In my opinion Milton Keynes has more heritage per square mile than any other town, city or village in the country. Within Milton Keynes TATTENHOE has more legend and heritage than anywhere else in our new city.

Today Tattenhoe is a great place, it is a favourite in its parkland for my little doggie Jake for his daily walk. Back in 1994 when I published NOT THE CONCRETECOWS it was an undeveloped area, one of the last to be touched by the wand of The Milton Keynes Development Corporation. Let me now share that chapter from the book:

Howe Park And Saint Giles Tattenhoe:

For as long as I have lived in the area, nearly quarter of a century now, I have known somewhere at the back of my mind of its existence but it was only recently, and then quite by chance, that I came upon the Church of Saint Giles, Tattenhoe. Together with the adjacent Howe Park Wood it forms one of the oldest and most forgotten landmarks within the city of Milton Keynes. It is only with the recent extension of the grid road system into the south-west flank of Milton Keynes that the church and surrounding land have become at all accessible. Even today there is still no road to the church, the closest regular access is to the tiny and ancient hamlet of Tattenhoe from where it lies is through two fields along a farm track.

The existing church dates from 1540 but is built upon the site of a much earlier sanctuary. Little has changed over the centuries, no mains electricity reaches this particular part of the most modern city in Europe so church services still rely upon candlelight. How many places, even in the remotest of areas, remain so totally untouched by twentieth century technology ? Indeed evensong is only heard every other Sunday between Rogation (mid May) and harvest time. Congregations are tiny, of course, and not able to support a vicar of their own so services come under the charge of Reverend Giles Godber, minister of the adjacent church at Loughton. I am much indebted to the Reverend Godber for his help in putting together the account of this particular forgotten landmark.

But it wasn't always like this. From Roman times the wood at Howe Park was a vital resource to the surrounding inhabitants. Tattenhoe expanded at the time of the Norman Conquest as the local population increased. The Doomsday Survey of 1086 listed Howe Park as woodland of one hundred acres in the Parish of Shenley. Venison was an important food during the mediaeval period and the wood a significant source of deer. Muntjac deer still live in the area today along with rabbits, foxes, badgers, wood mice, weasels and thousands of butterflies.

Compared to the wood, Saint Charles Church is but an infant. It is possible that Howe Park is an example of a primary woodland, a surviving fragment of woodland that developed over the whole of Britain after the last Ice Age,  eleven  thousand  years ago ! Adjacent to the remains of the mediaeval ditch that once surrounded the entire wood is an oak tree which could be the oldest living thing in Milton Keynes. The Tattenhoe Oak.

Two fascinating legends are told about Tattenhoe. Firstly, that Thomas A Becket spent time at the Tattenhoe Manor House and worshipped in the original church some years before he became Archbishop of Canterbury and was subsequently murdered in his own cathedral. The second legend claims that a secret passage once existed between the church and Shenley Park. Although neither entrance nor exit are now apparent, perhaps maybe parts still remain deep underground with their mysteries and ghosts from those far off generations.

Tattenhoe declined at a similar time to the consecration of Saint Giles. The reason for the downturn in the area’s fortunes is unclear, perhaps it came as a result of the Dissolution or maybe because of the plague but when Milton Keynes Development Corporation purchased the wood and surrounding land in 1968 it was all but extinct. But while other areas of the city developed planners left this sector dormant. Only in recent months have things started to change.

The infrastructure of the roads is now in place, the redway footpaths are reaching out and the wood has been opened as part of the Milton Keynes Parks Trust. New housing is rising on the very ground upon once stood the original village and, such is progressive, Safeway's is developing a major new supermarket due to open next summer.

So things are very soon going to change. Tattenhone will again become a thriving community. Howe Park will be frequented by many whiling away their leisure hours and thereafter Saint Giles will ring out to the chorus of a hearty congregation. Plans are in hand for a new road from the grid system direct to the church, water and electricity will for the first time in history serve the sanctuary. The ancient moat, so overgrown and stagnant, will be restored. Land adjacent to Safeway Supermarket is reserved for new style church to accommodate a much larger congregation while Saint Giles will continue with its tradition.

When Milton Keynes was in its infancy Mabel Smith, wife of Reverend Hilton Smith, then Vicar of Whaddon and Tattenhoe, looked forward to this time when she wrote:

Someday perhaps this little church will serve a larger congregation. Of those who come from city great to join us with song.

The future of Tattenhoe is bright and perhaps it is fitting the planners left the area until the near completion of Milton Keynes before wrapping the arms of the new city about it. Now the oldest living thing The Tattenhoe Oak joins hands with the newest of the new city to mark the conclusion of one of the greatest and most successful planning population migrations in history.

How things have changed. How special Tattenhoe is within Milton Keynes.

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