Old Stratford
Encyclopedia
Old Stratford is a village in the south of the English county of Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...

. The river Great Ouse forms the boundary with Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....

 and Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...

.

Location

It is immediately north of where the Roman road
Roman road
The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...

 Watling Street
Watling Street
Watling Street is the name given to an ancient trackway in England and Wales that was first used by the Britons mainly between the modern cities of Canterbury and St Albans. The Romans later paved the route, part of which is identified on the Antonine Itinerary as Iter III: "Item a Londinio ad...

 crossed the Ouse; just south of this crossing point is the town of Stony Stratford
Stony Stratford
Stony Stratford is a constituent town of Milton Keynes and is a civil parish with a town council within the Borough of Milton Keynes. It is in the north west corner of Milton Keynes, bordering Northamptonshire and separated from it by the River Great Ouse...

 in Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...

. Originally on the junction of the A5, the A422
A422 road
The A422 is an "A" road for east-west journeys in south central England, connecting the county towns of Bedford and Worcester by way of Milton Keynes, Buckingham, Banbury and Stratford-upon-Avon. For most of its length, is a narrow single carriageway....

 and the A508
A508 road
The A508 is a short A-class road for north/south journeys in south central England, forming the route from Market Harborough in Leicestershire, via Northampton, to Old Stratford, north-west of Milton Keynes....

, these roads now bypass the village on its northern edge.

History

The Buckingham Arm
Buckingham Arm
The Buckingham Arm is a canal that once ran from Cosgrove, Northamptonshire to Buckingham . It was built as an arm of the Grand Junction Canal, in two separate phases, opening in 1800 and 1801. It was disused from 1932, but was not finally abandoned until 1964...

 of the Grand Union Canal
Grand Union Canal
The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. Its main line connects London and Birmingham, stretching for 137 miles with 166 locks...

 passed through the village but has been disused since 1964. There remains a "Wharf Lane" and signs of the path of the old canal through the village towards Buckingham.

Facilities

The village has few local facilities (a pub, a motor dealer, a Chinese takeaway and a corner shop), relying on Stony Stratford for a broader range of shops as well as for its medical, financial and other professional needs.

There is a primary school
Old Stratford Primary School
Old Stratford Primary School located in the rural village of Old Stratford, in south Northamptonshire.The current building was begun in 1966 and later extended to provide 8 classrooms, a spacious hall equipped for performing arts, an IT suite, swimming pool and school field...

  part of Northamptonshire County Council local education authority. The nearest secondary school is in Deanshanger
Deanshanger
Deanshanger, pronounced deans-hanger, is a village and civil parish in South Northamptonshire, just north of Milton Keynes. In 2007 it was joined with the civil parish of Wicken to form Deanshanger ward, returning two councillors...

.

Administration

The village has a parish council  which also administers the nearby village of Passenham
Passenham
Passenham is a small village in the civil parish of Old Stratford in South Northamptonshire, England. It is just north of the River Great Ouse, which forms the boundary with Buckinghamshire, and close to Stony Stratford in Milton Keynes.-Governance:The village parish council is joined with the...

.

The village is administered by South Northamptonshire
South Northamptonshire
South Northamptonshire is a local government district in Northamptonshire, England. Its council is based in Towcester.The district is rural and sparsely populated with just over 79,293 people in 2000 and 91,000 in 2008, a 14.8% increase. The largest town in the district is Brackley, which has a...

 District Council, based in Towcester
Towcester
Towcester , the Roman town of Lactodorum, is a small town in south Northamptonshire, England.-Etymology:Towcester comes from the Old English Tófe-ceaster. Tófe refers to the River Tove; Bosworth and Toller compare it to the "Scandinavian proper names" Tófi and Tófa...

 and Northamptonshire County Council.

The "Stony Stratford" Hoard

The Stony Stratford Hoard was actually found in the parish of Old Stratford (52.056°N 0.8645°W), across the River Ouse
River Great Ouse
The Great Ouse is a river in the east of England. At long, it is the fourth-longest river in the United Kingdom. The river has been important for navigation, and for draining the low-lying region through which it flows. Its course has been modified several times, with the first recorded being in...

 from Stony Stratford
Stony Stratford
Stony Stratford is a constituent town of Milton Keynes and is a civil parish with a town council within the Borough of Milton Keynes. It is in the north west corner of Milton Keynes, bordering Northamptonshire and separated from it by the River Great Ouse...

. It is not known where it originally came from or how it got there.
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