Denbigh, Milton Keynes

Denbigh is a district in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England, to the north of Fenny Stratford and on the eastern side of the West Coast Main Line (and on the opposite side to the rest of Bletchley). It is in the civil parish of Bletchley and Fenny Stratford^[1] and is categorised by the Office for National Statistics as part of the Bletchley built-up area.^[a] The A5 forms its eastern and northern boundary; parts of Bletcham Way and Saxon St form its southern boundary. The overall district has five sub districts, divided by Watling St/Denbigh Rd, the 'uptick' of Bletcham Way and Grafton Street, and Saxon Street northbound. The district names are planning designations that have persisted without ever being changed to the style "North Denbigh" etc. as is the norm elsewhere in Britain.

Denbigh
Denbigh Mapping © OpenStreetMap Show map of Milton Keynes Denbigh Location within Buckinghamshire Show map of Buckinghamshire
OS grid reference	SP874347
Civil parish	Bletchley and Fenny Stratford
District	City of Milton Keynes
Unitary authority	Milton Keynes City Council
Ceremonial county	Buckinghamshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	MILTON KEYNES
Postcode district	MK1
Dialling code	01908
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Buckinghamshire
Ambulance	South Central
UK Parliament	Milton Keynes South
List of places UK England Buckinghamshire 52.0043°N 0.7268°W / 52.0043; -0.7268

These lands to the east of Watling Street were originally in the manor of Simpson.^[3]

Denbigh North

Main article: Stadium MK

The East Stand of the 30,000 seater Stadium MK

This district, next to the junction of the A5 with the A421, includes the 30,500 all-seater Stadium MK for Milton Keynes Dons F.C. as well as a hotel and retail outlets.

The football stadium hosted its first match in July 2007.^[4] and was ready for the start of the 2007/08 season. It was formally opened on 29 November 2007 by Queen Elizabeth II.^[5] A plan to use a space beside the stadium as an arena for professional basketball fell through but, in September 2018, Marshall Amplification announced a naming agreement with Arena MK (at Stadium MK) to use the space for music events and rename it as the Marshall Arena.^[6] The major retailers are an Asda supercentre and IKEA superstore, with smaller shops in the MK1 Shopping Park. The superstores were open for business by the end of 2005.

The first units of the MK1 Shopping Park, constructed later of the Asda and IKEA development, include a McDonald's and KFC on the Saxon Street side of the stadium, with a DW Sports Fitness centre on the Grafton Street side of the stadium.

The main retail centre of the MK1 Shopping Park opened in December 2012, which comprises Marks and Spencer, Outfit (previously BHS), H&M, New Look, Next, Primark and River Island which opened sites in the shopping park. The latter was developed adjacent to Stadium MK by InterMK and The Crown Estate.^[7] InterMK is owned by Pete Winkelman, chairman of the MK Dons.^[7]

The development also includes a newer leisure facility and cinema complex directly behind the stadium, comprising an Odeon IMAX Cinema, Nandos, Bella Italia, TGI Fridays, Prezzo and Frankie and Benny's which opened in late February/early March 2015.^[8]

The MK1 Shopping Park expanded once again, constructing a new five-unit development in the space between the original shopping park and the newer cinema complex. This comprises, at its opening, a JD Sports, Carphone Warehouse and Card Factory. This opened in early December 2017.

The hotel is a DoubleTree by Hilton Worldwide, part of the stadium complex.

The development is on the former site of 'Denbigh Sports Ground' and 'Denbigh North Leisure', an entertainment complex which was home to the Sanctuary Music Arena.

Denbigh West

Denbigh West is an employment area, best known as the home of Marshall Amplification.^[9] It is on the east side of Watling Street, west of Saxon Street..

Denbigh East

Denbigh East is another employment area, east of Saxon Street and west of the Grand Union canal.

Mount Farm

This district is an industrial/employment area. The Milton Keynes central sorting office was here, with the post-code MK1 1AA. Many internet mapping sites assumed that this meant that it is the centre of Milton Keynes and mark it according. It is actually about three miles south of Central Milton Keynes (which has the MK9 postcode).

Granby

This is a small area, just north of the stadium. It is mainly industrial, but includes a mosque and a small, council housing block.

The district takes its name from the original Marquis of Granby inn nearby, as described next.

Denbigh Hall

Inscription on Denbigh Hall railway bridge

The modern industrial district called Denbigh Hall is in West Bletchley rather than in Denbigh, but is mentioned here because its history gives rise to the name Denbigh. A local heritage map shows that it lies on the site of 'Denbigh Farm'^[10] It is separated from Denbigh by Watling Street.

The original Denbigh Hall was an inn on Watling Street, dating from 1710.^[10] Family recollections say that it had previously been known as 'the Marquis of Granby' but that it had changed its name in the eighteenth century when the sixth Earl of Denbigh stopped there overnight and was made so comfortable that he declared it his half-way house to London.^[11][12] The inn no longer exists; its site is shown on the 1885 Ordnance Survey as just north of the bridge 158 where the West Coast Main Line crosses Watling Street.^[13] A third tale relates that the nobleman was given an axe when he asked for a bill.^[14] The same map shows a large private house, 'Denbigh Hall', to the south-east of the inn – its site is approximately at the junction of Whaddon Way with Melrose Avenue.

Network Rail continues to use this name (Denbigh Hall) for its marshalling yards north of Bletchley railway station, near the site of the inn. The West Coast Main Line bridge (number 158) over Watling Street near here bears a plaque that explains that the first phase of the London and Birmingham Railway line terminated here, at Denbigh Hall station. At this point, passengers transferred to coaches for onward transfer by road to Rugby and thence by rail to Birmingham.^[15]

See also

• Denbigh School (which is in the nearby Shenley Church End district).

Notes

1. The Bletchley built-up sub-area is that part of Milton Keynes that is west of the A5 and south of the A421.^[2]

References

1. UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Bletchley and Fenny Stratford Parish (E04012176)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics.
2. UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Bletchley BUSA (E35000902)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics.
3. Historic towns project: Bletchley and Fenny Stratford^{[permanent dead link‍]} – English Heritage 2009
4. "Dons open stadium against Chelsea". BBC. 19 July 2007. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
5. The Queen visits Milton Keynes Archived 11 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine BBC News
6. Welcome to the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes, Milton Keynes Citizen, 29 September 2018
7. Milton Keynes £25m complex to be funded by Crown Estate
8. Crook, Charles. "MK1 Leisure Park development secures Crown funding". Citiblog MK. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014.
9. "Marshall Amplification plc". Companies House. HM Government. 10 March 2024.
10. "Milton Keynes Heritage" (map) – English Partnerships 2004
11. Earl of Denbigh (1821). "The passing of great English country houses". The North American review – via Internet Archive. Forty-five miles from London on the Watling Street road, where it is spanned by the bridge carrying the main line of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway to the North, is a solitary little inn bearing the name of Denbigh Hall. How different are modern conditions from those prevailing when my old great-great-grandfather, the sixth Earl of Denbigh, who died in 1800, used to rumble slowly and uncomfortably along this road to London in his ponderous coach ! One day a wheel came off in the mud near this inn, then known as the "Marquis of Granby ", and, putting up there for the night, he was made so comfortable that he forthwith appointed it his half-way house to London, and the name was changed to its present one.
12. Harper, Charles G (1902). "The story of "Denbigh Hall"". The Holyhead Road; the mail-coach road to Dublin. p. 171 – via Internet Archive. Another contemporary says : " The building called ' Denbigh Hall,' respecting which the reader may have formed the same conception as ourselves, and imagined it to be the august mansion of some illustrious grandee, is nothing but a miserable hostelry of the lowest order, a paltry public-house, or 'Tom and Jerry shop,' as we heard an indignant fellow-traveller contemptuously style it, which has taken the liberty of assuming this magnificent appellation." Tradition described how this house, once called the " Marquis of Granby," had been resorted to by the Earl of Denbigh on one occasion when his carriage had broken down, and that he stayed the night under its roof, and was so grateful for the attentions of the host that he left some property to that fortunate man, who thereupon changed the name of his sign to the "Denbigh Hall." This, at any rate, was the story told when the London and Birmingham Railway was first opened. There were those who looked upon it as a myth invented for the amusement of travellers, and perhaps those sceptics were right, but let others who are not unwilling to believe the story, hug the apt reflection that so unusual a sign must have had an unusual origin ; and, so much being granted, let them go a little further and accept the legend as it is told. The little inn still stands by the wayside.
13. Ordnance Survey (1885). "Buckinghamshire XV" (Map). OS Six-inch England and Wales, 1842-1952. 1:10,560. National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
14. Thomas Roscoe assisted by Peter Lecount (1839). The London and Birmingham railway, with the home and country scenes on each side of the line. p. 78.
15. "A short history of the L&NW railway at Rugby". Rugby Advertiser. 26 December 1908. 9 April 1838: The line from London to Denbigh Hall was opened to the public. -(Denbigh Hall is a little hamlet about two miles north of Bletchley station, and was no doubt selected for a temporary terminus as the Holyhead coach Road crossed the line at this spot.) Immense crowds of people assembled along the newly opened portion of the line to see the first train pass. The line between Birmingham and rugby was opened on the same day. Owing to the delay in finishing Kilsby tunnel and Roade cutting, the line between Rugby and Denbigh Hall is not completed: and the Company have therefore arranged with Messrs Horne and Chaplin, the coach proprietors, to convey passengers by road over the intervening 36 or 37 miles between the two places.