Patrick Comerford
Despite the fact that winter has truly taken its grip on this part of Buckinghamshire, I wrap myself up well on days when I find opportunities to catch local buses and explore the villages and small towns within reach of Stony Stratford.
Quite often they have mediaeval churches, thatched and timber-framed cottages from the 16th or 17th century, and traditional English pubs. Occasionally, I find real surprises when I come across a church, rectory or schoolhouse that has been designed by a prominent architect who has worked locally, including Sir George Gilbert Scott, John Oldrid Scott, George Edmund Street or Edward Swinfen Harris.
Some of these villages small in recent weeks in this area include Addington, Castlethorpe, Deanshanger, Gawcott, Hanslope, Maids Moreton and Roade. I was back in Padbury this afternoon, having strolled through this north Buckinghamshire village only a few weeks ago. It is almost halfway between Buckingham (4 km, 2.5 miles) and Winslow (6 km, 3.5 miles), and about 14 km (9 miles) south-west of central Milton Keynes.
Padbury stands partly on elevated ground that once provided a degree of defence, but most of the village is down in a shallow valley that provided shelter, close to a good water source and at the junction of significant communications routes.
The layout of the village, with its areas of open space, particularly at the north-east end of Main Street, suggests a market place or village green, but there is no surviving evidence that Padbury had once been a market town. A map of the Padbury estate owned by All Souls’ College, Oxford, in 1590 clearly shows that the form of the village has changed little since the late 16th century.
Apart from the development of the A413 which sliced through the north-east end of the village in the 19th century, the general layout of the roads and position of the buildings have changed little.
Archaeological finds in the Padbury area include a Neolithic or Bronze Age flint side scraper and a Neolithic stone axe, and an Iron Age hillfort or enclosure at Norbury Camp. Earthworks recorded on a 16th century map and crop-marks have been identified on aerial photographs. A Roman road once passed through Padbury, and some Roman pottery has been found near Grange Farm.
The village name has Old English origins, and means ‘Padda’s fortress’. A hoard of over 5,000 silver coins from the late Anglo Saxon period was found in a field at Lenborough near Padbury by an eight-year-old boy and others in 2014.
Around the time of the Norman Conquest, the Manor of Padbury was exchanged for the Manor of Iver between Robert Doyley and Robert Clarenbold of the Marsh. The village was recorded in the Domesday Survey (1086) as Pateberie, and at the time had the distinction of being one of the few villages in England still owned by a native rather than a Norman family. The family later took the name de Wolverton, after the town of Wolverton, and they continued to hold Padbury until 1442, when it was bought by All Souls’ College, Oxford.
Padbury, or Overbury as it was sometimes known, had a watermill from the time of Domesday. Mediaeval finds include a possible mediaeval or post-mediaeval moat or enclosure in a field survey on Main Street.
However, the only surviving mediaeval building in Padbury is the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, a Grade I listed building from the 12th century with a Norman doorway, a 13th century nave, chancel and font, 14th century aisles and wall paintings, and a 15th century tower. Some alterations were made in the 16th century and the church was restored in the 19th century. Later Victorian work on the church uncovered some 14th century wall-paintings in the north aisle.
The village cross at Downe Cross was still standing in the 16th century, but it has since disappeared. During the English Civil War, Padbury was the site of a skirmish between the Royalist and Parliamentarian forces. The Royalists won and of eight Parliamentarian soldiers were buried in Padbury on 2 July 1643.
The relatively straight and wide Main Street runs from the Forde at the south-west end of the village, north-east to end at Saint Mary’s Church. This was the primary route through Padbury until the A413 toll road was developed in the 19th century, reducing the importance of Main Street and also dislocating Saint Mary’s church from the rest of the settlement.
The listed buildings in Padbury include timber-framed buildings, some dating back to the 16th or 17th centuries, such as Stratfords Cottage, Trefoil Cottage or the old vicarage. There are some later, brick built, 18th and 19th century houses, like the White House. The 19th century buildings include the Village Hall, which was once a school, and several railway bridges.
With the development of the railway in the 19th century, the London and North Western Railway opened a station at Padbury in 1878. The station remained in use until 1964, when it was closed to goods and passengers. Today all trace of the station has been lost following the development of the modern Station Road housing estate.
Padbury has a population of around 1,000 people and is surrounded by farmland. Until recently, the village has two pubs, the New Inn and the Blackbird, and there are active community efforts to reopen and manage the Blackbird. Padbury also has a cricket club, a football club, a bowls club, a two tennis courts, and a multi-use games area. Padbury Church of England school is a primary school for children from four to 11, with about 110 pupils.
Saint Mary’s Church remains the most prominent building in Padbury, and the village once had a Methodist chapel too. But more about these in the days to come, hopefully.
