Ravenstone is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority area of the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England.[2] The village is about 2.5 miles (4 km) west of Olney, and 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Newport Pagnell and about 10 miles (16 km) from Central Milton Keynes. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 209.[1]
History
The toponym is derived from the Old English for "Hrafn's farm".[3]
In 1255 a priory of Augustinian canons was founded in Ravenstone by King Henry III. It was dissolved in 1525 and its lands granted to Cardinal Wolsey;[4] and then in 1544 the Crown seized all of Wolsey's estates including Ravenstone Priory. After changing hands privately a number of occasions, the building was eventually demolished, and today nothing remains standing.
The oldest parts of the Church of England parish church of All Saints are 11th-century. The church includes the tomb of Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham. He had the neighbouring almshouses built,[4] originally six for men and six for women, now combined into six cottages.[5] The original inhabitants had to be single and members of the Church of England, and received a small pension, firewood, and a new cloak every Christmas.[6]
Scheduled monuments and listed buildings
The parish has one scheduled monument (Ravenstone Priory),[7] one grade I listed building (the Church of All Saints)[8] and a further 29 buildings or structured listed at. grade II.[9]
Amenities
The only communal facility in Ravenstone is the village hall. A post office and The Wheatsheaf pub closed in the early 1990s.
Notes
- ^ a b UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Ravenstone (E04001269)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
- ^ "Parishes in Milton Keynes". Milton Keynes Council. Archived from the original on 8 June 2009.
- ^ "Key to English place names". Institute for Name-Studies, University of Nottingham. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
- ^ a b Page (1927).
- ^ Historic England. "NUMBERS 1 TO 6 (CONSECUTIVE) ALMSHOUSES AND ATTACHED WALLS AND GATEPIERS (1115903)". National Heritage List for England. (Grade II listing)
- ^ Knight & Osborn (1992), p. 72.
- ^ Historic England. "Ravenstone Priory, moats and fishponds (1006917)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ Historic England. "Church of All Saints (1320219)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ "Search Results for 'Ravenstone, Milton Keynes'". Historic England. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
Sources and further reading
- Knight, E; Osborn, G (1992). Olney and District in Camera. Buckingham: Quotes Ltd. p. 72.
- Page, W.H., ed. (1927). "Parishes : Ravenstone". A History of the County of Buckingham. Victoria County History. Vol. 4. London: The St Katherine Press. pp. 439–445.
- Pevsner, Nikolaus (1960). Buckinghamshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 230–231. ISBN 0-14-071019-1.
External links
Media related to Ravenstone, Buckinghamshire at Wikimedia Commons
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