Olney High Street - Heritage Trail (Updated April 2023)

Introduction to the history of selected parts of Olney's wide High Street.

Tour Information
Tour Map
Tour Stops
Comments

Olney High Street - Heritage Trail (Updated April 2023)

England MK46 4YY, United Kingdom

Created By: ODHS

Tour Information

The wide High Street stretching from the Market Place in the south to the Knoll in the north is arguably the major feature that makes Olney so attractive and a very desirable place to live. The width is complemented by the various styles of attractive houses intermingled with small stone cottages and traditional business premises. There are many features and stories upon which to comment, some of which are included in this short High Street Trail.

This trail was has been developed, and edited for digital media, by Mike Neale of the former Olney & District Historical Society. The ODHS is indebted to Amy Botes for recording the excellent voiceovers for this trail.

If walking, the full trail it will take around 45 minutes.

Trail updated April 2023.


Tour Map

Loading Tour

 

What You'll See on the Tour

The Start Point of this trail is the Market Place on the pavement outside The Cherry Tree Restaurant, formally known as Westlands. This position provides a good general view of the wide High Street. See Photo 1 of the 4 images above. A ... Read more
The next Point of Interest in this trail is the Two Brewers Inn, situated on the East side of the High Street, some 300 metres from the Cherry Tree restaurant along the east side of the High Street. Photo 1 of 6 shows the Two Brewers Inn ar... Read more
Some 80 metres metres further along the street will bring you to the former Lace Factory, the next Point of Interest.   The building of the Lace Factory is the last example of a commercial attempt locally to keep the lace industry viable, ... Read more
A relatively recent photograph of Orchard House is shown Photo 1 above.  Orchard House was converted from two eighteenth century houses in 1904 for Joseph William Mann. The architect was Alexander Ellis Anderson. J W Mann was Olney's larg... Read more
Cobbs Gardens were accessed through the archway. (See Photo 1 above.)  It was one of the best known 'courts' of tenement buildings in the town, comprising some ten or more small cottages, often housing large families. The 'gardens' were ... Read more
A good vantage point to see the Knoll is from the pavement outside Number 133 High Street (known as Town Farm). See Photo1 above. Past local historians have suggested that in the northerly direction well beyond the Knoll, a castle, or a m... Read more
A relatively recent photograph of Lord's Malting  is shown as (Photo 1) above.  John Lord is generally acknowledged to have developed the first extensive brewing business in Olney. John Lord was presumed to be born in Weston Underwood bu... Read more
Look across the road to Number 79 High street, the light coloured building set back a little from the pavement, which was built as a hall and later converted into a cinema.  The following text is extracted from a letter written in the ea... Read more
Should you have looked to the left of the Two Brewers Inn in the 1950s, rather than looking at a wooden fence as you do today, you would have been confronted by Clifton House, a large Georgian style building standing between the Two Brewers... Read more
  Number 9 High Street (see Photo 1) is a listed eighteenth century building. It has probably spent most of its life as a successful grocery store.  The 1891 Census has Thomas T Coles living at Number 9, as a grocer and wine merchant,... Read more

 

Leave a Comment

 

 

Download the App

Download the PocketSights Tour Guide mobile app to take this self-guided tour on your GPS-enabled mobile device.

iOS Tour Guide Android Tour Guide

 

 

Updates and Corrections

Please send change requests to changerequest@pocketsights.com.