Patrick Comerford
I was in Newport Pagnell a few days ago, visiting Lovat Bank on Silver Street and taking photographs of the splendid Victorian mansion designed for the Taylor family by the Ston Stratford architect Edward Swinfen Harris.
It was a quick and short visit to complete a talk I am giving on Swinfen Harris later this month (25 February 2025) in the library in Stony Stratford.
It was a very focussed visit to Newport Pagnell this time. But between the bus stop on High Street and Lovat Bank on Silver Street, I could not help but notice three pubs, dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries.
Silver Street is a quiet part of Newport Pagnell and is a short walk from the High Street, reached by walking down Bury Street, with Cedars School on the right. Across from Lovat Bank, the Rose and Crown is at 74-76 Silver Street.
The name Rose and Crown is second only to the Red Lion as the favourite pub name in England. Some sources say the Rose and Crown in Newport Pagnell was originally known as the Red Lion, while others say it was first called the Blue Boar.
The old Rose and Crown was a stone building several centuries old and inside today you can see the old beams running through it. It was modernised and lengthened in 1966 to include an old house next door. although the outer rendering makes this difficult to see.
There was once a large malting at the rear, and two other ancient cottages, built in brick, timber and thatched, were demolished in 1966 to make way for the car park. It has been refurbished again recently by new tenants, with grey-painted panelling and discrete beams.
Close by, on the same side of the street, No 84 Silver Street is a Georgian house built in brick with stone quoins and a stucco finish. The roof has large slates were specially imported from Belgium.
This is one of the largest buildings on the street, and probably dates back to 1810. On the right hand side of the building you can see a stone wall, which runs through the whole of the house and on into an outside wall. It is thought that outbuildings at the back were once used for livestock.
A small neolithic axe head was discovered in the garden. The house was owned in the later part of the 19th century by William Cowley, who founded Newport’s Parchment Works.
On my way back to the bus stop on High Street, I stopped to look at the Coachmakers’ Arms is in a quiet corner at the junction of High Street and Bury Street.
A sign outside says it was established in 1753, but it is an early 17th century stone and timber building. The stone-walls of the building are enormously thick in places, sometimes up to four feet. It has been a listed building since 1972.
On the High Street, I was tempted to skip the bus that was arriving, and cross the street to see the Dolphin Inn once again. This is a 16th century public house and another of the ancient inns in Newport Pagnell, and I have been there at least once before.
But the afternoon was beginning to close in, and I decided it was better to catch the bus and to promise myself to return to Newport Pagnell soon again.
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