Haversham is a village in the

City of Milton Keynes The City of Milton Keynes is a unitary authority area with both borough and city status, in Buckinghamshire. It is the northernmost district of the South East England Region. The borough abuts Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and the remainder ...

unitary authority area, in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-eas ...

, England. It is situated to the north of (and separated by the

River Great Ouse The River Great Ouse () is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the W ...

from) the

Milton Keynes urban area The Milton Keynes urban area or Milton Keynes Built-up Area is a designation established by the United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive offic ...

, near

Wolverton Wolverton is a constituent town of Milton Keynes, England. It is located at the northern edge of Milton Keynes, beside the West Coast Main Line, the Grand Union Canal and the river Great Ouse. It is the administrative seat of Wolverton and G ...

and about north of

Central Milton Keynes Central Milton Keynes is the central business district of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England and a civil parish in its own right, with a town council. The district is approximately long by wide and occupies some of the highest land in M ...

. With

Little Linford Little Linford is a village in the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It is about a mile west of Newport Pagnell, near the M1 motorway. The village is separated from its neighbour and namesake Great Linford (and the rest of the ...

, it forms the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

of Haversham-cum-Little Linford. The village name is an Old English word that means 'Haefer's homestead'. In the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086, when it belonged to the Peverell family, it was listed as ''Havresham''. The ancient

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals with ...

in the village, which was fortified in 1304, was largely burnt down, but parts of it still remain in a farm house just outside the main village. Haversham was once a village of farm-workers' dwellings. , only Hill Farm, Grange Farm and Crossroads Farm remain as active working farms. The village has two distinct settlements separated by farmland. The older part of the village contains the manor house. It lies at elevations between 60 metres and 65 metres

above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the Vertical position, vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric h ...

, just above the flood plain of the Ouse. In the 1930s, 'New Haversham' was built nearer Wolverton, to house staff working at the

Wolverton railway works Wolverton railway works, known locally as Wolverton Works or just The Works, was established in Wolverton, Buckinghamshire, by the London and Birmingham Railway Company in 1838 at the midpoint of the route from London to Birmingham. The line ...

nearby. New Haversham contains the primary school and is on ground at elevations between 65 metres and 75 metres, overlooking the Ouse Valley. In the 1970s, ARC dug the river meadows near the site of the old village of

Stanton Low Stantonbury is a district and civil parish of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The toponym ''Stanton'' is derived from an Old English term for "stone-built farmstead" and the ''bury'' element from the French family who held it in 1235. ...

for gravel extraction, leaving behind the large man made lakes that surround Haversham to the south today. These lakes are the home to the Hanson Centre and to the Haversham Sailing Club, one of the sailing clubs around Milton Keynes. Just south of Haversham beside the road to

, is the Wolverton Railway Viaduct over the valley of the

river Great Ouse The River Great Ouse () is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the W ...

, of a Stephenson's design, carrying the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

. The village gave its name to HMS ''Haversham'', a

Ham class minesweeper The Ham class was a class of inshore minesweepers (IMS), known as the Type 1, of the British Royal Navy. The class was designed to operate in the shallow water of rivers and estuaries. All of the ships in the class are named for British place na ...

Civil parish

Haversham is in the

of Haversham-cum-Little Linford, which also includes

. This merged parish was formed in 1934 following a

County Review order The Local Government Act 1929 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made changes to the Poor Law and local government in England and Wales. The Act abolished the system of poor law unions in England and Wales and their boa ...

. It formed part of the Newport Pagnell Rural District until 1974 when, as with the rest of NPRD, it became part of the (Buckinghamshire) District of Milton Keynes subsequently renamed the

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governme ...

Listed buildings and structures

The parish has one

scheduled ancient monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

, one grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

, two grade II* and nine grade II, including

Wolverton Viaduct Wolverton Viaduct is a railway bridge carrying the West Coast Main Line over the River Great Ouse to the north of Wolverton, part of the City of Milton Keynes, in south-eastern England. Built in 1837 for the London and Birmingham Railway under the ...

, an 1830s railway bridge.

References

External links

Community Website
{{authority control Villages in Buckinghamshire Areas of Milton Keynes