Milton Ernest Village
The oldest complete buildings, constructed during the 17th century were thatched and built of stone, brought down the river from Pavenham. They included several farms, barns and agricultural workers' cottages, most still in use. A section of the old bakehouse dates back to the 14th century.
Milton Hall, designed by William Butterfield for the Starey family in the 19th century was a family home, replacing a gentleman's house built in 1660. Whilst Lord and Lady Ampthill were in residence, during the First World War, two Royal princes, sons of King George V and Queen Mary, stayed there and could be seen rushing around the grounds on their bicycles. A very different use during the Second World War as USAF Communications HQ included amongst its residents Glenn Miller, the famous band leader Mr. Millers' last fatal flight departed from nearby Twinwoods airfield which still exists but is private ground execpt there is now a Glen Miller Museum in the Twinwoods airfield control tower building. This is only open at weekends and is accessed via a private road.
Other big houses include two built in Victorian times. Milton House was once occupied by Captain Percy Whittaker who bred and trained racehorses. The Gables, at the foot of Milton Hill is the home of Sir Trevor and Lady Skeet, Sir Trevor being a previous MP for North Bedfordshire, now retired.
Kennels of the Oakley Hunt were in the village from the 1830s until the 1970s, when they were moved to Melchbourne. A famous Master of the Hunt was Captain Arkwright, who bred the brown patches into hounds' coats, previously black and white.
Peculiararities to this village include an old charity started by Susannah Rolt in 1726 to give 12 two-penny loaves to the poor of the parish every Sunday. There are photographs of choirboys early this century bursting down the church paths with loaves in their hands for distribution. They often enjoyed a sweet given by the grateful recipients!
Another well appreciated effort at that time was the loan of baby clothes hampers by the vicar for six weeks to new born babies. There were three sets of varying degrees of value, issued according to the condition in which the previous loan had been returned. With the large families of those days, there would have been plenty of opportunity to judge!
As with most villages which, no doubt, were once self sufficient, there were many more tradespeople based and working there, now only a handful. Before the First World War in Milton Ernest, there was the staggering number of nearly 30 trades and crafts. They included a higgler. He was a breaker of rough stones to form the surface of roads, including the present A6. The agricultural thresher and his team from Milton Ernest used to go round to farms in quite a wide radius, including other villages.
This page last updated on the 16th of March 2005
