Nowadays days people only connect the North Buckinghamshire and River Ouse area with the development of the new city of Milton Keynes in the 20/21st Century, which is expanding year on year.
However the area has had a very extensive and fascinating history – LONG before the arrival of Milton Keynes:-
PRE-HISTORY
Stoke Goldington village is situated in a hollow and is built on an exposure of Upper Lias clay. This is unusual, as the earliest people tried to avoid building on clay.
To the east lies a large deposits of river gravels which were exploited commercially. These were formed by an overflow channel from the Nene system, at a time when the Great Ouse and the Nene were very much larger than they are today.
To the north is Salcey Forest, growing on a thick deposit of boulder clay which is up to 90 feet thick.
To the south and west it is mainly limestone with little, if any, covering of boulder clay.
BRONZE AGE
Three Bronze Age Barrows (from around 2000BC) were found at Gayhurst Quarry, including a large mound with an oak lined coffin containing the bones of a young man. He must have been someone of high importance, as 300 cattle were buried with him read more…
ROMAN
From Stoke Goldington to Weston Underwood, on the high ground near the gravel workings, is the site of a Romano British settlement.
Deer antlers have been found that had been cut by these people. Today’s road goes through the settlement and there is more to discover on the south side of the road. There are deep V- shaped ditches, and in one some years ago the remains of an infant burial were discovered. The date has been fixed at 2nd century A.D.
To the south east is the wide valley of the Great Ouse river, with a Mill near Ravenstone. Around this area aerial photography shows evidence of many ring ditches. One of these ditches was excavated in the area of the gravel pits, but little was found.
ANGLO SAXON
Stoke Goldington village was originally an Anglo Saxon settlement and was lucky to avoid being invaded by the Danes during the Viking invasions. The insurgents halted their advance at what is now the Northamptonshire County border, right on the edge of Salcey Forest, less than one mile from the village.
The whole area was located in the Saxon administrative Hundred of Bonestou (Bunsty), and the central meeting place was probably near the current Bunsty Farm, on the hill above the river at Gayhurst.
Bunsty Farmhouse 19th C
Before 1066, the Bunsty Hundred lands were held by Countess Gueth/Gyrtha (widow of Ralph, Earl of Hereford). These lands were taken by the Normans.
Leofwine was the local Lord, who was killed with his brother King Harold at the Battle of Hastings.
NORMAN
In the Domesday survey of 1086 the two villages in Bunsty Hundred were recorded as “GAITHURST” (Goat Wood) and “STOCHES” (Stockade),
Following the invasion in 1066, and the subsequent land share-out by the Normans, the villages and surrounding area were given to the following Tenants-in-Chief (TIC):-
The Manor of GAYHURST (Gothurst/ Gotehurst/ Gaithurst) was held under Bishop Odo by Lord Robert de Nodariis, or Nowers, whose family became possessed of it, in their own right, not long afterwards
The Manor of STOKE (Stoches) was listed with 2 x TIC:-
- Geoffrey de Montbrai, Bishop of Coutances. In 1086 his land was held under him by “an Englishman” and “2 thanes” (no names)
- William Peverel – A favourite of the conqueror. His lands in Bunsty Hundred were described as “a Manor held under him by Dreu/Drogo” (later titled “de Goldington” and the father of Peter/Piers?) and were probably located north of the church, on the higher ground.
Later in the 12th Century, the Manor passed to Peter (Piers) I de Goldington, from Goldington in Bedfordshire.
The name was later changed from Stoches to STOKE GOLDINGTON in the 13th Century by his grandson, Peter III de Goldington, who also held lands in Northamptonshire, Goldington (Beds) and Ravensthorpe.
He died c 1252 leaving no male heir. His 3 daughters became heiresses to his lands:-
Matilda (Maud), Denise (Diomysia) and Isabel
After their respective marriages the estate was divided up, according to the moieties (shares) held:
- Matilda (Maud) may have married William de Grey, whose manor in Stoke Goldington is mentioned in 1265. Her/His moiety later became Wolfsfield Manor (Eakley Park/Ravenstone Park was recorded in 1270).
- Denise married Miles de Hastings.
Their husbands then held Stoke Goldington Manor in two moieties in 1276.
- Isabel married William de Nowers of Gayhurst
The Nowers moiety was augmented by one-third of the Hastings moiety and was afterwards called Stoke Goldington Manor.
Stoke Goldington Manor later passed to the Barentines and in 1345 Drugo Barentine granted it to the Priory of Ravenstone.
The de Nowers family continued as owners of Gayhurst & Stoke Goldington until 1408 when the sole heiress married into the Nevill family
MIDDLE AGES
The estate passed through many hands and, when in 1521 Michael Nevill died, he was in possession of both Gayhurst and Stoke Goldington manors and advowson.
In 1526 some of north Bucks was given by Henry VIII to Cardinal Wolsey , until he fell out of favour…
Later Queen Elizabeth I passed it to Sir Henry Berkely for 21 years at £73.13s 8d yearly (NB the name is remembered today at Berkely Close in Stoke Goldington )
In January 1581 Queen Elizabeth I gave the estates of Gayhurst and Stoke Goldington to Sir Francis Drake, partly as a reward for the treasures that he had collected for her on his round the world voyages.
Sir Francis Drake
Drake needed cash to finance further voyages however, and sold the villages to William Mulso within a couple of days of being presented with them.
In 1596, his daughter Mary Mulso married Everard Digby and so started the ill fated Digby dynasty at Gayhurst.
17th Century
Everard was knighted by King James I in 1602, but became active in the Gunpowder Plot. As any school child knows, the plot failed on November 5th 1605.
Digby and the other plotters were hunted down and Everard was caught by the Sheriff of Warwickshire. Following the subsequent trial, he was hung drawn and quartered. more…
His property was confiscated but his wife, Lady Mary, had prudently put the estate into a trust in a pre-nuptial agreement and so, by 1608, she had obtained its restitution to the family.
This was an extraordinary achievement, considering the enormity of her husband’s crime.
Later it was in the possession of his son, Sir Kenelm Digby who was born there in 1603. He was a favourite at court but rarely visited the mansion as an adult.
18th CENTURY
Eakley was once a separate parish to the northwest of Stoke Goldington. There were two manors – one called ‘Wolf’s Fields’ (Wolversfield) and the other ‘Eakley Lanes’
In 1707 Stoke Goldington Manor was purchased by Dr Richard Busby’s trustees and, with Willen, added to the doctor’s charity. There was a chapel there and services were held once a month. more…
Later it was owned by the Lane family for many years
George Wrighte I, the Lord of Gayhurst Manor, obtained a licence in 1736 from the Bishop of Lincoln for the annexation and consolidation of the churches of Stoke Goldington and Gayhurst, and since then both livings have been ministered by the one incumbent.
There is an impressive statue by Roubiliac (unconfirmed) of George and Nathan Wrighte in St Peter’s church, built in 1728 next to Gayhurst House.
St Peter’s Church – Gayhurst
In 1771 an Act of Parliament for Enclosing the open and common lands in Stoke Goldington and payment was made to the Rev. Robert Dowbiggin, the Rector, in lieu of compensation for his glebe land.
Thomas Scott the Commentator, who was minister here, described Stoke Goldington village in 1773:-
“The country is pleasant, the village large and populous, but the people poor, ignorant and idle. The highest wage of the labourer in harvest time is only 1/6 per day, without meat. Half of the inhabitants have little more knowledge, save the art of lace making, than they were born with. There are no schools for the poor and they have no means of instruction but at church, where the greater part never come. Those that have any religion, are almost all Methodists, and fanatics of one sort or another. Taking the whole country, I think it remarkably poor and ignorant”.
The village was the property of the Wrighte family for three generations (126 years in total) but in 1837 ownership passed to Ann Wyndham, who married Lord Macdonald of Slate.
To the west of the church is the area called Gorefields. There was a moat which once encircled a monastery, the stronghold of Stoke. There is a legend that an underground passage exists from this area to Gayhurst House.
The Rectory was of local limestone with a tiled roof, the old rectory was pulled down and was subsequently rebuilt by the Rev. Charles Jerdein M.A., who was the first resident rector for nearly a century from 1865
At one time the village boasted the largest walnut tree in England, said to have been in the field near to the rectory. This was felled in 1941.
The Congregational Chapel was built in 1819. The present Primary school stands on the village green and in 1885 J.W. Carlile erected the Reading Room.
In 1830 the parish had seven coaching inns; starting at Eakley, there were The Bull’s Head, the Monarch, The Black Dog, The White Hart and The George and Dragon – all at Eakley.
Nearer to home the Coach and Horses and The George Inn were located in the village itself
The North-South mail, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and London met up with the East-West mail at Northampton. There were twenty six scheduled mail coaches in each direction travelling through the village each day and they all required horse changing and accommodation facilities.
By the early 1840’s most of this trade had disappeared with the building of the Grand Union canal and the development of the London (Euston) to Birmingham (New Street) railway line. The coaching inns gradually became farmhouses.
In the 1841 census there were shown to be two hundred and forty seven hand lace makers in the village by the end of the century this figure had shrunk to forty two, following the invention of machine made lace. read more…
The population of the village mirrored these commercial developments. In 1801 there were 636 living there, this rose to 855 in 1841 and was back to 576 in 1901.
In 1842 the Carrington family took a twenty one year lease from Lady MacDonald on the Gayhurst Estate, which included the village but it was eventually sold to James William Carlile in 1882.
The Carlile family (James and his son Walter) lived at Gayhurst House until Walter’s death in 1950.
The Carliles were very generous individuals who took the responsibility of owning the village very seriously.
In 1882, James W. Carlile commissioned the building of the Stoke Goldington Water Works. He had underground reservoirs built near St Peter’s Church and on the hill at the back of Mount Pleasant and had running water piped into the village. The system is still in existence and there are still a few families in the village who can still get ‘Stoke Water’.
A major refurbishment of St Peter’s Parish Church, the building of the Village Reading Rooms, the gift of both the Village Green and Recreation Ground were other acts of philanthropy by the Carlile’s.
Sir Walter Carlile became Member of Parliament for North Buckinghamshire and was the first MP to drive to the House of Commons in a motor car.
In 1912 Sir Walter Carlile authorised the sale of the freeholds of all the village properties and it was his wish that existing tenants should have the opportunity to purchase their own properties, at prices they could afford.
The sale conducted by Peacocks of Northampton realised £25,287. 16s. 8d leaving only East Side farm and West Side farm which failed to meet their reserve prices and were subsequently sold by private tender. more…
In the 1970’s the County Council issued a consultative document which resulted in the 1973 “Village Plan” aimed at preserving the inherent character of the village by limiting development to “sympathetic in filling”.
This policy which was carried out in seventeen villages around the development of Milton Keynes worked very well (initially) in preventing the new conurbation swallowing everything in its path.
Currently there are just under 600 residents in the village almost the same level of population as in both 1801 and 1901. The number of dwellings has increased and families are much smaller than 200 years ago.
Derek George – May 2005 (revised 2025)