But does it have a history?
You bet it does; and in Transport Terms we even have a museum that records and displays that history. Why not visit the Hall of Transport this weekend it is open every Saturday & Sunday between 11am to 4.30pm.
Visit the website for more information about special events.
The Hall of Transport is based at:
The Milton Keynes Museum
McConnell Drive
Wolverton
Milton Keynes
MK12 5EL
Tel: 01908 316222
Email
www.mkmuseum.org.uk
The exhibits in the Hall of Transport cover all sorts of transport. Most of the exhibits were used and/or made locally. Items or sections on show include:
- Wolverton and Stony Stratford Tram
- Wolverton Works carriage section
- Buckingham Co-Op Delivery lorry
- Ackroyd Stuart engine
- Austin Seven motor car (under restoration)
- Gypsy caravan
- Canal narrowboat
- bicycles
- motor cycles
- Wolverton Works display
- Sciences and Arts Institute items
- horse drawn vehicles
- hand carts
The area that is now Milton Keynes has always been at the centre of things - and still is:
- The Romans built Watling Street (V4).
- The Grand Union Canal was the principal form of communication between London and Birmingham during the late 18th and early 19th centuries also passes less than a kilometre from the museum. The meeting to form the company that built the canal was held in 'The Bull' public house in Stony Stratford.
- The London to Birmingham main line railway, built in the first half of the 19th century, passes through what is now Milton Keynes and close to the museum. Its principal engineering facility was at Wolverton Works
- London and the north of England. It has two junctions in Milton Keynes.
- The UK's last steam hauled tram operated between Wolverton and Stony Stratford around 100 years ago.
- The main Oxford to Cambridge railway crossed the London to Birmingham main line at Bletchley. This was one of the main reasons why the British Government decided to locate its secret Station X in the town during the Second World War.
Many of these routes passed through the area because of its central location and position mid way between London and Birmingham, England's two largest cities. This unique location was one of the main reasons for developing the area into the new city of Milton Keynes in the 1960s.
Grand Union Canal
When it comes to Transport History in Milton Keynes Canal’s or rather the Grand Union Canal has played a major part. The Grand Union Canal runs right through the city. If you’d like to know more why not visit the Bedford and Milton Keynes Waterway Trust’s website you’ll see that Canals have played a major part in the areas past and may play an important part in the City’s future.
www.b-mkwaterway.org.uk
If you’d like to know more about the history of Canal’s in Milton Keynes or you fancy a day out on a barge, or perhaps a pub lunch at the canal side click the link to the Inland Waterways Association’s Milton Keynes website.
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