Newport Pagnell

Tickford Bridge

The town was first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Neuport, Old English for "New Market Town", but by that time the old Anglo-Saxon town was dominated by the Norman invaders. The suffix "Pagnell" came later when the manor passed into the hands of the Pagnell (Paynel) family.[3] It was the principal town of the "Three Hundreds of Newport",[4] a district that had almost the same boundary as the modern Borough.

At one time, Newport Pagnell was one of the largest towns in the County of Buckinghamshire (the assizes of the County were occasionally held there) though today, despite its own substantial expansion, it has been completely dwarfed by the growth of Milton Keynes. There were also at one time two hospitals in Newport Pagnell and six fairs were held for the townsfolk throughout the year.

The 1841 census gave the population as 3,569.[5]

Newport Pagnell became the headquarters of Newport Pagnell Rural District under the Local Government Act 1894. In 1897, Newport Pagnell became the sole civil parish comprising the newly created Newport Pagnell Urban District.

The Grade I listed Tickford Bridge, over the River Ouzel (or Lovat), was built in 1810.[6] It is one of just a few cast iron bridges in Britain that still carry modern road traffic.[6] There is a plaque near the footbridge at the side that gives details of its history and construction placed there by Newport Pagnell Historical Society. The Ouzel joins the Great Ouse nearby and a large set of sluice gates, used to control downstream flooding, is located near the bridge.

Between 1817 and 1864, the town was linked to the Grand Junction Canal at Great Linford via the Newport Pagnell Canal.[7] In 1862, the canal owners sold the route to the London and North Western Railway.[8] For a hundred years (1867 to 1967), Newport Pagnell was served by Newport Pagnell railway station, the terminus on the Wolverton to Newport Pagnell branch line.

From 1954 until 2007, the town was the home to the exclusive sports car manufacturer Aston Martin.[9] The Newport Pagnell factory was considered outdated and a new production facility was built near Gaydon in Warwickshire. There is still a service facility in Newport Pagnell, but the factory on the north side of Tickford St has since been demolished apart from the engine shop, board room and offices that are listed buildings. The land behind these has been purchased by Tesco and the supermarket giant had planned to build an outlet on the site, preserving the original remaining buildings for use by the townspeople: as of May 2019, this plan remains on the drawing board. In 2012, Aston Martin completely modernised the service facility and the site also houses a bespoke sales department.

The town is also home to the only remaining vellum manufacturer in the United Kingdom, William Cowley, located at Parchment Works, 97 Caldecote Street.[10]

The modern civil parish of Newport Pagnell stops at the M1, but the ecclesiastical parish extends to include Broughton and Caldecote. The parish church is dedicated to St Peter and St Paul.

The Parish Church

Although Newport Pagnell was excluded from the 1967 designated area of Milton Keynes,[11] its growth has been at a similar level to that of the constituent towns of the latter; the two now join at the M1 and there no other practical distinction between them. The Office for National Statistics records Newport Pagnell as part of the Milton Keynes Urban Area.[12] Its population in 1971 was 6,000:[13] by 2001 it had reached 15,020, In 2006, the Borough Council projected that the population will remain broadly stable at this level.[14] However, in its comments on the expansion plans for Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire County Council challenged this assumption, calling for any further expansion to be to the east of the M1 rather than south across the border into Aylesbury Vale. At the 2011 census, the population had reached 15,118.[15]

Newport Pagnell has a Non-League football team Newport Pagnell Town F.C., nicknamed the Swans, who play at The Pavilion on Willen Road. An ITF Taekwon-Do club, Kicks Taekwon-Do Academy, trains at Cedars Primary School, Bury Street, and the swimming pool.

• Francis Annesley, 1st Viscount Valentia, was born in Newport Pagnell.
• Nigel Benson, the author, was born in Newport Pagnell.
• Steve Brooker, footballer, was born in Newport Pagnell.
• Henry Bull (1843–1905), cricketer, was born at Newport Pagnell.
• William Bull (1738–1814) (born Irthlingborough) was minister to the Independent Church, now United Reformed Church.
• Oliver Cromwell (son of his more famous father) is rumoured to have died in Newport Pagnell in the spring of 1644.[16]
• Letitia Dean went to Cedars School in the town.
• Kelly George, actor and star of BBC children's television series Grange Hill, lived and was educated in the town.
• Richard Hopkins, the television producer, was born in Newport Pagnell.
• Lawrence Humphrey, (or Laurence Humfrey) DD (1527? – 1 February 1590) English theologian, President of Magdalen College, Oxford, and Dean successively of Gloucester and Winchester.
• Richard Meredith, author, lives in Newport Pagnell.
• Gordon Moakes, bassist of Indie band Bloc Party, was educated in Newport Pagnell.
• James Nash, World Touring Car Championship driver, lives in Newport Pagnell.
• David Oldfield who played for Leicester City, Stoke City and Oxford United, lived in Newport Pagnell.
• Charles Sanford Terry, the historian, musicologist and authority on J. S. Bach, was born in Newport Pagnell in 1864.
• George Walters, born 15 September 1829 in Newport Pagnell, won the Victoria Cross at the Battle of Inkermann (where he was a Sergeant with the 49th Regiment of Foot) on 5 November 1854, by saving the life of Brigadier-General Adams.
• Leah Williamson, professional footballer, played for Arsenal W.F.C. and England.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Newport Pagnell.

• The unofficial Newport Pagnell Town website with historical pictures, pictures of the town carnival and a message board for locals and ex pats to keep in touch.
• Newport Pagnell Town Council
• "Newport Pagnell" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.