The history of Newport Pagnell’s Bury Common

Years of hard work finally came to fruition when some carefully chosen sites at Newport Pagnell’s Bury Common recently became the focus of an archaeological dig. It caused plenty of excitement in the town, and in turn might just have helped to inspire the next generation of history lovers to connect with the past. Few people were as thrilled that the dig had become a reality than Andrew Craddock, Chairman of the Commoners Association. Sammy Jones spoke with him.

It is an idyllic, tranquil spot and one that could easily be missed by visitors to the hustle and bustle of the town for the first time.
And yet Bury Common is not insignificant – occupying more than 180 acres of beautiful green space, which is home to many species of bird and plant life.

The Common has been attached to the town for more than 1000 years, during which time it has played its part in the Civil War, helped more recent war efforts, hosted horse races and so much more, and today remains a daily visit for local dogs and their owners who use the place to go ‘walkies.’

The history of the Common is widely known and talked about. But sorting fact from fiction?

That needed a proper archaeological dig, something which Andrew, who has been Chairman of the Commoners Association for more than three decades, had been working towards for the past three years.

“When I bought my premises many years ago, someone said, ‘Oh, you are a commoner.’
I thought, ‘What the hell is that?’” he says, remembering the conversation.

“I was told to go and look at Newport Pagnell’s Common, and basically saw a giant dog toilet,” he recalled.
“At that time, we used to graze cattle here in the summer months for fattening purposes, and I used to get a cheque for £5 a year for the privilege of the farmer grazing his animals here.

“I thought, ‘this is ludicrous, we’ve got to do something,’ and we started researching the Common with local archivists and historians.
“When villages became towns, particularly market towns, traders couldn’t look after their cows and sheep, so you would pass them onto the Common where someone would look after them for you and bring you their milk so you could carry on and do your trading.”

It’s all a far cry from an Amazon delivery, that’s for sure – but that was how things were done centuries ago.
The more that was discovered in the archives, the more the group did to showcase this expanse of land – putting up plaques explaining about the Civil War, the Royal Observer Corps base and the Flora and Fauna of the area.

An education programme was launched with various events held on site, and a Civil War reenactment, the first staged there in 40 years, proved an enormous hit.

But that’s all above ground – what everyone wanted to know was what was hidden underground.
In 2012, a geophysical and contour survey of a section confirmed much of its background, including the likelihood of a settlement on the field stretching way back.

“We’d done non-invasive archaeology, which is a big term, but means we couldn’t dig the ground, because it’s a scheduled monument and you need all sorts of permissions.

“That said, we’d got things under the ground, but didn’t necessarily know what. We could see we had the fortifications from the Civil War, but they’d been levelled in 1648. The fact we could see the trench and the rampart start was really good.
But without shifting the earth, nothing more could be confirmed.

A tumulus, or burial mound, on the Common was thought to have dated back to the Bronze or Stone age.
‘When the late Alderman J M Knapp owned the ground rights of the Common, he was applied to for permission to open up this ancient burial ground, as it was believed it would bring to light much of interest to the archaeologist,’ said a newspaper report from 1933, ‘He would not give his approval, and the mysteries of this centuries old tomb have remained a secret which is never likely to be revealed now that particular piece of ground has been scheduled as a national monument.’

The report continued: ‘The spot is distinguished by a large and practically perfect circle with a ridge of turf, and a small mound in the centre, which in years gone by might, it is thought, have been of considerable size.’

Instead, by accident, an over keen worker razed the area when some of the land was requisitioned for the war effort.
Andrew believes any treasure in the mound would have been taken a long time before: “We think it was robbed, probably in the 17th century or the 18th century. Back then, the aristocrats had fun taking a picnic out and trying to find objects – they weren’t archaeologists so they destroyed everything.

“Then, with WWII they ploughed the field, now we can’t even find it with the magnetometry.
But with the space waiting to reveal its secrets, Andrew got busy turning dreams of a dig into a reality.
“It has been three years of my life prodding people and filling out forms to get the special permission to dig on a scheduled monument, which much of Bury Common is,” he said.

“We’d had ground penetration radar and the magnetometry – the sort of thing you’d see on the Time Team programme,” Andrew explained.
The Commoners Association and the Town Council shared the cost for this long-awaited excavation, with the figures running into tens of thousands of pounds. Money well spent.

And with three trenches dug and finds excavated, Andrew’s wish has now been realised.
In all, there were 90 shifts available for the digs, with 72 people volunteering their time to work alongside the experts. For some, it was their first experience of hands-on archaeology.

“It was absolutely fantastic,” said Newportonian Lisa Carvell, “I just wanted to see what it was all about and if we could find anything – and we found some pottery, which was really exciting!”

Lisa’s daughter also attended the dig – all of the Primary Schools in the town visited, mainly Year 5 & 6 pupils.
“They were shown the sites to see the archaeology, and the loaned artefacts from Milton Keynes Museum,” Andrew said, “Maybe we sparked a future historian or archaeologist, and the hands-on experience was fabulous to see.”

This dig has itself breathed new life, and new interest, into the Common, which quite fittingly is known as the ‘green lung’ of Newport Pagnell.

> In next month’s Pulse, we’ll speak with the lead archaeologist and take a closer look at some of the finds given up during the excavations.

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