On Bank Holiday Monday, 28 May 2018, we held the Newport Pagnell quiz run with 56 people taking part.

Thanks to the Newport Pagnell History Society for providing the facts and questions.

Well done to our winning team that went away with the goody bags

 

The route and facts are below:

 

Newport Pagnell History Run

Route

1, Bury field 1

2, Bury field 2

3, Mill Street

4, Royal British Legion Club

5, Old Cemetery

6, Tickford Abbey

7, Salmons of Newport Pagnell

8, Newport Pagnell Swimming Club

9, William Cowley Parchment Works

10, Willen Road Bathing Place

11, Ousedale school

12, Newport Pagnell Railway.

 

 

1, Bury field 1

Is a vast area of common land situated to the north west of Newport Pagnell. It is common land mentioned as early as 1276.  Along by the Queens Avenue entrance across to Mill House and adjacent to Union Street are the remnants of a Civil War defensive boundary and over by top meadow an ancient burial mound.  During the Civil War, Newport was first a Royalist stronghold. The King’s men were routed and the Parliamentary forces took charge, fortifying the town with earthworks, some of which can still be seen on the town Common, Bury Field. John Bunyan was said to have served in the Commonwealth forces here.

 

2, Bury field 2

At the centre of the common lies a small wooded copse the remains of a walkway known locally as Christmas Walk.  At the centre of the field are two cuttings all that remains of a Victoria railway line that was never completed. It was proposed to extend the line from Newport Pagnell to Olney and beyond, but this never materialised, though there is still evidence of a start being made.

In the sixties the field was used by the Football and Cricket Clubs. Newport Wanderers played their homes matches on the field the pitch now overgrown.

 

3, Mill Street

Newport Pagnell, with its many hotels and inns, was an important stopping place for travellers in the coaching era. In the 1820s 33 four-horse coaches used to travel through the town each day to London, Liverpool, Holyhead, Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds.  One hundred years ago there were over 30 licensed premises in the town serving a population of around 4,000.

 

4, Royal British Legion Club

Is situated on the site of an ancient manor house believed to have been called Waterhall.  It is a 17th century building which in it’s time has been home to prominent local families, a private girls’ school, a public library, and a doctors’ surgery. The gardens of this lovely house are now publicity owned.

 

5, Old Cemetery

During the civil war at the very end of the cemetery, called the Battery, where the rivers OUSE and OUZEL converge is a mound where the Roundheads had an apex of cannon presumably to engage approaching Royalist vessels coming up the ouse, today there are only graves on it.

 

6, Tickford Abbey

In Priory Street, is now a private nursing home. This large property was erected on the site an ancient Priory. Around c1767 Thomas Hooton built the house that stands today. There is a family vault to rear of the premises in the grounds of the Priory Burial Ground also a tall Obelisk which was erected by Thomas Hooton in memory of his wife Sarah. Another feature of the Abbey is the Gazebo, recently modernized, that stands by the River Ouse in the extensive grounds of the house. The Obelisk and Gazebo are both listed ancient monuments.

 

 

7, Salmons of Newport Pagnell

Was founded around 1830 by Joseph Salmons and became famous for its coaches, dog-carts and ralli-carts, which sold around the world.  Salmons patented several important developments in hood design, including the 1911 all-weather body, which was as snug as a saloon with the hood closed, a spring- assisted hood, and the 1925 “Tickford” winding hood, which was raised or lowered by turning a cranked winding handle. The all-weather body and the “Sunshine Saloon” featuring the Tickford hood, were built in several European countries.

In 1939 the family business became a limited company, Salmons & Sons Coachbuilders Limited, but, after the retirement of the Salmons brothers, grandsons of the founder, it was renamed Tickford Limited.

After the Second World War the company continued to develop.  The luxurious convertibles and saloons built on the Lagonda chassis prompted the 1955 acquisition of the company by David Brown. The company became Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd.

Scale models of Aston Martin cars, presented to the Queen (1966) and Prince Charles (1988), are now on display at the Sandringham Museum.

Production ceased in 2007

 

8, Newport Pagnell Swimming Club

was opened in1957 with donated funds from Harry Middleton and has gone from an open air pool to a covered pool in the late 1980s, and now has changed again with more facilities added such as a gym in 2013.

 

9, William Cowley Parchment Works

Is a family business making the finest quality parchment and vellum since 1879 and are the only surviving such premises in the whole of England.  Cowleys are proud to continue the ancient parchment making skills passed down through the generations in an unbroken line, by word of mouth, to the present day. Built on the site of an old tannery and situated on the River Lovat, the works is the last remaining establishment of its kind in the country.

 

10, Willen Road Bathing Place

River Lovat, where Newport Pagnell schoolchildren learned to swim, over a period of 60 years.  They received a certificate and a silver threepenny piece on swimming across the river.

One of the members of the 1901 championship team was Harry Middleton who, after making his fortune in Canada, gave shares and money to build a new open air swimming pool in Tickford Street in 1857.

 

11, Ousedale school

Was built to serve the community of Newport Pagnell in 1963 and the surrounding villages and a second campus was opened in Olney in 2007 to serve students from the north borough of Milton Keynes.

The school is now an Academy.

 

12, Newport Pagnell Railway.

Up until 1964 Newport Pagnell had a railway linking the town to Wolverton.  The line became part of the London North Western network and was simply a branch line between the two towns. The line provided transport for workmen, who had employment at the railway works in Wolverton and for schoolchildren travelling to school in Wolverton. The line also brought goods to and from Wolverton. This was particularly important for the mills in the town. The line was also used for transporting livestock; and cars and vehicles from Salmons vehicle production works in Newport Pagnell until it became a casualty of the Beeching Report. The train, which used the line, was affectionately known as the ‘Newport Nobby’.

 

 

 

Questions

 

Question 1 Who served in the Commonwealth forces in Newport

 

Question 2 What was the name of the Newport Pagnell football club in the 1960’s?

 

Question 3 What was the Pig and Whistle Cottage in Mill Street in the 1950’s?

 

Question 4   Where is the Royal British Legion Club sited?

 

Question 5 What was the mound called, was it

 

Question 6 Who built Tickford Abbey?

 

Question 7 Aston Martin has just announced it is to start building cars again in Newport Pagnell, but does anyone know in which year production in Newport Pagnell ceased?

 

Question 8 Who donated the funds in 1957 to build the swimming pool.

 

Question 9 Who produces the parchment now in Newport Pagnell?

 

Question 10 What did school children receive on swimming across the river?

 

Question 11 In which year did Ousedale School open.

 

Question 12   In which year did the ‘Newport Nobby’ make its final journey?

 

Scroll down for answers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Answers

 

1. John Bunyan

 

2. Newport Wanderers.

 

3. The Pig and Whistle cottage was formerly a public house.

 

4. Royal British Legion Club is situated on the site of an ancient manor house

 

5. The Battery.

 

6. Tickford Abbey. Thomas Hooton built the house that stands today.

 

7. Aston Martin production in Newport Pagnell ceased in 2007.

 

8. Harry Middleton

 

 

9. Parchment is produced by Cowleys

 

10. A certificate and a silver threepenny piece.

 

11. 1963

 

12. Newport Nobby made its final journey in 1964 as a result of the Beeching Report.