Bradwell, Milton Keynes
Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox UK place Bradwell is an ancient village and modern district in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England, situated approximately Template:Convert north-west of Central Milton Keynes. It has also given its name to a modern civil parish that is part of the City of Milton Keynes.<ref name=BMK-parishes>Template:Cite web</ref> The village was adjacent to Bradwell Abbey, a Benedictine priory, founded in 1155 and dissolved in about 1540, but the abbey and its immediate environs were always a separate ecclesiastical parish.
The village name is an Old English language word and means broad spring.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the Domesday Book of 1086 the village was recorded as Bradewelle.<ref name=VCH>Template:Cite book </ref>
There was an YHA youth hostel in the village (near the church and Bradwell Bury), at Template:Gbmapping: the YHA closed it during the COVID-19 pandemic and terminated its lease in 2021.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Civil parish
The parish of Bradwell consists of the Bradwell village grid square, along with Bradwell Abbey, Heelands, Rooksley, and Bradwell Common.<ref name=BMK-parishes /> The parish had a population of 9,657 according to the 2011 census.<ref name=C2011 /> The parish is bounded by the railway line or the A5 to the west, Monks Way to the north, Portway to the east, and Dansteed Way to the south.
St. Lawrence's Church is a Grade II*-listed building,<ref>Template:NHLE</ref> dating from the 13th century,<ref name=VCH /> and receiving its first vicar in 1223.<ref>According to an information panel in the church.</ref> It is believed to contain the oldest change ringing bells still in use,Template:Cn two of which were cast in 1297 by Michael de Wymbish of London.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Adjoining the sports field is the Bradwell Conservation Area, which is centered on St Lawrence's Field and is administered by the parish council as a nature conservation area.
On Vicarage Road is the Bradwell Memorial Hall, built as the village's war memorial after World War I.
On Primrose Road is King George's Field in memorial to King George V with a children's play area.
History and heritage
Bradwell Village
Bradwell Bury beside the parish church is a moated site and the remains of an associated manor house which once formed part of a more extensive monument: it is Scheduled Monument.<ref>Template:NHLE</ref> The nearby Bradwell Castle mound is also a Scheduled Monument.<ref>Template:NHLE</ref> Bradwell House and the Church of St James are Grade II* listed; there are a further 25 buildings and structures listed as Grade II.<ref>Template:Cite web Search the list with 'District/UA' set to 'Milton Keynes' and 'Parish' set to 'Bradwell'.</ref>
Bradwell Abbey
Template:Main Bradwell Abbey is a Scheduled Monument,<ref>Template:NHLE</ref> urban studies site (and a modern district). The site was once the location of a Benedictine priory, founded in 1155.<ref name=VCH /> The only remaining ecclesiastic building, the Chapel of St Mary, is a Grade I listed building.<ref>Template:NHLE</ref> There are a further five Grade II listed buildings or structures on the Abbey grounds.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Bradwell railway station
Template:Main Bradwell railway station, which was on the Wolverton–Newport Pagnell branch line, served Bradwell from 1867 to 1964. In the present day, the former railway line (now a rail trail that is part of the redway network) forms the boundary between Bradville (in Stantonbury CP) and New Bradwell CP; the station platform is on the New Bradwell side.
Sport and Leisure
Bradwell has a Non-League football team Old Bradwell United F.C. who play at Abbey Road, where there is a large sports field with a cricket pitch and several football pitches. The Old Bradwell Tennis Club is also affiliated to the Bradwell Sports and Social Club which has the use of these facilities.
Bradwell Bowls Club enters competitive teams in the local league.<ref>Bradwell Bowls Club</ref>
Rooksley, at the western edge of the parish, has an important Karting track (not in Bradwell parish).
Demographics
The demographic profile of Bradwell electoral ward is given at Template:NOMIS2011.
See also
- Other places (and people) named Bradwell
- New Bradwell
- Bradville (for the "Bradwell" windmill)
References
External links
- Bradwell Parish website
- Bradwell Abbey and City Discovery Centre (located within the parish)
- 'Parishes : Bradwell' – Victoria History of the Counties of England, A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 4 (1927), pp. 283–288.
- Old Bradwell Tennis Club
- Bradwell Memorial Hall