Under the hedgerow Sleep comes in waves and in dreams Pink is the yarrow With memories, with things yet unseen That yearns The sounds of the daylight begin With seeds full of summer The cycle complete, freeing him She’ll sow for the love That she yearns Under the hawthorn And she waits Spent out and weary As he turns in the dusk They lay As all that she finds is not lost A meadow full of daises Smile up at the sun Where they lay And they turn As they honour the ground As all that they love they have found

Nicky Kenny 24 25 Redways and Greenways

ne of the things I hear and then there are the trees. Oh the trees! myself and others say Over 22 million trees and shrubs have the most when cycling been planted across the new town and through this expanding they sit comfortably aside modern new town is, “WOW, it architecture and beautiful, ancient oaks. doesn’t feel like we are in Milton Keynes!” This is just one of the reasons why I love to get out on my bike and explore. Milton Keynes has a unique network of Redways, over 200 miles of paths for cyclists and pedestrians, that are mostly away from the traffic and busy grid roads and are mostly surfaced with red tarmac. The national cycle routes 6 and 51 join this famous red tarmac in parts of the town, as does the long distance footpath, The Midshires Way and also many bridleways. Add to this the numerous leisure and cultural routes and trails designed by MK Council and The Parks Trust, Milton But where to begin? There are numerous Keynes offers its residents and visitors a cycling and walking clubs in MK but I just huge amount of choice to explore differing love to get out and explore, with friends if landscapes and vistas. they are available or just on my own if they’re not. The Redways were designed to So, how do you navigate such a vast be ‘convenient, safe and pleasant’ and in network or pick a route? Cycling or my experience they are just that and so walking through Milton Keynes can take much more. Don’t be afraid to get lost! I you on a journey past many lakes, rivers, often discover new places and hidden brooks, medieval fish ponds, along the gems accidentally and even when I’m in , through ancient the midst of all that huge open space I woodlands such as Shenley, Great Linford never feel worried about exploring on my and Howe Park Wood. You can meander own. The redways, one of the largest urban through 6,000 acres of parkland and cycle path networks of its kind, are green space, cared for and managed by massively underused by residents and The Parks Trust, which includes Sites of tourists, so let’s make the most of them Special Scientific Interest with rare and and get out there and enjoy our ‘forest protected species of plants and wildlife. city’. You can weave your way through beautiful old villages that are tucked neatly next to Nicky Kenny modern estates and old coaching inns, past modern sculpture and along art trails

26 27 The Ancient Oaks

ilton Keynes was built took many pictures of this face, one of around a handful of which you will find on the opposite page. small villages and over As we researched the Pilgrims Trail farmland, however the further I became fascinated by the amount area has a rich historic of ancient oaks along the trail and all over legacy, with evidence of permanent MK. Ancient and veteran trees are settlement dating back to the Bronze Age. especially important for wildlife and our Around a quarter of the urban area of MK native oak supports more life forms than now consists of parkland, lakes or any of our other native trees. woodland and maintains this rich ancient Other fantastic oaks along the route of heritage alongside modern development. the Pilgrims Trail are near the original site Ancient woodland areas such as Shenley, of Snelshall Priory, which lies unmarked on Kingsmead and Howe Park Wood are full of the western edge of MK near Kingsmead. veteran trees and there are many ancient There are beautiful specimens scattered all oaks standing tall in most of the new over Tattenhoe Park, particularly the estates, once part of the woodlands that magical snippet of woodland in the Water still survive, proud boundary markers of Sinney. And of course within Howe Park the fields that were farmed before the Wood you will find not only ancient oaks houses and roads were built. and incredible ash trees but a veteran crab When we first began to research the apple too. Pilgrims Trail, we set off from Westbury If you would like to age some oaks near Arts Centre on a cold day in March, to take you, The Woodland Trust have produced a a walk through Shenley Wood. We had guide on how to estimate their age, which barely been walking for five minutes, along you can find on their website. Foxcovert Drive, when an ancient oak came You can add ancient or special trees in to sight and stopped us in our tracks. near you to the map on The Woodland Sitting on the edge of the wood stands a Trust’s Ancient Tree Inventory, which you beautiful English or pedunculate oak tree, can find online here: Quercus robur, with a girth of just over five https://ati.woodlandtrust.org.uk metres, which ages the tree to between Or celebrate the trees that you love on three and four hundred years old. What Tree Dressing Day, which falls on the first makes this tree particularly striking is its weekend of December. Initiated by Common large girth with a hollow centre, that draws Ground in 1990 Tree Dressing Day has the viewer nearer to look inside. When you become a valuable way for communities to approach the tree you are greeted with come together and celebrate the trees they lovely gnarled shapes inside its expanding share their space with. More info can be interior, one of which looks very much like found here: a face, if you have an active imagination https://www.commonground.org.uk/tree- like me! During the course of our research I dressing-day/ returned to this tree many times, to show people we walked and cycled with and I Nicky Kenny

28 29 Pilgrim Badges and the Devil in a Boot

ilgrim badges were Pilgrims were provided with small lead worn by devotees as a badges showing John Schorne, sign of fellowship with bareheaded, wearing a long robe; in front other pilgrims and to of him was a long boot with the devil's merit gifts of food and head appearing at the top. shelter on their travels. Each shrine generated its own badge, so the many In 1478 the pope gave permission to move shrines to some of the most popular the body of John Schorne from the parish “saints” resulted in a number of different church at North Marston to the Lincoln styles of badge being produced in different Chapel at Windsor. Later his remains were parts of the country. One such badge found returned to Long Marston where they at Shenley Church End celebrates the remained for the next hundred years until story of Sir John Schorne and the Devil in the Reformation - at which time the a Boot. offerings of pilgrims were estimated at £500 a year. Erasmus says that there Sir John Schorne was not a canonized were nearly as many pilgrims to Long saint, but he had a strong following and Marston as to Walsingham. royal patronage. His followers asked him for help in the relief of gout and the ague. He is said to have performed many miracles which drew pilgrims to visit .

John Schorne was rector of North Marston in Buckinghamshire (approximately 15 miles from Milton Keynes) in 1290, until his death in 1313. His fame and veneration were the result of his being said to have forced the devil into a boot when driving the evil out of an epileptic woman. He also, during a drought, struck the ground with his staff and a spring (now a well) broke forth. This spring contained a lot of iron compounds, and among other purposes was good against gout - which may have been the devil in the boot.

The well is still in the village and the water is very good.

30 31 21 Places of Interest

1. Bradwell Abbey - home to Milton Keynes 7. All Saints Church - The medieval City Discovery Centre, the site of a 12th building of All Saints sits in the heart of century Benedictine priory, the chapel Loughton and is home to a lively family of St Mary displays unique wall church. Located not far from the paintings depicting medieval pilgrimage. Pilgrims’ Trail.

2. The Concrete Cows - created in 1978 by 8. Pirate Park, Loughton - an excellent Canadian artist, Liz Leyh. The original park for children with a wooden pirate cows are now sited at Milton Keynes ship. The Grumpy Cook Café at the Museum. The cows you will find on the Pavilion, Linceslade Grove, Loughton, trail, next to Monks Way, are replicas is located near the park. created by artist Bill Billings. 9. The Talbot Inn - an ancient coaching 3. Millennium Circular Cycle Route - a 12 inn on London Road, Loughton. Large mile circular route around Milton pub with a big garden and extensive Keynes. The Pilgrims Trail joins this menu. A resting place for pilgrims and route through the picturesque travellers for many centuries who Loughton Valley. would have journeyed along the ancient trackway of . 4. Loughton Valley Linear Park - a beautiful section of parkland managed 10. St Mary’s Church - has existed in some by The Parks Trust. Like most form from 1223, parts of the nave date parkland in MK it was designed to hold back to c.1150, and parts of the floodwater to protect housing. Now chancel date back to c.1180. The home to a huge amount of wildlife, church is Grade I listed and, like All including kingfishers and Saints in Loughton, is part of the woodpeckers. Examples of medieval Watling Valley Ecumenical Partnership fields and old springs can still be found and holds regular services. here. 11. Shenley Toot - this small pasture area 5. Lodge Lake - a very popular fishing is a scheduled ancient monument. In spot in MK and home to many birds, 1239 AD it was a moated motte and including herons, swans and little bailey castle, home to the family of grebes. Hugh Earl of Chester. Now managed by The Parks Trust and often grazed by 6. Stepping Stones - located in the cattle in the summer months you can Loughton Valley Linear Park, south of discover bluebells in the spring and the Lodge Lake, these large stepping heady scent of lime blossom during the stones across the shallow stream are summer. great fun for children and adults to jump across.

32 33 Acknowledgements

12. Shenley Wood - ancient woodland 17. Tattenhoe Valley Linear Park - spans Louise Izod - Public Art, MKC composed principally of ash and oak two miles with various habitats Shane Downer - Heritage, MKC trees, with an 'understory' of hazel, the including a brook, ponds, meadows, Noel James - City Discovery Centre wood was first recorded in the beautiful trees and is teaming with Westbury Arts Centre Domesday survey of 1086. Managed by wildlife. Managed by the Parks Trust. Shenley Walkers The Parks Trust, an excellent spot for National Women’s Register walkers walks and picnics. 18. Water Spinney - at the western edge of Nick Crank Tattenhoe, the brook runs through a Bob Zeepvaat 13. Westbury Arts Centre - a Grade II listed small woodland which is a scheduled JR Hunn 17th Century farmhouse building, ancient monument. The site includes a Records of Buckinghamshire which provides both permanent and large medieval fishpond. Marion Blockley Gordon MacLellan temporary artists studio spaces, as Kate Wyatt well as rooms and exhibition spaces 19. Howe Park Wood – is a 21.4 hectare Tony Barker available for hire. ancient woodland and Site of Special Carole Miles Scientific Interest. In medieval times it James Easton Milton Keynes Boundary Walk - a 63 would have provided habitats for food 14. Melanie Watts mile circular footpath. You can go from and a source of raw materials for a Kay-ee Chan Bottle Dump roundabout, past variety of crafts for nearby villagers. The Parks Trust Martin Kincaid Tattenhoe Park, Kingsmead and Oxley Now actively managed by The Parks www.theparkstrust.com Jill and Roger Kitchen Park from there you can turn past Trust it is home to a wide variety of Ian Hall Woodhill towards Shenley Wood to join wildlife and more than 200 plant MK Heritage Association Sam Ely the Pilgrims’ Trail. This is part of the species. There is a visitor centre and www.mkheritage.co.uk Darren Umney long distance walk known as the North cafe for further information and Gabrielle Radiguet Bucks Way, shared by the Swans Way refreshments. Reverend Mike Morris MK Natural History Society and the Midshires Way. Ciara Callaghan www.mknhs.org.uk 20. St Giles Church - the church dates from Diane 15. Oxley Mead - is a 3.7 hectare biological around 1538. It is the second church Mary Site of Special Scientific Interest on the building on the site, the first is thought Westbury Arts Centre Shenley Retirement Village south-western outskirts of MK. An to date back to medieval times, as the www.westburyartscentre.co.uk Robert Excell ancient hay meadow which has a yew trees in the grounds are believed Jamfree nationally rare plant community and is to be around 800 years old. Watling Valley Ecumenical Partnership Fanboy managed by The Parks Trust. www.watlingvalley.org.uk Colin Bownes 21. The Prince George - opened in Nicky Saunders 16. Snelshall Priory - an ancient scheduled February 2014 after an extensive Shenley Parish Council Julie Dawes monument which contains the construction programme, it stands www.shenleybrookend-pc.gov.uk The Parks Trust extensive earthwork remains of a spectacularly proud in the Milton Catherine Macintyre Amy and Lara Benedictine priory built around 1200. Keynes suburb of Tattenhoe. It is Milton Keynes City Discovery Centre The stones from the priory are believed named after Prince William and Kate’s Emma and Roman www.mkcdc.org.uk Hannah, Robyn and Polly to have been recycled to build the first born. Large pub and garden that Helen and Zoe nearby St Giles Church in Tattenhoe. serves food. Culture MK, MK Council Dylan Jeavons www.destinationmiltonkeynes.co.uk/Culture-in-MK Laser Graphics 34 35 Canonical sundial by the entrance to St Giles’s Church, Tattenhoe