Patrick Comerford
I am continuing to enjoy visiting the neighbouring villages and towns that are close to Stony Stratford, exploring their history and legacy, architecture and churches. One of the great gifts from the early town planners and architects who had a vision for Milton Keynes over half a century ago was that each satellite town or village should retain its own identity and character. Some days I just hop on a bus at random to see where it brings me and to enjoy seeing the unexpected.
I was back in the pretty village of Roade in Northamptonshire last week, visiting a house designed by Stony Stratford’s great architect of the Arts and Crafts Movement, Edward Swinfen Harris. On the bus journeys there and back, I noticed a number of villages I wanted to look at again, as well as Salcey Forest.
So, on two days this week, I took the 33 bus from Wolverton to Northampton and visited Hanslope one morning and Castlethorpe on another. Tuesday next is the Feast of Saint Simon and Saint Jude (28 October), and as yesterday was a bright sunny day, I decided to visit Castlethorpe, where the parish church is dedicated to Saint Simon and Saint Jude and where they preparing to celebrate the patronal festival.
Castlethorpe is on the border of Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire and has a population of about 1,000 people. Despite its rural location and ambience, it is part of the City of Milton Keynes. It is about 4.8 km (3 miles) north-east of Stony Stratford, 6.4 km (4 miles) north-west of Newport Pagnell and 11 km (7 miles) north of Central Milton Keynes.
Although prehistoric flints and Romano-British metalwork and coins, dating from ca 200 CE, have been found near Castlethorpe village, there is no evidence to confirm an early settlement there.
There may have been a Danish settlement in the area as it was close to the Danelaw. Before the Norman invasion in 1066, the Saxon lord of the manor of Hanslope was Aldene, who had been a member of the bodyguard of King Edward the Confessor.
Castlethorpe is not named in the Domesday Survey in 1086, but it was part of the larger mediaeval manor of Hanslope, which was taken from Aldene and granted to Winemar the Fleming. The castle belonging to the lords of Hanslope was there by the mid-12th century, if not earlier.
The village grew up around the castle, and a settlement of servants and workers developed into Castlethorpe. The impressive humps and hollows around the village, especially near the church, appear to be part of the original castle. The fortification of Castlethorpe may have been strengthened by the Mauduit family who supported the Empress Matilda against King Stephen the civil wars known as the ‘Anarchy’.
The castle survived the ‘Anarchy’ but 70 years later became involved in barons’ revolt against King John. On the king’s orders, Faulkes de Breauté destroyed the castle and took possession of Hanslope Manor. Robert Mauduit eventually regained the manor before he died in 1222 but the castle was not rebuilt.
All that is left today are the grassy mounds of the former motte-and-bailey castle, a complicated system of earthworks that extend over an area of about 10 ha beside the church and overlooking the valley of the River Tove. South Street probably developed later along the line of the outer ditch of the castle. By 1268, the manor had passed to William Mauduit’s nephew, William Beauchamp, who obtained a royal licence in 1291 to fortify his hall and build a new garden court.
The parish church, Saint Simon and Saint Jude, may date back to Anglo-Saxon times, although there is no evidence of a pre-Norman building. The church at Castlethorpe was originally superior to that of Hanslope but Bishop Grosteste changed the precedence ca 1250.
The centre of the village is designated a conservation area, and a large number of traditional old stone cottages still survive.
In the 16th century, the demesne lands of Hanslope Manor in Castle Thorpe, sometimes called Castle Thorpe Manor, were leased first to Thomas Slade, then to Christopher Wren and John Knight, and then to Thomas Butler. Ambrose Butler later transferred his lease to Richard Troughton, before it passed to Thomas Tyrell, later Sir Thomas Tyrrell, in 1626. Tyrell obtained a grant of this manor with all reversions and remainders in 1663. He was buried at Castlethorpe in March 1672.
His son Sir Peter Tyrrell had been given the title of baronet in 1665. The mansion-house occupied by Sir Peter Tyrrell in 1703 adjoined the castle yard, but the greater part had been taken down and the remainder would be converted into a farmhouse.
Sir Peter Tyrell’s son Thomas Tyrell and grandson, also Sir Thomas Tyrell, succeeded to the title and estate. The last head of the Tyrrell family to live there was Sir Thomas Tyrrell.
When Sir Thomas Tyrell died in 1714, the title of baronet became extinct and the Castlethorpe estate passed to his two daughters, Christobella and Harriet, and their husbands, John Knapp and Francis Mann. Castlethorpe estate was bought soon afterwards by Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, one of the most influential women of her time.
Castle House is all that remains of the much larger house that once belonged to the Tyrrell family from 1626 until the early 18th century. It may have been built on remains of the castle kitchens or stables and has been known as Castle House and Castle Yard. At one time in the 19th century it was known as the Dower House, although there is no evidence that it was ever the home of the widowed mother of the head of the family.
The house subsequently passed into the hands of the Dukes of Buckingham and then to their descendants, the Carrington Family, who owned considerable property in Castlethorpe. Later owners included the Carrington family, whose titles included Marquess of Lincolnshire, Viscount Wendover and Lord Carrington.
The house had been divided into several cottages when it was sold by Lord Carrington in 1961 to Patricia St John, one of the tenants. The Edmunds family restored it to a single house once again in the mid-1960s and completely changed the interior design.
The Carrington family are remembered in the name of the Carrington Arms public house at No 1 South Street, which opened in the early 19th century but is now closed.
Fires in 1899 and again in 1905 destroyed many of the older houses in the village. But Castlethorpe still has one scheduled ancient monument, one grade I listed building, and 20 grade II listed buildings. The listed houses in the village include:
Manor Farm House datwa from the mid-1730s, but may date back further to the mid-16th century. The last resident farmers were the Markham family, and Manor Farm was sold in 1963 in a number of lots.
Elm Tree Cottage is an early 18th century cottage that was probably modernised in 1763 when a second chimney was built and a rear wing was added as a dairy. Since then, it has had several more additions and alterations.
The Stores Shop at No 5 South Street was run by the Gregory family from the late 19th century, and family members included Annie Gregory, a teacher in Castlethorpe School from its opening in 1891 until she retired in 1925. After the fire in 1905, the shop and house were rebuilt in 1908, using stones from the cottages that had been burnt down, and the building remained a shop until 1977. Since then it has been divided into several dwellings.
Castlethorpe First School in the heart of the village is a Victorian building–full of character. It was opened by Lord Carrington on 15 October 1891.
No 45 and No 47 North Street and the Corner House at No 49 North Street date from 1731 and appears to have been built by William Kitelee. In the first half of the 19th century, this was ‘Mr Addison’s School’ where the subjects included English, Latin, Writing, Arithmetic, History, Geography, Mathematics, and ‘the use of the Globes’. Additional fees were charged for Greek, French, Dancing and Drawing.
The Inglenook at 2-4 South Street is a pair of cottages with a thatched roof and dating from the late 17th century. It is one of only two houses in the village whose thatch survived the Great Fire of 1905.
No 12-14 North Street, with three gables, was once two cottages, and seems to have originally been three almshouses, dating from the 17th century and re-fronted in the19th century.
Hanslope has been part of Milton Keynes since 1973 and is in the Milton Keynes North constituency. It won the title of ‘Best Kept Village in Buckinghamshire’ in 2016.
The West Coast main line between Euston and Glasgow runs alongside the west side of Castlethorpe. But there the train station in Castlethrope closed over 60 years ago in 1964, and the stations nearest to Castlethope, Hanslope are at Wolverton and Milton Keynes Central.
There are many other attractive villages along the 33 and 33X bus routes that I still want to see in the weeks ahead, including Ashton, Hartwell and Grafton Regis.
Meanwhile, more about Saint Jude and Saint Simon Church in Castlethorpe tomorrow, including the ornate Tyrrell family monument, and about the neighbouring village of Hanslope and its tall church spire in the days to come, hopefully.
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