Milton Keynes takes its name from a village that has existed since before the Domesday Book of 1086. The modern city, however, dates from 1967, when the area was formally designated a new town to help meet housing demand in the South East.
From villages to new town
Before designation, the area was made up of market towns and villages including Bletchley, Wolverton, Stony Stratford and Newport Pagnell, along with the small village of Milton Keynes itself. Wolverton had grown in the 19th century around the railway works on the West Coast Main Line, and Bletchley became known for Bletchley Park, the site of wartime codebreaking.
The planned city
The new city was laid out on its now familiar grid of roads, with a target of building a spacious, green city rather than a dense town. Central Milton Keynes and its shopping centre opened in 1979. The city has continued to grow, absorbing the older towns as districts while they kept their own high streets, and was granted city status in 2022.
When was Milton Keynes founded?
The new town was designated on 23 January 1967, though the villages and towns it absorbed are far older.
What is Bletchley Park?
Bletchley Park, in the Bletchley district, was the centre of British codebreaking during the Second World War and is now a museum.