MILTON KEYNES
Middeltone (xi cent.); Middelton Kaynes, Caynes
(xiii cent.); Milton Keynes (xv cent.); Milton alias
Middelton Gaynes (xvii cent.).
This parish covers 1,909 acres, of which 479 are
arable and 1,339 permanent grass. (fn. 1) The soil is clay,
the subsoil sand and gravel. The chief crops grown
are wheat, beans, barley and oats.
The land has a uniform level of 200 ft. to 250 ft.
above the ordnance datum, with a slight slope towards
the north; along the banks of the Ousel and its tributary it is liable to floods.
The village lies somewhat south of the centre of
the parish, about a mile west of the London Road.
Many of the cottages are of half-timber and brick
with thatched roofs, and have in some cases been
refronted. The church of All Saints lies at the
southern end, and in a field to the west of it are the
remains of a moat and traces of fish-ponds, (fn. 2) which probably mark the site of the ancient manor-house and its
ponds called in 1418 the Pondwykes. (fn. 3) At the northern
end of the village are the school, built in 1859, and
the rectory, a red brick house built by the antiquary,
Dr. William Wotton, rector from 1693 to 1726. (fn. 4)
The former parsonage-house was the birthplace of
Francis Atterbury, the famous Jacobite Bishop of
Rochester. His father, Lewis Atterbury, predecessor of
Dr. Wotton, was drowned on the night of 7 December
1693 when returning home after a visit to London
about litigation in which he was engaged with his
principal parishioners. (fn. 5)
Among place-names are More Close, Chapel Close,
Wolston Meadow, Little Hame, Much Dole, King's
Bridge Field, Town Field, Bowling Leys, Bares
Leys, Bares Meadow. (fn. 6)
Manors
Before the Conquest Queen Edith
held this manor, which in 1086 was
held of the king by Godric Cratel. (fn. 7)
The overlordship remained in the Crown until the
17th century, (fn. 8) but was said to be unknown in 1645. (fn. 9)
The service was defined in the 13th century as the
serjeanty of finding one horseman with an unbarded
horse, a lance, hauberk, haketon and iron cap for
forty days in the king's army, (fn. 10) but was described in
the 16th century as one-thirtieth of a knight's fee. (fn. 11)
There is no record of Milton for nearly a century
after Domesday, but it appears to have been held by
the Berevilles, whose line ended in a daughter and heir
Mabel. She and her lands were given in marriage by
the king to Hugh de Kaynes (Chahaines, Caaignes,
Kahaignes) about 1166, (fn. 12) and his name occurs in documents up to the end of this century as the holder of
land in Buckinghamshire and the neighbouring counties
of Bedfordshire and Berkshire. (fn. 13) He appears to have
died about the beginning of the 13th century, when
Mabel de Bereville was returned as holder of the fee, (fn. 14)
but she died about 1221, in which year Luke de
Kaynes, her son, gave 100s. to have seisin of her land
in Milton. (fn. 15) What was probably a younger branch of
the Bereville family, however, had obtained considerable lands in the parish. An Agnes de Bereville paid
scutage for lands in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire in
1171 (fn. 16) and 1186, (fn. 17) and in 1219 had a life interest in a
virgate of land in Calverton, reverting to the Prior of
Bradwell. (fn. 18) In 1227 Maud wife of Robert Halebot
or Hillebeck, and Ela her sister, afterwards wife of
John le Butler, daughters of John de Bereville,
claimed a virgate and 2 halt
virgates in Milton against
Adam de Bereville, whom
Robert de Homcot, Hugh de
Kaynes and Peter de Bereville
respectively vouched to warrant. (fn. 19) In 1233 the sisters
and their husbands claimed a
virgate in Milton, then held
by Richard de Wing and Eva
his wife who called Adam de
Bereville to warrant, on the
ground that their father, John
de Bereville, had died seised
of it. It was found that on the day John died his
step-mother Asceline held the virgate in dower, and
his daughters therefore lost the case. (fn. 20) After this
date the Berevilles ceased to be of importance in
Milton, (fn. 21) and Luke de Kaynes is returned as sole
lord of Milton in 1234. (fn. 22) In 1239 he settled a
half-mark rent on his daughter Sibyl, (fn. 23) and in 1246
acquired the reversion of lands from Roger Malvoisin. (fn. 24) At his death about 1259 he was succeeded
by his son John de Kaynes, (fn. 25) who obtained livery of
his lands in the same year. (fn. 26) In 1275–6 he was
accused of having at Milton a house erected by his
father Luke in the king's highway, as well as a
smithy on the common land. (fn. 27) This John de Kaynes
was also summoned by Hugh with the Beard about
the custody of a messuage in Milton, said in the
writ to be held of John by knight service, but in
the plea declared to be held for homage and 2s.
service yearly. (fn. 28) He was further summoned in 1278
for exacting services to which he was not entitled, the
plaintiffs alleging that his manor was ancient demesne
of the Crown, but search in the Domesday Book proved
that Godric Cratel held it at that date of the king. (fn. 29)
Keynes. Vair three bars gules.
In the following year John de Kaynes made a settlement of MIDDLETON KEYNES MANOR, first
so called, on himself and his wife Maud for life, with
reversion to his son Robert. (fn. 30) John de Kaynes died
about 1283, when his heir was said to be his son
Nicholas, aged twenty-one, (fn. 31) but livery of the manor
was given in that year to his widow Maud. (fn. 32) Through
Robert de Kaynes Milton came to Philip Aylesbury,
who had married his daughter and heir Margaret, (fn. 33)
and who was holding the manor in 1302 (fn. 34) and
1316. (fn. 35) In 1335 he and Margaret settled it on
themselves for life with remainder to their only son
Thomas, (fn. 36) who was already dead at the date of
Philip's decease on 14 July 1349. (fn. 37) John son of
Thomas then succeeded to the manor, (fn. 38) of which he
died seised on 7 December 1409. (fn. 39) He was also
lord of Drayton Beauchamp Manor (q.v.), with which
Milton Keynes descended in the Aylesbury family.
After the death of Sir Thomas Aylesbury in 1418, (fn. 40)
a third of the manor was assigned in dower to his
widow Katherine and included among other rooms one
called the Knight's Chamber. (fn. 41) A third of the
remaining portion was also assigned in dower after
1422 to Margaret widow of John Aylesbury, (fn. 42) and
reverted to the Chaworths and Staffords at her death
in 1428, when she was the widow of John Skelton. (fn. 43)
They obtained Katherine's portion at her death in
1436. (fn. 44) The Staffords finally obtained the whole of
Milton, as they did of Broughton (q.v.). Humphrey
Stafford, husband of Eleanor Aylesbury, was slain in
Jack Cade's Rebellion in 1450, and was succeeded by
a son Humphrey. (fn. 45) It was probably the latter's son
Humphrey who was attainted as a traitor and executed
in 1486. (fn. 46) Milton Keynes was granted in 1488 to
Sir Edward Poyning and his issue male. (fn. 47) He died,
without legitimate issue, in 1521, (fn. 48) and Milton Keynes
was restored to Humphrey, son of the attainted Humphrey, who had obtained a reversal of the attainder in
1503. (fn. 49) He made a settlement of the manor in 1532,
on his marriage with Joan widow of William Lane, (fn. 50)
and died in 1545, his son Sir Humphrey succeeding. (fn. 51) On his death in 1548 his son, another
Humphrey, inherited Milton. (fn. 51a) In 1555 he and
Elizabeth his wife leased the site of the manor for
twenty-one years to Laurence Woodall and his son
Richard, (fn. 52) an arrangement which later gave rise to a
quarrel, one Thomas Digby alleging that Richard
Woodall had transferred his interest to him, instead of
to his son Thomas Woodall. (fn. 53) In 1563 Sir Humphrey
Stafford made a settlement of Milton (fn. 54) and died in
1574, (fn. 55) his brother and heir John dying in 1595. (fn. 56)
His sons Humphrey of Sudbury in Eaton Socon (co.
Bedford) and William of Blatherwycke, Northamptonshire, came to an arrangement by which William took
Milton, of which he died seised in 1606. (fn. 57) His son
William, then a minor, in 1629 settled the manor on his
sons Edward, Charles and William respectively, (fn. 58) by the
first of whom he was succeeded at his death in 1637. (fn. 59)
Edward Stafford died in the following year, Charles,
the second son, then inheriting the estate. (fn. 60) The
wardship of these minors had been granted to Sir Hatton
Farmor, against whose widow Anne Anthony Stafford,
great-uncle of Charles, brought an action in 1641 to
recover the arrears of an annuity left him by his father
John. (fn. 61) Charles Stafford was succeeded by his brother
William in 1643, (fn. 62) but he does not appear to have
enjoyed the profits of the estate, which had been
mortgaged by his father William for £6,000, in 1634
to Sir Lewis Watson, bart., afterwards Lord Rockingham of Rockingham, and to John Loddington. (fn. 63)
Rockingham, as a delinquent, compounded for Milton
Manor on the Oxford Articles, (fn. 64) but Parliament, in
ignorance of this, granted the estate to Sir John Corbett,
in recompense of losses caused by the king's troops. (fn. 65)
Corbett and Rockingham fought out their case in
Chancery, and in 1652 it was referred to Parliament,
Corbett pleading the Act of Oblivion. (fn. 66) Rockingham
died early the next year, and his son and heir Edward
Watson and John Loddington, the original mortgagee,
joined William Stafford in levying a fine of Milton
Manor. (fn. 67) Henry Stafford, William's son, was sued,
when a minor, in 1669, by the rector, Dr. Lewis
Atterbury, as to the locality of the glebe lands. (fn. 68) In
1677 Henry Stafford and Anne Dawes, widow, conveyed the manor to Daniel Finch, (fn. 69) who in 1682
succeeded his father Heneage Finch as second Earl of
Nottingham, and became seventh Earl of Winchilsea in
1729. (fn. 70) His grandson George, the ninth earl, died
unmarried in 1826, when the manor passed to his
natural son George Finch of Burley-on-the-Hill, Rutland. (fn. 71) From him it descended in 1870 to his son
George Henry Finch, whose son Alan George Finch
died in 1914, when Milton passed to Mr. Wilfred
Finch of Burley-on-the-Hill. (fn. 72)
Aylesbury. Azure a cross argent.
Stafford. Or a cheveron gules.
Half a hide in Milton, which had been held in the
time of King Edward by Oswi, a man of Alric, who
could sell it, was assessed among Walter Giffard's
lands in 1086. (fn. 73) It descended with the honour of
Giffard in the earldoms of Gloucester, Hertford and
Stafford, (fn. 74) the Duke of Buckingham holding the overlordship rights in 1460. (fn. 75)
The under-tenant in 1086 was Hugh, (fn. 76) and in
1262 Thomas Toky held. (fn. 77) This small estate may
be identical with the MILTON KEYNES MANOR
held by Peter de Campania in 1294 when he complained of assaults on his servants, (fn. 78) but the inquisition
taken of his lands two years later makes no mention
of property in Buckinghamshire. (fn. 79)
At the date of the Domesday Survey Otbert held of
William Fitz Ansculf a hide in Milton which Sawold,
a man of Wlward cilt, had previously held, and could
sell. (fn. 80)
Land in Milton was included among possessions
confirmed to the abbey of St. Albans by a charter of
King Richard I inspected and confirmed in 1301. (fn. 81)
A hide of land was also granted to the abbey by John
de Kaynes, lord of the manor in the middle of the 13th
century. (fn. 82) The abbey also received a 40s. pension from
Milton Keynes Church. (fn. 83) In 1565 a cottage next
the churchyard, formerly belonging to St. Albans, was
granted to Thomas Sidney and Nicholas Halswell. (fn. 84)
A mill was held with the manor in 1086, (fn. 85) and
one-third of a water-mill was claimed in 1313 by
Philip Aylesbury in right of his wife Margaret. (fn. 86)
In 1349 this was said to be held by grant of Herbert
de Broughton of the Earl of Oxford. (fn. 87) It was called
Foxmilne in 1418, when a fishery in the stream and pond
was also included in the appurtenances of the manor. (fn. 88)
Church
The church of ALL SAINTS consists of a chancel measuring internally
30 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft. 10 in., north chapel
30 ft. 10 in. by 13 ft. 5 in., nave 60 ft. 9 in. by
24 ft. 8 in., north tower about 11 ft. square, and
south porch. It is built of stone rubble, faced both
internally and externally, and the roofs are covered
with tiles.
A church of considerable importance existed here
at the end of the 12th century, but the only remains
of the original structure are the east wall of the nave,
the fine chancel arch, and a lancet reset in the south
wall of the nave. Towards the end of the first half
of the 14th century the church was almost entirely
rebuilt, the nave being widened towards the north and
probably lengthened, the chancel enlarged, and the
chapel, tower, and porch added. The whole fabric has
been restored and reroofed in modern times. Two of
the windows and the straight parapets, which are carried
round the church, have been substantially renewed,
but otherwise the mediaeval stonework is well preserved, and the building, with its fine traceried
windows, elaborate south doorway and openwork
porch, is one of the finest examples of 14th-century
work in the county.
Plan of Milton Keynes Church
The east window of the chancel is of three trefoiled
lights, with reticulated tracery in a pointed head.
On the south are two fine traceried windows, each of
two cinquefoiled lights, while near the west end of
the wall is a two-light low-side window, both lights
of which are rebated internally for shutters. Immediately to the east of the low-side window is a small
moulded doorway with a pointed head. A piscina,
credence niche, and two sedilia, inclosed in a square
head with shields in the spandrels, and divided from
each other by circular shafts, form one composition
of three bays below the eastern window on this side.
The sedilia are trefoiled and have their seats on different
levels; the piscina and credence, which are formed by
the subdivision of the eastern bay by a central shaft,
are cinquefoiled, and their shafts are carried down
below the sills to the level of the seat of the adjacent
sedile. On the north side, opening to the chapel, is
an arcade of two pointed arches, supported by a circular
pillar and filleted responds with moulded capitals and
bases. The capitals of the responds were originally
enriched by carvings on each side, but these have been
cut away. To the east of the arcade is a plain locker
recess. The chancel arch, which dates from about
1200, is acutely pointed, and springs from engaged
shafts with moulded bases and water-leaf capitals.
The north chapel was probably founded for a chantry
by Philip Aylesbury, who died in 1349, or his
grandson John who succeeded him. It was endowed
apparently by the Chaworths and Staffords in the
reign of Henry VI, for masses to be said for the
souls of their ancestors the Aylesburys. (fn. 89) The chapel
is lighted from the east by a window of three cinquefoiled lights with flowing tracery in an ogee head, and
from the north by
three windows, two
of which are of
two cinquefoiled lights
with graceful tracery
in their heads, while
the remaining window, at the west end
of the wall, is a single
light. This last, with
the exception of one
internal jamb, is entirely modern, but is
probably a copy of the
original; its lower
part is fitted with a
small door, and there
is a similar opening
below the central window, with an original
segmental rear-arch
formed in the window
sill. Assuming that the western light is a faithful
copy of the original, this arrangement of two low-side
openings near each other in the same wall is most
unusual. Between these openings there is a moulded
doorway with a pointed head. At the south-east is a
large piscina, now without a bowl; it has a trefoiled
ogee head with sub-cusping, and a continuous outer
moulding enriched with ball-flower ornament. The
pointed arch to the nave is moulded on the west side
with a large continuous edge roll having broached
stops.
The nave has three windows in the south wall, two
in the north wall, and one in the west wall, all of
three lights with tracery in pointed heads; all these,
with the exception of the west window, only the
jambs of which are original, date from the 14th century. To the west of the two windows on the north
is a doorway similar to that in the chapel, and at the
east end of the north wall is a pointed arch, opening
to the ground stage of the tower, with moulded
responds, the capitals of which are embellished with
ball-flower and dog-tooth ornament. The enrichments on the south side of these capitals, like those on
the north arcade of the chancel, have been cut away.
The south doorway is a particularly rich and wellpreserved example of 14th-century work. It has an
acutely pointed head with continuous mouldings, the
inner member of which develops into a large trefoil with
sub-cusping. The label is enriched with a running
ball-flower ornament and terminates in carved stops.
The bases of the jambs have been restored. Immediately to the east of the doorway inside are the
remains of a trefoiled stoup, the projecting bowl of
which has been cut away. At the south-east of
the nave is a pointed niche formed by the outer
stonework of a window of about 1200 reset in the
wall and possibly used at one time as a piscina, though
there is now no bowl. Externally there is a considerably restored wall arcade of trefoiled arches above
the west window, and the buttress supporting the
chancel arch on the south side has a tall niche with
an ogee head. The angle buttresses both at the east
and west ends of the church terminate in crocketed
pinnacles. The porch has a moulded entrance archway, partly restored, and each lateral wall is pierced
by an arcade of three trefoiled arches with circular
pillars and responds and traceried spandrels.
The tower is of three stages, with buttresses at the
northern angles, and is surmounted by an embattled
parapet. The ground stage was evidently a chapel,
and the internal space is considerably increased by
wide arched recesses, which on the north and east
occupy the full length of the walls. The back of
the northern recess is pierced by a three-lights window with modern tracery. At the springing level
of the arches at the north-east there is a small
image bracket with a trefoiled canopy, and a similar
bracket with canopy at the north-west has been cut
away, while at the south-east there is a large pointed
piscina with a cusped head and plain modern sill.
The second stage has a small trefoiled window on the
west, and the bell-chamber is lighted from the south
by a window of two trefoiled lights, and from each
of the other sides by a window of three lights with
intersecting tracery.
In the north chapel is a plain octagonal 14th-century font, which lay till recently in the churchyard,
but has been brought back into the church by the
present rector.
On the south wall of the chancel is the brass figure
of a priest in mass vestments, with the inscription,
'Hic jacet Adam Badyngtoñ quondam Rector istius
ecclié Qui obiit octavo die mensis November; Anno
dñi Millo cccc vicesimo septimo cuius a[n]i[ma]e p[ro]picietur
deus Amen.' Two slabs, one with the matrices for
this brass and the other for the demi-figure of a
knight, are now in the churchyard. On the north
wall of the chapel is a marble tablet to John Lowth,
rector of the parish (d. 1761), and Mary his wife
(d. 1769); on the west wall is a tablet to William
Edwards, S. T. P., rector of the parish and Canon of
Lincoln (d. 1744). On a desk against the east wall
of the nave there is a chained Bible which was ' Imprinted at London by Robert Barker printer to the
King's most excellent Maiestie Anno Dom. 1613.'
At the west end of the nave is preserved an old table
with turned legs. Several encaustic tiles of various
patterns, and dating principally from about 1400, have
been collected and placed on the sill of the east window
of the chapel; some of these have the shield of
Beauchamp, and one is inscribed 'Richard me fecit.
The tower contains a ring of five bells: the treble
is modern, the second by Newcome, 1614, the third
by Anthony Chandler, 1675, the fourth by Richard
Chandler, 1704, and the tenor by Gillett of Croydon,
1887, recast from one by Newcome, 1614. There
is also a small bell with no inscription, probably
dating from the 17th century.
The communion plate consists of a cup, paten and
salver of 1715 and a flagon dated 1728, all given by
Laurence Smith. The flagon has no hall-marks.
The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) all
entries 1559 to 1653; (ii) 1693 to 1727; (iii) 1728
to 1812.
Advowson
The church was first mentioned
in 1221, when Luke de Kaynes
presented Ralph de Kaynes to the
rectory. (fn. 90) The advowson descended with the manor,
but on the death of Hugh Aylesbury in 1423 the
Chaworths and Staffords divided the advowson between them, each taking alternate turns. (fn. 91) The
Staffords' interest descended with the manor, and the
Chaworths' with the Aylesburys' manor of Drayton
Beauchamp (q.v.) until circa 1543, when it was
held in moieties by Thomas Dynham and his cousin
Thomas Babington. (fn. 92) Their interest seems to have
been acquired by John Nurse, George Mace and
Michael Coles before 1585, and by them to have
been transferred before 1638 to the rector, Ralph
Smith. (fn. 93) His son or grandson Ralph Smith in 1687
conveyed this moiety of the advowson to Daniel Earl
of Nottingham, (fn. 94) who had in 1677 acquired the
Stafford interest with the manor. (fn. 95) The sole right to
the advowson has since descended with the manor. (fn. 96)
According to Browne Willis, the north chapel was
converted into a school in Queen Elizabeth's time. (fn. 97)
Laurence Ryppington was instituted to the church
and chantry of St. Mary in the church in 1444. (fn. 98)
Charity
By deed, dated 13 June 1684, the
Earl of Nottingham gave an annual
fee-farm rent of £2 out of the rectory
of Astwood for the poor. The annuity is received
from the vicar of Astwood, and applied for the benefit
of the school.