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Stony Stratford (often shortened to Stony) is a constituent town of Milton Keynes (in north Buckinghamshire, England) and is a civil parish with a town council〔(Stony Stratford Town Council website )〕 within the Borough of Milton Keynes.〔(Parishes in Milton Keynes ) – Milton Keynes Council.〕 It is in the north west corner of Milton Keynes, bordering Northamptonshire and separated from it by the River Great Ouse. Before the designation of Milton Keynes in 1967, Stony was in Wolverton Urban District, north Buckinghamshire. Since at least Roman times, there has been a settlement here at the ford of Watling Street over the Great Ouse.〔('Parishes : Stony Stratford' ), Victoria History of the Counties of England, A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 4 (1927), pp. 476–482.〕 The town's market charter dates from 1194 and its status as a town from 1215. ==History== The town name 'Stratford' is Anglo-Saxon in origin, and means 'ford on a Roman road'. The Roman road in this sense is the Watling Street that runs through the middle of the town. The ford is the crossing of the River Ouse. The prefix 'Stony' refers to the stones on the bed of the ford, differentiating the town from nearby Fenny Stratford. In 1789, at Windmill Field in the parish of Old Stratford near Stony Stratford, an urn was uncovered which contained three fibulae and two headdresses. Known as the ''Stony Stratford Hoard'', it also contained around thirty fragments of silver plaques which were decorated with images of the Roman gods Mars, Apollo and Victory. There were also inscriptions to Jupiter and Vulcan leading to theories that this was a votive hoard at a Roman temple.The hoard is now kept at the British Museum.〔British Museum Collection ()〕〔British Museum Collection ()〕 There has been a market in Stony Stratford since 1194 (by charter of King Richard I).〔R. H. Britnell, 'The Origins of Stony Stratford', ''Records of Buckinghamshire'', XX (1977), pp. 451–3〕 (Until the early 1900s, livestock marts were still held in the market square but in more recent times the square has become a car park, apart from a monthly farmers' market in one corner. The weekly market has moved to Timor Court, and of course no longer deals in livestock). Stony Stratford formally became a town when it received letters patent from King John in 1215.〔 Stony Stratford was the location where, in 1290, an Eleanor cross was built in memory of the recently deceased Eleanor of Castile. The cross was destroyed during the English Civil War.〔 The ''Rose and Crown Inn'' at Stony Stratford was reputedly where, in 1483, King Edward V stayed the night before he was taken to London (to become one of the Princes in the Tower) by his uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who later became King Richard III.〔 The inn is now a private house but a plaque on the front wall gives a brief account of the event. ''Queen Anne House'' also known as ''Shell House'', at 48 High Street, was once the Dower House for nearby Wolverton Manor (demolished in 1728). This house has many distinct sections, spanning from the 1520s to the early 1700s, with a rare number of original features still intact. The front portion is believed locally to have been underwritten in some way by Sir Christopher Wren or – more likely – his colleague Nicholas Hawksmoor circa 1700–1703. At dates which would appear to concur with this, Wren and Hawksmoor were sourcing building materials from Stony Stratford whilst working on other estates in close proximity. In 1700, Wren was busy remodelling Winslow Hall to the South; and at the same time Hawksmoor was working on Easton Neston to the North, which he completed in 1702. Both men were known personally to one early 18th century owner of Queen Anne House, John Radcliffe, as all three belonged to the same masonic circle. Radcliffe, who was Queen Anne's physician, took ownership of the house in 1713 as part of his acquisition of the Wolverton estate. Architecturally, there are features within all three properties that bear more than a passing resemblance. The drawing room at Queen Anne House has scallop shell recesses which are notably similar to stairwell features at Easton Neston. Interestingly, the hallway is dominated by a grand oak staircase with carved inverted pentagrams: Hawksmoor was well known for his fondness of using pagan symbols in his designs, and as such has been posthumously referred to as "The Devil's Architect". Such use of appropriated "warding off" medieval symbolism would be entirely consistent with his hand. Despite compelling circumstantial evidence, given the passage of time it is unlikely that direct evidence will be uncovered linking Wren or Hawksmoor to Queen Anne House. Catherine of Aragon rode from London to address her troops assembling here for the battle of Flodden, and went on to stay at Woburn Abbey in September 1513.〔Thomas Deloney, ''The Pleasant Historie of Jack of Newbery'', London (1626), chapter 2: ''Letters & Papers Henry VIII'', vol. 1 (1920) no. 2278: ''Calendar State Papers Venice'', vol.2, no. 340: Hall, Edward, ''Chronicle'', (1809), 564: Ellis, Henry, ed., ''Original Letters Illustrative of English History'', 1st Series, vol.1, Richard Bentley, London (1825), 82–84, 88–89.〕 The town has twice become almost completely consumed by fire, the first time in 1736 and the second in 1742. The only building to escape the second fire was the tower of the chapel of ease of St Mary Magdalen. Since at least the 15th century, Stony Stratford was an important stop on the road to Ireland via Chester, becoming quite rich on the proceeds in the 16th century.〔 In the stage coach era of the 17th and early 18th centuries, it was a major resting place and exchange point with the east/west route with coaching inns to accommodate coach travellers. In the early 19th century, over thirty mail coaches and stagecoaches a day stopped here.〔(''History of Stony Stratford'' at MK Heritage )〕 That traffic came to an abrupt end in 1838 when the London to Birmingham Railway (now the West Coast Main Line) was opened at Wolverton – ironically, just three years after the bridge over the Ouse had been rebuilt.〔 For the rest of that century, Stony was in decline until the arrival of the motor car, when again its position on the original A5 road made it an important stopping point for motorists. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Stony Stratford」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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