NEWPORT PAGNELL

'Newport Pagnell' is a town in the Borough of Milton Keynes (traditional Buckinghamshire), England. It is situated on the other (eastern) side of the M1 motorway from Milton Keynes itself.

Contents

History

Modern times

Population and growth

Trivia

Famous names

External links

References

History

The town was first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Neuport'', which is Old English meaning ''New Market Town''. At that time it was fairly new, having been founded by Norman invaders. The suffix "Pagnell" came later, when the manor passed into the hands of the Pagnell (Paynel) family.
At one time Newport Pagnell was one of the largest towns in the County of Buckinghamshire (the assizes of the County were occasionally held here) 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.
Newport Pagnell became the headquarters of Newport Pagnell Rural District under the Local Government Act 1894. The parish of Newport Pagnell itself became a separate urban district in 1897.

Modern times

'Tickford Bridge', over the River Ouzel (or Lovat), was built in 1810 and is the only iron bridge in Britain that still carries main road traffic. This is the oldest iron bridge in the world that is still in constant use. There is a plaque near the footbridge on the side that gives details of its history and construction. A large set of sluice gates used to control downstream flooding of the River Great Ouse is located near the bridge.
Since 1954, Tickford Street in Newport Pagnell has been the home of the Aston Martin site, where all Aston Martin cars were built, until the recent opening of the new Ford Motor Company luxury division plant for Aston Martin built at Gaydon, Warwickshire.
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.

Population and growth

Although formally Newport Pagnell is outside the designated area of Milton Keynes, its growth has been consistent with the constituent towns of the latter. Today, the two have joined up on either side of the M1 and there is little distinction between them. The Office of National Statistics regards Newport Pagnell as part of the Milton Keynes Urban Area.^[2] Its population in 1971 was 6,000:^[3] by 2001 it had reached 15,020. The Borough Council projects^[4] that the population will remain broadly stable at this level. However, in its comments on the expansion plans for Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire County Council challenges this assumption, calling for any further expansion to be to the east of the M1 rather than south across the border into Aylesbury Vale.

Trivia

★ There is also a service station on the M1 motorway called Newport Pagnell services. This is situated on the edge of the town, but access to it is restricted. The service station was once used as a location for BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''.

★ Newport Pagnell is mentioned in the song ''Is It Really So Strange?'' by the English rock group The Smiths.

★ A fictional branch of MotherCare in Newport Pagnell was robbed by the locked up husbands of the main characters in the first episode of the 90's BBC comedy series ''Birds of a Feather''.

★ Newport Pagnell is home to the only remaining vellum manufacturer in the United Kingdom.

Famous names

★ Nigel Benson, the author, was born in Newport Pagnell in 1955 to Ralph and Heather (nee Petts).

★ Steve Brooker, footballer, was born in Newport Pagnell.

★ Kelly George, actor and star of BBC childrens' television series ''Grange Hill'' lived and was educated in Newport Pagnell.

★ Gordon Moakes, bassist of Indie band Bloc Party was educated in Newport Pagnell.

★ The members of the ska punk band Capdown were educated in Newport Pagnell.

External links

★ The unofficial town website with historical pictures, pictures of the town carnival and a message board for locals and ex pats to keep in touch

★ Milton Keynes website with maps and information about Newport Pagnell

★ a Newport Pagnell homepage

References

1. Borough of Milton Keynes statistics for 2001 census, page 21
2. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=8271&Pos=2&ColRank=1&Rank=224
3. Census for Newport Pagnell UD
4. Borough of Milton Keynes population bulletin 2005/6, page 21