Hillview
Hillview is situated in the top south-west corner of the village bordered on two sides by open land,
and the residents have tremendous views of the Ouse valley.
In the far distance, Milton Keynes City can be seen and the skyline is dominated by what is known as ‘The Stranded Whale’. It is the Xscape building which houses a real snow slope.
The estate is built on the site of the 1943-1950 prisoner of war camp. The site was requisitioned in late 1943 by Newport Pagnell District Council under the direction of the War Agricultural Ministry. The camp was for low-risk-category prisoners to work on the land to help with the supply of food. The prisoners were at first mainly Italians, who vacated the site at the end of hostilities with Italy circa 1944. Afterwards the camp was taken over by German POWs. These stayed until circa 1950 when the last of them were repatriated.
From then on, the camp became a home for some political refugees, or displaced persons, known as DPs. Two of these stayed on in Sherington and became members of the community, one is buried in St Laud’s.
After the DPs moved out of the huts they became temporary homes for newlyweds and other people needing temporary accommodation. By the 1960s the huts had been demolished by locals and vandalism and the elements. (It was a great source of concrete chunks to build rockeries.) The concrete hard-standings that the huts were on were used by the contract workers, working on the building of the M1, to park their caravans, mobile homes and offices. This was the last time that the site was used for Council purposes.
Finally, Newport Council sold the land off as building plots, and various people bought these, designed their property and mostly the result is an estate of post-war architect-designed homes.
The original entrance from Perry Lane was retained and the original kerb work can be seen at the entrance. A strip of land at the east end of the road (top) was retained by the District Council and a row of attached properties was built there, especially for older retired people. Beyond their back gardens is the Sherington sports field, sports pavilion and football pitch.
Perry Lane
Perry Lane is an estate of corporation houses built in the post-war period. They are located in a commanding position looking towards the Ouse Valley and Newport Pagnell. Although these properties were built by the local authority, many are now in private ownership.
The Sports Field is home of the village’s Football and Cricket teams. The field is on a permanent lease to the village and maintained by one of the village landowners.
The Sports Pavilion was paid for by fundraising events and built mostly by local labour, over a five-year period. It is now maintained and operated by Sherington Parish Council.
The lane continues on over the bypass to Gowles Farm situated in the far north-east corner of the parish.