Manor Farm House

Manor Farmhouse is a seventeenth century building which was probably extended in the same century. Most of the land to the northwest of Milton Keynes was farmed by the Macbeth family who lived in the farmhouse from 1932 until 1999 and the fields reached almost to Willen Village, taking in parts of what is now Willen Lake. The diversion of the river Ouzel and the formation of Willen Lake together with extensive gravel extraction gradually reduced the land available for agriculture, but the farm survived until the early 1980s.

The picture of Manor Farmhouse taken from the upper windows of the Rectory in 1968 shows the extensive outbuildings behind the farmhouse. Note also the fence round Lords Close, the field in front of the school immediately opposite Manor Farm. At that time this was occasionally used to graze stock. The Dutch barn behind the house was demolished when farming ceased, but some of the other outbuildings have survived and will possibly be converted for other uses.

Turning to the South-East you see the Village Hall. This is a popular venue for all kinds of village activities such as TVAT Meetings, but is also sought after by city dwellers in general as venue for social functions. Its architecture tells of its origins as a school. It was built in 1859 to accommodate sixty pupils, but this was probably wishful thinking, as pupil numbers seem always to have been fairly low. It was a Church School, built at the instigation of the Rector, the Revd JN Dalton, on a quarter of an acre of Rectory land, the loss of which, as a source of income, caused some resentment among later clergy. The front porch (now demolished) used to be capped by a turret containing the school bell. Try turning the clock back 94 years!

The roll at Milton Keynes school was down to "a baker's dozen and two babies" by 1895, though numbers rose again at times. Between thirty and forty boys and girls appear on this school photograph of about 1906, and we know that one small girl at the extreme right of the picture celebrated her hundredth birthday in the year 2000. The numbers were swelled by evacuees during the second world war, necessitating the employment of an extra teacher, but the school closed in 1945 - after which the building continued to be used for meetings and village activities. It was finally sold by the Diocese of Oxford in 1960 to the Society of Merchant Venturers who then owned most of the village for £450. It was later acquired by a Trust, for the use of the two villages of Milton Keynes and Broughton as a Community Centre.

The village green here is known as Lord's Close. It is used as a play space and is the site of the Village Fair and Sports Day every June.