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Stony Stratford (sometimes shortened to Stony) is a town in the north-west corner of Milton Keynes, England. It is located on the border with Northamptonshire, on the other side of the Great Ouse. Prior to the designation of the new city in the 1960s, the town was in Wolverton Urban District, north Buckinghamshire.
History
The town name 'Stratford' is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means 'ford on a Roman road'. The Roman road in this sense is the Watling Street that runs through the middle of the town. The ford is the crossing of the river Ouse. The prefix 'Stony' refers to the stones on the bed of the ford, differentiating the town from nearby Fenny Stratford.
There has been a market in Stony Stratford since 1194 (by charter of King Richard I).
Stony Stratford was the location where, in 1290, an Eleanor cross was built in memory of the recently deceased Eleanor of Castile. The cross was destroyed during the English Civil War.
The Rose and Crown Inn at Stony Stratford was reputedly the last place where King Edward V and his younger brother Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York were seen alive in public. It was here in 1483 that his uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester met them to become their legal guardian before taking them to the London to become the "Princes in the Tower".
The town has twice become almost completely consumed by fire, the first time in 1736 and the second in 1742. The only building to escape the second fire was the tower of the chapel of ease of St Mary Magdalen.
In the stage coach era, Stony Stratford was a major resting place and exchange point with the east/west route. In the early 1800s, as many as 250 coaches a day stopped here. That traffic came to an abrupt end in 1838 when the London - Birmingham Railway (now the West Coast Main Line) was opened at Wolverton. For the rest of that century, Stony was in decline until the arrival of the motor car, when again its position on the A5 road made it an important stopping point.
The modern town
Today Stony Stratford is a busy market town on the periphery of Milton Keynes, and is considered by many to be quite picturesque. The many pubs, restaurants and specialist st shops attract visitors from some distance. The highlight of the annual calendar is in early June (second Sunday) when Folk on the Green, a free (voluntary contribution) festival of folk music, folk rock and eclectic taste takes over the Horsefair Green.
Cock and Bull Story
The common phrase a cock and bull story originates here. Two pubs in the centre of town, The Cock and The Bull were originally coaching inns on the main London to Chester and North Wales turnpike. Travellers gossip and rumour that was exchanged between the two, was renowned for being far-fetched and fanciful. Today, there is an annual story telling festival to celebrate these Cock and Bull stories.
Note
Until the 19th Century, Stony Stratford had never been a single ecclesiastical parish. Watling Street (as the High Street) separates the parishes of Wolverton to the east and Calverton to the west. Consequently, the eastern half of Stony lay in Wolverton parish and the western in Calverton. As Stony grew in size and importance, Wolverton and Calverton built chapels of ease in the town: only the latter survives. Stony Stratford exists as a civil parish with its own Town Council.
External links
Towns in Buckinghamshire | Towns on the River Great Ouse | Milton Keynes | Civil parishes in Milton Keynes Borough
"Stony Stratford"