ellbeing W & osperity Pr omoting Pr Riverside map: Roddy Clenaghan Roddy map: Riverside www.stonystratford.co.uk www.stonystratford.co.uk FREE Design/Illustrations/Map: the Stony Stratford Business Association Business Stratford Stony the business association ellbeing W & osperity Pr omoting Pr alk 2.1km (1.3m) (1.3m) 2.1km alk W w Meado ge Brid This guide has been produced by by produced been has guide This TFORD STRA STONY business association (1.3m) 2.2km lk Wa Piece glins Hi TFORD STRA STONY lk 1.5km (0.9m) (0.9m) 1.5km lk Wa Millfield Wesley’s tree in Market Square. Square. Market in tree Wesley’s walks Riverside www.masonedwardsdesign.co.uk They all start at the information panel next to to next panel information the at start all They of this unique town. unique this of There are three Riverside Walks of varying lengths. lengths. varying of Walks Riverside three are There and development development and River walks. River own walk own T Riverside walk Riverside of interest on both Town and and Town both on interest of information, are sited at points points at sited are information, covering the history history the covering Heritage Boards, with detailed detailed with Boards, Heritage own walk own T Short strolls strolls Short Riverside Walk Riverside Start Walk (See map inside) map (See are plenty of alternative car parks. car alternative of plenty are Riverside If this is not possible, then there there then possible, not is this If The Square is a good place to park. park. to place good a is Square The and and Town Start Town Walk Town Start where there is car-parking space. car-parking is there where Stratford It starts in the Market Square Square Market the in starts ­­­ It minutes. 45 about own walk own T Riverside walk Riverside The Town Walk is approximately a mile and takes takes and mile a approximately is Walk Town The Stony Stony own walk own T Clar e Stables The higher ground north of lanes’ of Vicarage Road in exaggerated tales; hence the To extend the Town Walk, the river, and the spit of gravel one direction and Silver Street saying ‘a Cock and Bull story’. continue down the High Street on the south side, gave firmer in the other thereby allowing Try to identify the old inn to the river bridge (10 mins). ground for a crossing. rear access. signs on private houses as you continue your walk. Eleanor Cross Roman times through The local building stone is The road widens near No to the Middle Ages Jurassic limestone from Stony Stratford has suffered 155 High Street, and in this Over the centuries nearby quarries. The houses, two great fires; the bigger in Christmas lights in the High Street area possibly stood one of the a settlement grew up originally thatched, were 1742 destroyed 146 buildings. dozen crosses built by King alongside the prone to fire damage. Later A report from 1st May stated Stony Stratford Today Edward 1 in memory of his A MEDIEVAL TRAVELLER ‘Watling Street’ to building favoured clay, tile or ‘the great fire even crossed In 1967 Stony Stratford wife Queen Eleanor of Castile. Stony Stratford has a long serve travellers and slate roofs. the River Great Ouse burning became part of Milton Keynes When she died in 1290 at and interesting history owing this developed into houses in Old Stratford’. The and this had a profound effect Harby, Nottinghamshire, to its position at the crossing a thriving market culprit is reputed to have been on the town. The development her body was taken to point of the River Great Ouse. town. a maid from the Bull Hotel. of Cofferidge Close and the Westminster Abbey for burial. Most of the town’s medieval substantial house building At each resting place a cross This was the first major To prove the Roman buildings were destroyed but to the south injected modern was erected in her memory, river north of the Thames occupation in the area, a hoard the new prosperity, brought architectural buildings. The originally simple wooden ones, encountered first by pre- of Roman religious artefacts about by the coaching era, town centre was designated later ornate stone structures. historic travellers and later by were found in a local field in The Coaching Era enabled much of the ‘new’ a Conservation Area in 1975 Built by master mason John of Roman engineers who created 1789. (These now can be seen The 18th century ushered in building you see in the High to protect its character and Battle the cross was destroyed the first paved roads. among the Roman antiquities a ‘golden age’ for Stony St. today. The construction of appearance. Stony Stratford by the Parliamentarians in in the British Museum). Stratford with the arrival of the London to Birmingham is bound on two sides by 1646 during the Civil War. The name Stratford is Anglo the horse and carriage as a railway passed through nearby the River Great Ouse, and (See the plaque on No 157.) Saxon in origin, it means a Edward IV, who married means of long-distance travel. Wolverton, thus ensuring farmland, with footpaths ford by which a Roman Road Elizabeth Woodville from An Act of Parliament in 1708 the demise of coaches as the and cycle ways. crosses a river. ‘Stan-eg’ nearby Grafton Regis, is one created the first turnpike in national form of transport. (Stony) literally translates of the many royals who have the country. This was situated If you have more time, or as a stone island, probably paid numerous visits to the on Watling St. between Stony perhaps wish to visit us again, referring to all the stones town. Their ‘Boy King’ son, Stratford and Hockcliffe. why not take a stroll on one 185, High Street that were dropped in the Edward V, was taken from Turnpikes were the first toll of the new Riverside Walks Now a private residence this is river at this point to make The Rose and Crown in the roads, a way to raise funds to where you can read our thought to be the site of Grites the crossing shallower. High St. More royal stories maintain the highways. Heritage Boards. Inn, first mentioned in 1317. are revealed as you continue Inns continued on this site (it A newly completed boat in the High St the walk. Many inns and taverns was The Angel in 1677) until received a boost in their the pub closed, as The Barley The street pattern of the economy with this increased The 19th century - Mow, in 1970. Early accounts old town was laid out in the traffic. Stony Stratford was Era of Industry and Growth refer to a leper isolation Middle Ages, the frontages a convenient one-day The 19th century was a period Stratford hospital and a Chapel of Arcade The bridge in the 17th century facing the main ‘spine’ of the ride on the journey of rapid expansion of the town, St John the Baptist at the It is important to realise that High Street. The shops, north of London. with the demand for homes, Some further reading can rear of this building. this area would originally have inns and other Many travellers schools and services for the be found in the local studies been a wide marshy floodplain. properties here have changing workers at the Wolverton collection of the Town Library Great Ouse Bridge The river was split into many long, narrow strips of horses, or railway works. Stony also This was constructed of ‘Stony Stratford Past’ tributaries, making it very land at the rear, known staying the had its own leather works, Millstone Grit by Thomas by R. Ayers and A. Lambert difficult to cross. as ‘burgage strips’. These night at one lace making and even boat Telford in 1835 following extend to the ‘back of these building from the 1860’s at ‘History of Stony Stratford’ a coaching disaster. This hostelries, ‘The Watling Works’ London by F. E. Hyde and F. bridge replaced numerous early would tell Road, owned and run by Mr Markham bridges dating back to 1252. Edward Hayes. ‘The Town on the Road’ by Dr. Oliver Brown Return to St Paul’s Court Section of an early road map BRITANNIA DEPICTA 1720 The Bridge - completed in 1835 Illustrations from ‘Stony Stratford - The Town on the Road’, (Number 10 on the walk map) by Dr Oliver Brown Promoting Prosperity & Wellbeing & Prosperity Promoting Riverside map: Roddy Clenaghan Roddy map: Riverside www.stonystratford.co.uk www.stonystratford.co.uk FREE Design/Illustrations/Map: the Stony Stratford Business Association Business Stratford Stony the business association Promoting Prosperity & Wellbeing & Prosperity Promoting Meadow Walk 2.1km (1.3m) (1.3m) 2.1km Walk Meadow ge Brid This guide has been produced by by produced been has guide This TFORD STRA STONY business association lk 2.2km (1.3m) (1.3m) 2.2km lk Wa Piece glins Hi TFORD STRA STONY lk 1.5km (0.9m) (0.9m) 1.5km lk Wa Millfield Wesley’s tree in Market Square. Square. Market in tree Wesley’s walks Riverside www.masonedwardsdesign.co.uk They all start at the information panel next to to next panel information the at start all They of this unique town. unique this of are three Riverside Walks of varying lengths. varying of Walks Riverside three are There and development development and River walks. River Town walk Town Riverside walk Riverside of interest on both Town and and Town both on interest of information, are sited at points points at sited are information, covering the history history the covering Heritage Boards, with detailed detailed with Boards, Heritage Town walk Town Short strolls strolls Short Riverside Walk Riverside Start Walk (See map inside) map (See are plenty of alternative car parks.