104-472: Milton Keynes Central railway station serves Milton Keynes and surrounding parts of Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire (England). The station is located on the West Coast Main Line about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of London. The station is served by Avanti West Coast intercity services, and by West Midlands Trains regional services. This is the principal station for
208-636: A Peace Pagoda , which was built in 1980 and was the first built by the Nipponzan-Myōhōji Buddhist Order in the western world. The original Wolverton was a medieval settlement just north and west of today's town. The ridge and furrow pattern of agriculture can still be seen in the nearby fields. The 12th century (rebuilt in 1819) 'Church of the Holy Trinity' still stands next to the Norman motte and bailey site. Modern Wolverton
312-594: A civil parish in its own right, with a town council . The district is approximately 3.5 km (2.2 mi) long by 1 km (0.6 mi) wide and occupies some of the highest land in the city. It contains (behind the Central Library) the historic site of the moot hill for Secklow (or Sigelai) Hundred . It is the site of the central retail, business, law enforcement and governmental districts, Milton Keynes Central railway station and around 2,000 residential dwellings. Occupying 342 hectares (850 acres),
416-455: A scheduled ancient monument , just behind the central library. Midsummer sunrise is somewhere to the east – not actually on the alignment of Midsummer Boulevard: [...] But it was a good urban myth to lay down. Let's call that road Midsummer Boulevard because you could tell people that on Midsummer's Day, the sun rises at the end of it, which it nearly does. And the other two? We'll refer to our Anglo-Saxon heritage, because this
520-659: A further generation of new towns in the South East of England was needed to relieve housing congestion in London. Since the 1950s, overspill housing for several London boroughs had been constructed in Bletchley . Further studies in the 1960s identified north Buckinghamshire as a possible site for a large new town, a new city, encompassing the existing towns of Bletchley, Stony Stratford , and Wolverton . The New Town (informally and in planning documents, 'New City')
624-756: A golf course and a farm". The Grand Union Canal is another green route (and demonstrates the level geography of the area – there is just one minor lock in its entire 10-mile (16 km) meandering route through from the southern boundary near Fenny Stratford to the "Iron Trunk" aqueduct over the Ouse at Wolverton at its northern boundary). The initial park system was planned by Peter Youngman (Chief Landscape Architect ), who also developed landscape precepts for all development areas: groups of grid squares were to be planted with different selections of trees and shrubs to give them distinct identities. The detailed planning and landscape design of parks and of
728-401: A grid-road bus-stop. Consequently, each grid square is a semi-autonomous community, making a unique collective of 100 clearly identifiable neighbourhoods within the overall urban environment. The grid squares have a variety of development styles, ranging from conventional urban development and industrial parks to original rural and modern urban and suburban developments. Most grid squares have
832-413: A key element of the planners' vision, Milton Keynes has a purpose built centre, with a very large "covered high street" shopping centre, a theatre , municipal art gallery , a multiplex cinema , hotels, central business district , an ecumenical church , Milton Keynes Civic Offices and central railway station . Campbell Park , a formal park extending east from the business area to
936-423: A key objective for Milton Keynes Development Corporation (MKDC). In the cash-strapped circumstances of the 1960s and 1970s, British Rail (BR) was unenthusiastic but eventually came round after a deal was done in 1978 on cost sharing. In 1979, MKDC architect Stuart Mosscrop designed the station building and office blocks to either side, framing a new Station Square and the vista uphill along Midsummer Boulevard (and
1040-449: A local centre, intended as a retail hub, and many have community facilities as well. Each of the original villages is the heart of its own grid-square. Originally intended under the master plan to sit alongside the grid roads, these local centres were mostly in fact built embedded in the communities. Although the 1970 master plan assumed cross-road junctions, roundabout junctions were built at intersections because this type of junction
1144-549: A major stop on others terminating/initiating at Northampton , Crewe or Birmingham New Street . The typical off-peak service provided by London Northwestern Railway is: Many Avanti West Coast inter-city services call here, with three calls an hour in each direction off-peak on weekdays: From 2025, services are planned to operate (over a rebuilt Varsity line ) to Oxford via Bletchley, calling at Winslow and Bicester Village . A desire to extend services to Cambridge and beyond remains unfulfilled because it depends on building
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#17327876476741248-475: A new alignment eastwards between Bedford and Cambridge: a preferred route has been chosen but (as of December 2021) awaits approval. In October 2019, the Department for Transport ruled out an early proposal to establish a service to London Marylebone via Claydon Junction , Aylesbury and High Wycombe . In June 1997, Connex South Central began operating services between Gatwick Airport and Rugby via
1352-769: A number of independent operators. Numerous bus services each hour traverse Midsummer Boulevard, connecting the station to the shopping centre , the theatre and Xscape . Stagecoach East operate four major long-distance bus routes from here. Their route MK1 express service runs to Luton Airport via Luton railway station , providing a direct link between the West Coast Main Line and the Midland Main Line . Route X5 route between Oxford and Bedford stops here, as does their X6 service to Northampton , with connections to Leicester and Peterborough . Arriva Shires & Essex also operate route X6 (formerly
1456-522: A programme of intensive planting, balancing lakes and parkland. Central Milton Keynes ("CMK") was not intended to be a traditional town centre but a central business and shopping district to supplement local centres embedded in most of the grid squares. This non-hierarchical devolved city plan was a departure from the English new towns tradition and envisaged a wide range of industry and diversity of housing styles and tenures. The largest and almost
1560-520: A real snow indoor ski slope , a multiscreen cinema, and a number of shops, restaurants and night clubs. At the rear of the site is iFly, an indoor skydiving column. The municipal public art gallery, MK Gallery , presents exhibitions of international contemporary and classical art. The gallery was extended and remodelled in 2018/19 and includes an art-house cinema. It does not have a permanent collection. The adjacent 1,400-seat Milton Keynes Theatre opened in 1999. The theatre has an unusual feature:
1664-638: A shortfall that the Council aims to rectify. In January 2019, the council and its partner, Cranfield University, invited proposals to design a campus near the Central station for a new university, code-named MK:U . However this project seems unlikely to proceed, following a government decision in January 2023 to deny funding. In June 2023, the Open University announced that it would "initiate work on
1768-550: A total of 3,000 – 4,500 children. A central resource area served all the schools on a campus. In addition, each campus included a leisure centre with indoor and outdoor sports facilities and a swimming pool, plus a theatre. These facilities were available to the public outside school hours, thus maximising use of the investment. Changes in central government policy from the 1980s onwards subsequently led to much of this system being abandoned. Some schools have since been merged and sites sold for development, many converted to academies, and
1872-531: A total of seven platforms. Platforms 1 and 3 are the south and northbound slow platforms, while 4 and 6 are the south and northbound fast platforms. Platforms 2 and 5 are reversible, being slow and fast respectively. Platform 2 is used mainly by terminating stopping services from London Euston , whilst platforms 1 and 3 are used by West Midlands Trains services between Euston and Northampton, Birmingham New Street or Crewe. Platforms 4, 5 and 6 are used by Avanti West Coast inter-city express services between London and
1976-533: A unique insight into the history of a large sample of the landscape of North Buckinghamshire. The corporation's strongly modernist designs were regularly featured in the magazines Architectural Design and the Architects' Journal . MKDC was determined to learn from the mistakes made in the earlier new towns , and revisit the garden city ideals . They set in place the characteristic grid roads that run between districts ( 'grid squares' ), as well as
2080-419: A very strong north-south axis. If you've got to build a city between (them), it is very natural to take a pen and draw the rungs of a ladder. Ten miles by six is the size of this city – 22,000 acres. Do you lay it out like an American city, rigid orthogonal from side to side? Being more sensitive in 1966-7, the designers decided that the grid concept should apply but should be a lazy grid following
2184-455: Is a civil parish , bordering (clockwise from north) Great Linford , Campbell Park (civil parish) , Loughton , and Bradwell . The parish was created in 2001, and had a population of 2,726 according to the 2011 census. For the 2001 Census, the Office for National Statistics designated an urban sub-area that it called "Central Milton Keynes". This was far bigger than either the district or
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#17327876476742288-442: Is a favourite site for skateboarding and freestyle BMX and as a result the granite facings of the planting surrounds have suffered from the continuous bumping and grinding. This has lessened somewhat since the opening of a dedicated skateboarding park (Sk8 MK) close to the former central bus station . Milton Keynes Central is a principal start and terminus for London Northwestern Railway (LNR) services to/from London Euston, and
2392-509: Is at the western end of Central Milton Keynes , near the junction of the A5 with the A509 . The station post-code is MK9 1LA. In the chainage notation traditionally used on the railway, its location on the line is 49 miles 65 chains (49.81 mi; 80.17 km ) from Euston. The station and its plaza were used in the 1987 movie Superman IV: The Quest for Peace as a substitute for
2496-477: Is composed of about 90% service industries and 9% manufacturing. It may startle some political economists to talk of commencing the building of new cities ... planned as cities from their first foundation, and not mere small towns and villages. ... A time will arrive when something of this sort must be done ... England cannot escape from the alternative of new city building. In the 1960s, the UK government decided that
2600-498: Is indented into platform 1. The original bay platform 1 line was extended northwards to become a through platform (becoming the up slow line), and platform 2 line is now a terminating and reversing line, avoiding conflicting crossing movements. This work was completed on 29 December 2008. As of August 2023, a direct service between Bedford and Milton Keynes Central is not in any published plan, being overtaken by later events (see § East West Rail , below). Milton Keynes Central has
2704-457: Is located opposite the railway station but has not been operating as such since 1997. The upstairs level of the bus station (formerly a night club) accommodates a young peoples' facility, ' the Buszy '. This includes an award-winning covered "urban" skate-boarding area, which has attracted international 'skaters' and film crews). The former England National Hockey Stadium was located on a site to
2808-478: Is more commonly known as the city. Labour Minister Dick Crossman …looked at [a] map and saw [the] name and said " Milton the poet , Keynes the economic one . 'Planning with economic sense and idealism, a very good name for it.'" Jock Campbell, Baron Campbell of Eskan The name 'Milton Keynes' was a reuse of the name of one of the original historic villages in the designated area, now more generally known as ' Milton Keynes Village ' to distinguish it from
2912-541: Is more efficient at dealing with small to medium volumes. Some major roads are dual carriageway , the others are single carriageway . Along one side of each single carriageway grid road, there is usually a (grassed) reservation to permit dualling or additional transport infrastructure at a later date. As of 2018 , this has been limited to some dualling. The edges of each grid square are landscaped and densely planted – some additionally have noise attenuation mounds – to minimise traffic noise from
3016-473: Is needed, such as when there is a service delay. To the north of the station the six lines reduce to four (two slow and two fast) and there is a mile of five-track running to the south before this also reduces back to four. The station is generally accessible: there are no unavoidable steps and there are lifts from the concourse to each platform. As with all mainline railway stations, passengers with mobility limitations may need to pre-book assistance to get from
3120-405: Is not an American new town... It's an English new town, in an English place, on a Common, where three Saxon Hundreds used to meet at that little mound behind the library. So we refer to Avebury and Silbury as being part of our historical and cultural references. I've always been interested in astronomy. It's something you've got to know as an architect when you're designing buildings: where [does]
3224-417: Is only a small medieval chapel and a manor house occupying the site. New Bradwell , to the north of Bradwell and east of Wolverton, was built specifically for railway workers. The level bed of the old Wolverton to Newport Pagnell Line near here has been converted to a redway, making it a favoured route for cycling. A working windmill is sited on a hill outside the village. Great Linford appears in
Milton Keynes Central railway station - Misplaced Pages Continue
3328-531: Is part of the 'densification' plan that central government, through its agency English Partnerships , had ordained for Milton Keynes. Its height, also a major departure from the original low-rise design , makes it the third tallest building in Milton Keynes, beaten only by the 14-storey Xscape and the 18-storey Mellish Court in Bletchley . To the south of the Hub lies a similar development named Vizion . This
3432-537: Is similar in height and layout to the Hub but features a large Sainsbury's supermarket taking up the lower two floors with a rooftop garden above it. Vizion was completed in 2009, whilst the following year saw the completion of the 9-storey Pinnacle office development further west along Midsummer Boulevard from the Hub, closer to the railway station. The latter is distinctive for the slanted roof on its tallest section. As of 2022 , Milton Keynes does not have its own conventional undergraduate university, though it contains
3536-417: Is so called because it is generally surfaced with red tarmac. The national Sustrans national cycle network routes 6 and 51 take advantage of this system. The original design guidance declared that commercial building heights in the centre should not exceed six storeys, with a limit of three storeys for houses (elsewhere), paraphrased locally as "no building taller than the tallest tree". In contrast,
3640-555: Is the primary spine. The district rests like a saddle across a long north-south ridge with its highest point here at a little over 110 metres (360 ft), falling east to 75 metres near the Grand Union Canal and 85 metres near the Central railway station. This area is almost the highest point of Milton Keynes and includes the site of Secklow Mound , the moot mound (meeting place) for the Secklow Hundred and
3744-964: The Brighton Main Line and West London Line , calling at Milton Keynes Central. It was cut back to terminate at Milton Keynes in December 2000 before being withdrawn in May 2002 due to capacity constraints on the West Coast Main Line while the latter was being upgraded. Southern reintroduced the London orbital route service in February 2009, with Class 377s initially operating to and from Brighton to Milton Keynes Central, before being curtailed at its southern end at South Croydon and later Clapham Junction . In May 2022, Southern cut its service back to terminate at Watford Junction , where passengers may transfer to Avanti West Coast or London Northwestern services to stations north of Watford. The station
3848-534: The Domesday Book as Linforde , and features a church dedicated to Saint Andrew , dating from 1215. Today, the outer buildings of the 17th century manor house form an arts centre . Milton Keynes (Village) is the original village to which the New Town owes its name. The original village is still evident, with a pleasant thatched pub , village hall , church and traditional housing. The area around
3952-535: The Great Ouse and of its tributaries (the Ouzel and some brooks) have been protected as linear parks that run right through Milton Keynes; these were identified as important landscape and flood-management assets from the outset. At 4,100 acres (1,650 ha) – ten times larger than London's Hyde Park and a third larger than Richmond Park – the landscape architects realised that
4056-638: The Local Government Act 1972 , Milton Keynes Borough (now City) Council). From 2004 to 2011 a government quango , the Milton Keynes Partnership , had development control powers to accelerate the growth of Milton Keynes. Along with many other towns and boroughs, Milton Keynes competed (unsuccessfully) for formal city status in the 2000, 2002 and 2012 competitions. However the Borough (including rural areas, in addition to
4160-462: The Milton Keynes Partnership , in its expansion plans for Milton Keynes , believed that Central Milton Keynes (and elsewhere) needed "landmark buildings" and subsequently lifted the height restriction for the area. As a result, high rise buildings have been built in the central business district. More recent local plans have protected the existing boulevard framework and set higher standards for architectural excellence. The flood plains of
4264-660: The Milton Keynes urban area (one inter-city). The Open University is based here and there is a small campus of the University of Bedfordshire . Most major sports are represented at amateur level; Red Bull Racing (Formula One), MK Dons (association football), and Milton Keynes Lightning (ice hockey) are its professional teams. The Peace Pagoda overlooking Willen Lake was the first such to be built in Europe. The many works of sculpture in parks and public spaces include
Milton Keynes Central railway station - Misplaced Pages Continue
4368-578: The Norman conquest ; detailed archaeological investigations before development revealed evidence of human occupation from the Neolithic period, including the Milton Keynes Hoard of Bronze Age gold jewellery. The government established Milton Keynes Development Corporation (MKDC) to design and deliver this new city. The Corporation decided on a softer, more human-scaled landscape than in
4472-564: The Royal Parks model would not be appropriate or affordable and drew on their National Park experience. As Bendixson and Platt (1992) write: "They divided the Ouzel Valley into 'strings, beads and settings'. The 'strings' are well-maintained routes, be they for walking, bicycling or riding; the 'beads' are sports centres, lakeside cafes and other activity areas; the 'settings' are self-managed land-uses such as woods, riding paddocks,
4576-757: The Boulevards. The main feature of the district is the Milton Keynes Central railway station (an inter-city stop on the West Coast Main Line ), one of the seven stations serving the Milton Keynes urban area. Coach services operate from here as well as from the Milton Keynes coachway next to junction 14 of the M1 motorway . Services include the Stagecoach X5 service that replaces the Varsity Line , which links Milton Keynes with Oxford in
4680-785: The Corporation attracted talented young architects, led by the respected designer, Derek Walker. In the modernist Miesian tradition is the Shopping Building designed by Stuart Mosscrop and Christopher Woodward, a grade II listed building , which the Twentieth Century Society inter alia regards as the 'most distinguished' twentieth century retail building in Britain. The Development Corporation also led an ambitious public art programme. The urban design has not been universally praised. In 1980,
4784-534: The Department of Transport announced a plan to upgrade the station. The first phase added a down fast line platform 6, so that the existing platform 5 could be used for stopping express trains in either direction. The second phase provided an additional terminating bay platform (2A), nominally to extend the Marston Vale Line ( Bedford – Bletchley ) service via the West Coast Main Line (WCML) to Milton Keynes Central. This 5-car bay platform
4888-711: The Development Corporation was being wound up , it transferred the major parks, lakes, river-banks and grid-road margins to the Parks Trust , a charity which is independent of the municipal authority. MKDC endowed the Parks Trust with a portfolio of commercial properties, the income from which pays for the upkeep of the green spaces. As of 2018 , approximately 25% of the urban area is parkland or woodland. It includes two Sites of Special Scientific Interest , Howe Park Wood and Oxley Mead . As
4992-481: The Grand Union Canal, is described in the Pevsner Architectural Guides as " ...the largest and most imaginative park to have been laid out in Britain in the 20th century". The park is listed (grade 2) by Historic England , Milton Keynes consists of many pre-existing towns and villages that anchored the urban design, as well as new infill developments. The modern-day urban area outside
5096-592: The Green . These historical settlements were made the focal points of their respective grid square. Every other district has an historical antecedent, if only in original farms or even field names. Bletchley was first recorded in the 12th century as Blechelai . Its station was an important junction (the London and North Western Railway with the Oxford-Cambridge Varsity Line ), leading to
5200-630: The High Street is reputedly the last place the Princes in the Tower were seen alive. The manor house of Walton village, Walton Hall , is the headquarters of the Open University and the tiny parish church (deconsecrated) is in its grounds. The small parish church (1680) at Willen was designed by the architect and physicist Robert Hooke . Nearby, there is a Buddhist Temple and
5304-562: The MK urban area ) was successful in 2022, in the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours competition. On 15 August 2022, the Crown Office announced formally that Queen Elizabeth II had ordained by letters patent that the Borough of Milton Keynes has been given city status. In law, it is the Borough rather than its eponymous settlement that has city status; nevertheless it is the latter that
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#17327876476745408-623: The United Nations building. Other scenes were shot in the Central Milton Keynes area. Milton Keynes 52°02′N 0°46′W / 52.04°N 0.76°W / 52.04; -0.76 Milton Keynes ( / k iː n z / KEENZ ) is a city in Buckinghamshire , England, about 50 miles (80 km) north-west of London . At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area
5512-506: The West Midlands, north Wales, the north-west or Scotland. Platform 2A is a five-car south-facing bay platform, originally intended for the extension of Marston Vale Line services from Bedford into Milton Keynes Central: this proposal no longer appears in plans for East West Rail , being replaced by a planned service to/from Oxford (see below ). Meanwhile, platform 2A is used only by exception when additional platform capacity
5616-604: The X60) to Aylesbury via Buckingham and route X4 (formerly the 150) to Aylesbury via Leighton Buzzard via The Open University , which terminates at the station. ( National Express services run from the Milton Keynes Coachway , about 4.5 miles (7.2 km) away, served from this station by the 3 or the X5.) The Milton Keynes redway system , a comprehensive network of cycle/pedestrian shared use paths , connects to
5720-582: The boundary of Milton Keynes was defined in 1967, some 40,000 people lived in four towns and fifteen villages or hamlets in the "designated area". The radical plan, form and scale of Milton Keynes attracted international attention. Early phases of development include work by celebrated architects, including Sir Richard MacCormac , Norman Foster , Henning Larsen , Ralph Erskine , John Winter , and Martin Richardson. Led by Lord Campbell of Eskan (chairman) and Fred Roche (General Manager),
5824-521: The campus of the national Open University . There is an outpost of the University of Bedfordshire in a CMK office block. Cranfield University and the Milton Keynes City Council are partners in a detailed proposal to establish an undergraduate campus, code-named MK:U . The plan anticipates opening by 2023, with a campus in the block contained by Grafton Street / Avebury Boulevard / Witan Gate / Childs Way. In January 2019,
5928-473: The ceiling can be lowered closing off the third tier (gallery) to create a more intimate space for smaller-scale productions. This area is also delimited by Portway and Childs Way. Saxon Gate separates it from the north-east area and Grafton Gate (Grafton Street, V7) marks its south-western edge. The domed Church of Christ the Cornerstone, law courts and police station are in the business district, beside
6032-510: The church, consisting of towers ranging between 10 and 14 storeys. The complex includes two high-rise hotels and a number of residential and office towers set around a central piazza. The site controversially involves the closure of one of the original pedestrian underpasses and is built right up to the edge of the adjacent boulevard, the first of several proposals that would have changed the unique character of Milton Keynes Development Corporation 's original design for Central Milton Keynes. The work
6136-402: The city , one of seven serving the Milton Keynes urban area . Milton Keynes Central, which opened on 17 May 1982, is by far the busiest and most important of these, as well as being the largest in terms of platforms in use, having overtaken Bletchley when platforms 2A and 6 became operational. A new station to delimit the western end of the new central business district of Milton Keynes was
6240-476: The city's green spaces are largely independent of the council's expenditure priorities. The Development Corporation's original design concept aimed for a "forest city" and its foresters planted millions of trees from its own nursery in Newlands in the following years. Parks, lakes and green spaces cover about 25% of Milton Keynes; as of 2018 , there are 22 million trees and shrubs in public open spaces. When
6344-579: The district lies between Portway (H5, A509 ) to the north, the West Coast Main Line and A5 to the west, Childs Way (H6) to the south and the Grand Union Canal to the east. It is crossed from north to south by (in west to east order, major roads only) Grafton Gate (V6) , Witan Gate, Saxon Gate (V7) and Secklow Gate, and Marlborough Street . It is crossed from west to east (in north to south order, major roads only) by Silbury Boulevard, Midsummer Boulevard and Avebury Boulevard. Midsummer Boulevard
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#17327876476746448-430: The earlier English new towns but with an emphatically modernist architecture . Recognising how traditional towns and cities had become choked in traffic, they established a grid of distributor roads about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) between edges, leaving the spaces between to develop more organically. An extensive network of shared paths for leisure cyclists and pedestrians criss-crosses through and between them. Rejecting
6552-522: The exact angle required at the latitude of CMK, and persuaded the engineers to shift the grid of roads a few degrees in response. Physical reality does not match this report. From the highest point on Midsummer Boulevard, where the eastward horizon is unobstructed, the sunrise at 'first flash' is not aligned with the Boulevard. In reality, the sun is somewhat elevated before alignment occurs, 40 minutes later. The park, with housing either side, takes up
6656-409: The flow of land, its valleys, its ebbs and flows. That would be nicer to look at, more economical and efficient to build, and would sit more beautifully as a landscape intervention. David Lock The Milton Keynes Development Corporation planned the major road layout according to street hierarchy principles, using a grid pattern of approximately 1 km (0.62 mi) intervals, rather than on
6760-505: The grid road impacting the adjacent grid square. Traffic movements are fast, with relatively little congestion since there are alternative routes to any particular destination other than during peak periods. The national speed limit applies on the grid roads, although lower speed limits have been introduced on some stretches to reduce accident rates. Pedestrians rarely need to cross grid roads at grade , as underpasses and bridges were specified at frequent places along each stretch of all of
6864-489: The grid roads was evolved under the leadership of Neil Higson, who from 1977 took over from Youngman. In a national comparison of urban areas by open space available to residents, Milton Keynes ranked highest in the UK. Milton Keynes is unusual in that most of the parks are owned and managed by a charity, the Milton Keynes Parks Trust rather than the local authority, to ensure that the management of
6968-415: The grid roads. In contrast, the later districts planned by English Partnerships have departed from this model, without a road hierarchy but with conventional junctions with traffic lights and at grade pedestrian crossings. There is a separate network (approximately 170 miles (270 km) total length) of cycle and pedestrian routes – the redways – that runs through
7072-453: The grid-squares and often runs alongside the grid-road network. This was designed to segregate slow moving cycle and pedestrian traffic from fast moving motor traffic. In practice, it is mainly used for leisure cycling rather than commuting, perhaps because the cycle routes are shared with pedestrians, cross the grid-roads via bridge or underpass rather than at grade, and because some take meandering scenic routes rather than straight lines. It
7176-482: The iconic Concrete Cows at Milton Keynes Museum . Milton Keynes is among the most economically productive localities in the UK, ranking highly against a number of criteria. It has the UK's fifth-highest number of business startups per capita (but equally of business failures). It is home to several major national and international companies. Despite economic success and personal wealth for some, there are pockets of nationally significant poverty. The employment profile
7280-524: The intention that it would be self-sustaining and eventually become a major regional centre in its own right. Planning control was taken from elected local authorities and delegated to the Milton Keynes Development Corporation (MKDC). Before construction began, every area was subject to detailed archaeological investigation: doing so has exposed a rich history of human settlement since Neolithic times and has provided
7384-525: The landscape of south-central England. There is evidence of Stone Age , late Bronze Age /early Iron Age , Romano-British , Anglo-Saxon , Anglo-Norman , Medieval , and late Industrial Revolution settlements such as the railway towns of Wolverton (with its railway works ) and Bletchley (at the junction of the London and North Western Railway with the Oxford–Cambridge Varsity Line ). The most notable archaeological artefact
7488-531: The larger part of the district. It was named in honour of the first chairman of Milton Keynes Development Corporation , Lord Campbell of Eskan . It stretches just east of the shops and theatre down to the Grand Union Canal . Among the features of the park is a belvedere with extensive views over Bedfordshire to the east and the Light Pyramid , a modern beacon . There is also a cricket ground with pavilion . The Milton Keynes Parks Trust , which manages
7592-476: The last of the British New Towns, Milton Keynes has 'stood the test of time far better than most, and has proved flexible and adaptable'. The radical grid plan was inspired by the work of Melvin M. Webber , described by the founding architect of Milton Keynes, Derek Walker , as the 'father of the city'. Webber thought that telecommunications meant that the old idea of a city as a concentric cluster
7696-465: The leisure centres outsourced to commercial providers. As in most parts of the UK, the state secondary schools in Milton Keynes are comprehensives , although schools in the rest of Buckinghamshire still use the tripartite system . Private schools are also available. The Open University 's headquarters are in the Walton Hall district; though because this is a distance learning institution,
7800-422: The midsummer sunrise). The station opened on 14 May 1982, with an official opening by Charles, then-Prince of Wales conducted three days later. The adjacent office wings were completed three years later. Before Milton Keynes Central opened, Bletchley was the main station for Milton Keynes, served by British Rail InterCity services. These services moved to the new station, downgrading Bletchley. In May 2006,
7904-666: The modern settlement. After the Norman conquest, the de Cahaignes family held the manor from 1166 to the late 13th century as well as others in the country ( Ashton Keynes in Wiltshire, Somerford Keynes in Gloucestershire, and Horsted Keynes in West Sussex). The village was originally known as Middeltone (11th century); then later as Middelton Kaynes or Caynes (13th century); Milton Keynes (15th century); and Milton alias Middelton Gaynes (17th century). The area that
8008-465: The more conventional radial pattern found in older settlements. Major distributor roads run between communities, rather than through them: these distributor roads are known locally as grid roads and the spaces between them – the neighbourhoods – are known as grid squares (though few are actually square or even rectilinear ). This spacing was chosen so that people would always be within six minutes' walking distance of
8112-629: The north of the station, surrounded by a number of important retail units. Having been vacated, this was demolished in early 2010 and the site redeveloped as the Quadrant:MK , the headquarters for Network Rail . To the south of the station, there is another leisure and retail area – the Leisure Plaza, notably the Planet Ice Arena (home of Milton Keynes Lightning ) and what was another ten-pin bowling alley. Central Milton Keynes
8216-573: The north side of Silbury Boulevard, which separates them from the shops. Midsummer Boulevard runs along the south side of the Centre:MK, separating the shops from the theatre, art gallery, Theatre District, the Xscape building, pubs, sports shops and other leisure facilities. The civic offices were designed by FaulknerBrowns Architects and completed in 1979. Xscape Milton Keynes is the main leisure complex in Central Milton Keynes consisting of SnoZone,
8320-473: The only students resident on campus are approximately 200 full-time postgraduates. Cranfield University , an all-postgraduate institution, is in nearby Cranfield , Bedfordshire. Milton Keynes College provides further education up to foundation degree level. A campus of the University of Bedfordshire provides some tertiary education facilities locally. As of 2023 , Milton Keynes is the UK's largest population centre without its own conventional university,
8424-534: The original six towns (Bletchley, Fenny Stratford, Newport Pagnell, Stony Stratford, Wolverton, and Woburn Sands ) was largely rural farmland but included many picturesque North Buckinghamshire villages and hamlets: Bradwell village and its Abbey , Broughton , Caldecotte , Great Linford , Loughton , Milton Keynes Village , New Bradwell , Shenley Brook End , Shenley Church End , Simpson , Stantonbury , Tattenhoe , Tongwell , Walton , Water Eaton , Wavendon , Willen , Great and Little Woolstone , Woughton on
8528-537: The park, grazes sheep on it to keep the vegetation under control. Marlborough Street (V8, B4034) runs in a cutting through the ridge, bridged by a redway ( shared path ) between the main centre and the park. This area is defined by the Marlborough Street (V8, B4034) to the north-east, the Saxon Gate (Saxon Street, V7) to the south-west, Portway (H5, A509 ) to the north-west and Childs Way (H6) to
8632-402: The partners announced an international competition to design the new campus. In May 2019, Santander Bank announced a 'seed funding' grant of £30M to help with building and initial running costs. On 4 July 2019, the shortlisted proposals for the campus were announced. On 30 July 2019, the evaluation panel announced that Hopkins Architects had produced the winning design. As of January 2022 ,
8736-479: The planning and development of Milton Keynes and has an associated research library. The centre also offers an education programme (with a focus on urban geography and local history) to schools, universities and professionals. Central Milton Keynes 52°02′32″N 0°45′35″W / 52.0423°N 0.7598°W / 52.0423; -0.7598 Central Milton Keynes is the central business district of Milton Keynes , Buckinghamshire , England and
8840-586: The platform to the train. Ticket gates are in operation. The station building has a shop and café. There are other shops and restaurants on the south side of the station square. There are a number of hotels on Midsummer Boulevard (which begins opposite the station and leads up into the central business district ). The station forecourt is the terminus or key intermediate destination for many bus services; almost all local and district bus services stop there. These services are operated mostly by Arriva Shires & Essex as well as some routes by Stagecoach East and
8944-415: The project is stalled pending assurance of government funding. This district is defined by Saxon Gate (Saxon Street, V7) to the north-east, the West Coast Main Line (and the adjacent A5 ) to the south-west, Portway (H5, A509 ) to the north-west and Childs Way (H6) to the south-east. The core retail district is further delimited by Silbury and Avebury Boulevards, with civic and office developments outside
9048-436: The residential tower block concept that had become unpopular , they set a height limit of three storeys outside Central Milton Keynes . Facilities include a 1,400-seat theatre, a municipal art gallery, two multiplex cinemas, an ecumenical central church, a 400-seat concert hall, a teaching hospital, a 30,500-seat football stadium, an indoor ski-slope and a 65,000-capacity open-air concert venue. Seven railway stations serve
9152-528: The small linear Fred Roche Gardens and Grafton Park that provides its core. This ecumenical church, the first such in the United Kingdom, is shared by the major Christian denominations to serve the office workers and the small resident population. (There are many denominational places of worship elsewhere in Milton Keynes). The Hub:MK is a 2006-built development between the station and
9256-553: The south-east. The core retail district is further delimited by Silbury and Avebury Boulevards, with civic and office developments outside the Boulevards. The retail district includes thecentre:mk and Midsummer Place (the covered high streets that are the Central Milton Keynes shopping centres ). The Secklow Mound (the original Anglo-Saxon centre of the district), the central library, civic offices of Milton Keynes City Council and other commercial offices are on
9360-411: The station and its cycle parking facilities. Also in the station forecourt, there is a taxi rank (to the left on exit) and a pick-up space for private hire cars (to the right), plus limited (very) short term parking. There are multi-storey car-parks to the north and south of the station. Parking in the surrounding streets is heavily restricted to discourage commuter parking. The station square itself
9464-472: The strategic and financial case to relocate [from] the OU's existing campus at Walton Hall to a new site adjacent to the central railway station" and possibly commence teaching full-time undergraduates. Through Milton Keynes University Hospital , the city also has links with the University of Buckingham 's medical school. Milton Keynes City Discovery Centre at Bradwell Abbey holds an extensive archive about
9568-563: The substantial urban growth in the town in the Victorian period. It expanded to absorb the village of Water Eaton and town of Fenny Stratford . Bradwell is a traditional rural village with earthworks of a Norman motte and bailey and parish church. There is a YHA hostel beside the church. Bradwell Abbey , a former Benedictine Priory and scheduled monument , was of major economic importance in this area of North Buckinghamshire before its dissolution in 1524. Nowadays there
9672-492: The sun rise in winter? Where [does] it set in summer? You've got to know that, otherwise you don't know where you're putting your building in relation to the cosmos. That goes in pretty early. While still on the drawing board, planners noticed that the planned main streets in the proposed city centre would almost frame the rising sun on Midsummer's Day. This story has become embellished over time and, according to subsequent reports, they consulted Greenwich Observatory to obtain
9776-565: The then president of the Royal Town Planning Institute , Francis Tibbalds, described Central Milton Keynes as "bland, rigid, sterile, and totally boring." Michael Edwards, a member of the original consultancy team, believes that there were weaknesses in their proposal and that the Development Corporation implemented it badly. The geography of Milton Keynes – the railway line , Watling Street , Grand Union Canal , M1 motorway – sets up
9880-537: The village has reverted to its 11th century name of Middleton (Middeltone ). The oldest surviving domestic building in the area (c. 1300 CE), "perhaps the manor house", is here. Stony Stratford began as a settlement on Watling Street during the Roman occupation , beside the ford over the Great Ouse. There has been a market here since 1194 (by charter of King Richard I ). The former Rose and Crown Inn on
9984-472: The west (for connections to the west and Wales ) and Cambridge in the east; and the 99 service to Luton Airport , operated by Stagecoach East . The station building houses commercial office lets and food outlets, and the Station Square development includes further office lets and retail outlets. The bus interchange bays are located at the railway station forecourt. (The former central bus station
10088-468: Was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms the northern boundary of the urban area; a tributary, the River Ouzel , meanders through its linear parks and balancing lakes . Approximately 25% of the urban area is parkland or woodland and includes two Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). In the 1960s, the government decided that a further generation of new towns in the south east of England
10192-520: Was a 19th-century New Town built to house the workers at the Wolverton railway works , which built engines and carriages for the London and North Western Railway . Among the smaller villages and hamlets are three – Broughton , Loughton and Woughton on the Green – that are of note in that their names each use a different pronunciation of the ough letter sequence in English. In early planning, education provision
10296-447: Was carefully integrated into the development plans with the intention that school journeys would, as far as possible, be made by walking and cycling. Each residential grid square was provided with a primary school (ages 5 to 8) for c.240 children, and for each two squares there was a middle school (ages 8 to 12) for c.480 children. For each eight squares there was a large secondary education campus, to contain between two and four schools for
10400-412: Was needed to relieve housing congestion in London. Milton Keynes was to be the biggest yet, with a population of 250,000 and area of 22,000 acres (9,000 ha). At designation, its area incorporated the existing towns of Bletchley , Fenny Stratford , Wolverton and Stony Stratford , along with another fifteen villages and farmland in between. These settlements had an extensive historical record since
10504-497: Was out of date and that cities which enabled people to travel around them readily would be the thing of the future, achieving "community without propinquity " for residents. The government wound up MKDC in 1992, 25 years after the new town was founded, transferring control to the Commission for New Towns (CNT) and then finally to English Partnerships , with the planning function returning to local council control (since 1974 and
10608-538: Was the Milton Keynes Hoard , which the British Museum described as 'one of the biggest concentrations of Bronze Age gold known from Britain and seems to flaunt wealth.' Bletchley Park , the site of World War II Allied code-breaking and Colossus , the world's first programmable electronic digital computer , is a major component of MK's modern history. It is now a flourishing heritage attraction, receiving hundreds of thousands of visitors annually. When
10712-480: Was to be the biggest yet, with a target population of 250,000, in a ' designated area ' of 21,883 acres (8,855.7 ha). The name 'Milton Keynes' was taken from that of an existing village on the site. On 23 January 1967, when the formal "new town designation order" was made, the area to be developed was largely farmland and undeveloped villages. The site was deliberately located equidistant from London, Birmingham , Leicester , Oxford , and Cambridge , with
10816-458: Was to become Milton Keynes encompassed a landscape that has a rich historic legacy. The area to be developed was largely farmland and undeveloped villages, but with evidence of permanent settlement dating back to the Bronze Age . Before construction began, every area was subject to detailed archaeological investigation: this work has provided an insight into the history of a very large sample of
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