Revealing MKs incredible history like never before
Posted 15th January 2025
Milton Keynes Museum is known for preserving local history, but with the launch of its Ancient Gallery this month, the Museum is realising the next milestone in its own history.
The hub has grown in line with the new city, and in 2015, in partnership with MK Council, it announced plans for an ambitious multi-million pound expansion, with the aim of telling the whole story of our local heritage, from prehistory right up to the present, writes Sammy Jones.
Milton Keynes is a city where dreams are realised – but it is also a place with a rich, significant historical tapestry.
In 2017, as part of the City’s 50th Anniversary celebrations, the Museum began working hard towards realising one of the visions in the city’s original masterplan – to have a Museum to collect, maintain and share the area’s internationally significant heritage.
Later, this month the ancient gallery will open its doors to all, bringing back the area’s rich archaeology and putting it under one roof, telling the story of MK from the Jurassic period right the way through to the 18th century.
Many readers will be aware of the recent campaign which allowed the Museum to bring the Ichthyosaur fossil – discovered during excavation works for Caldecotte Lake in 1982 – to the gallery.
Now fully restored, it occupies a space befitting its importance. The Ichthy – officially named Iggy during the fundraising campaign – greets visitors within an immersive setting that really sets the scene, and will set young minds racing!
“The marine reptile occupied the ancient seas where we now work, rest and play, and it’s brilliant that everyone can enjoy him as part of their visit here, for many more years to come,” said the Museum’s director, Bill Griffiths.
The oldest residents in the area are represented by the Acheulian hand axes on display, which are the oldest man-made objects found in Milton Keynes!
Remnants of wonderful woolly mammoths and woolly rhinos of the ice age can also be viewed. The Mesolithic period delivered changes in the technology of the time; by this point, hand axes had been ditched in favour of small flint tools and larger axes were being used for shaping our landscape.
A stone mace head discovered in Bletchley reveals that during the Neolithic era, flint tools were no longer being used exclusively for crafting and wood working, but for fighting, too.
Did you know that the largest bronze age roundhouse discovery in the country was found here in the new city, at Bluebridge?
“When people refer to Milton Keynes as having no history, I find it frustrating, but also rather amusing,” Bill told Pulse, “This ancient gallery opening is a real dream realised for the Museum, and for me personally.
“I am really excited that we can now show our amazing early heritage in such a gloriously visual way.
“This project has been a major undertaking, and it has taken us longer to realise and open than was first anticipated, but Covid changed so much – some work stopped, visitors numbers and income have still not returned to pre-pandemic levels and funding priorities are different.
“Nonetheless, the wait has been worth it because we are now in a position to deliver a gallery that is beautiful and will be widely celebrated.
“Milton Keynes has it all – gold torcs buried in pots, bronze swords deposited in rivers, and a hoard of bronze weapons from New Bradwell, and I know that visitors will be dazzled by what we have managed to deliver.”
All ages will find favour in the new space, and will effortlessly learn so much; for example, during the time when a set of people were getting to grips with arranging some oversized stones in Somerset, here in Milton Keynes, 300 cows were being slaughtered in Gayhurst to mark one burial!
You’ll leave with a greater understanding of the Roman invasion, which was a peaceful affair in this area, and led to the creation of Roman-British culture.
“Magiovinium became a centre of trade for the local community built along Watling Street,” explained Tabatha Barton, Archaeological Curator and Collections Conservator with the Museum.
“Villas sprung up all over Milton Keynes and flourished – like Bancroft’s with its extravagant mosaics and wall plaster,” which you can see at the Museum.
“Roman rule does not last forever, and after they are forced to leave Britain, the Saxons fill their power vacuum,” Tabatha said, “They set up a flourishing society and settlements such as that at Wolverton and Shenley.”
The new gallery will explore some of the Saxon era, and the Normans who followed after the conquest in 1066.
We are all too familiar with the ravages of a pandemic, but throughout history our ancestors faced similar challenges – the Black Death devastated many of the local towns here, with huge casualties in Newport Pagnell, and medieval villages including Tattenhoe were altogether abandoned.
“Despite the grim times though, people still managed to enjoy their daily lives, and played board games like chess and nine men’s morris. The medieval section of the gallery will show you a snapshot of the daily lives and beliefs of the local residents,” Tabatha added.
The ancient gallery will also include a number of hands-on opportunities for visitors, in keeping with the rest of the Museum.
“Obviously we have some incredibly fragile and old artefacts in the space which have to be secured behind glass, but we were keen from the get-go that visitors would be able to have tactile opportunities and we’ve delivered on that, too,” Bill said.
The gallery will open on January 23, the same day that Milton Keynes celebrates its 58th birthday which makes the launch double the celebration.
“It’s incredible to think that what was once a space occupied by mammoths and by Roman villas is now a dazzling new city that 250,000 people call home. We hope that many of those people will join us in the coming weeks and months to journey through our collective past and a truly remarkable history.”
But the ancient gallery is only part of the story, and fundraising and work on the exhibits that will comprise the modern gallery continues.
When that opens – later in the spring – it will celebrate MK’s successes, lament our failures, and recognise the part we’ve all played in transforming a corner of Buckinghamshire countryside into the biggest and boldest experiment in building a new community. And one where a ‘can do’ attitude leads the way.
As well as the funding received from Milton Keynes Council the Museum is grateful for support from the Headley Trust, the Hobson Foundation and a bequest from local resident Robert Excell.
Milton Keynes Museum is one of the best interactive museums, a perfect outing for all ages, staffed by friendly volunteers, and highly recommended by visitors on TripAdvisor. This feature was written by Milton Keynes Museum. Find out more about forthcoming events and see our opening times at: miltonkeynesmuseum.org.uk