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River Leck

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The River Leck (or Leckhampstead Brook ) is a 7.5-kilometre (4.7 mi) long river in Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire ; it is a small tributary of the River Great Ouse .

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120-620: The River Leck rises from a spring next to the Silverstone Circuit near the Whittlebury Park golfing centre near Whittlebury and passes through Shrines Wood, Shirehill Wood and Lovell Wood. The river then runs beneath a bridge carrying the A413 , before passing by St Nicholas's Church at Lillingstone Dayrell . It runs under Chapel Lane bridge, through Leckhampstead and past Weatherhead Farm. Next it runs under Cattleford Bridge which carries

240-626: A Peace Pagoda , which was built in 1980 and was the first built by the Nipponzan-Myōhōji Buddhist Order in the western world. The original Wolverton was a medieval settlement just north and west of today's town. The ridge and furrow pattern of agriculture can still be seen in the nearby fields. The 12th century (rebuilt in 1819) 'Church of the Holy Trinity' still stands next to the Norman motte and bailey site. Modern Wolverton

360-547: A 2-mile (3.2 km) circuit, during the course of which Geoghegan himself ran over a sheep that had wandered onto the airfield. The sheep was killed and the car was written off, and in the aftermath of this event the informal race became known as the Mutton Grand Prix . The next year the Royal Automobile Club took a lease on the airfield and set out a more formal racing circuit. Their first two races were held on

480-545: A 4½-litre Talbot-Lago. The race average speed had risen to 77.31 mph (124.42 km/h). The attendance was estimated at anything up to 120,000. Also in 1949, the first running took place of what was to become an institution at Silverstone, the International Trophy sponsored by the Daily Express and which become virtually a second Grand Prix. The first International Trophy was run on 20 August in two heats and

600-557: A Formula Libre race which put the Grand Prix into perspective; Farina drove the Thinwall Special to victory at a higher speed than the actual GP, setting the first lap record at over 100 mph (160 km/h), at 100.16 mph (161.19 km/h). The 1954 Grand Prix season was the new 2.5-litre Formula One and had attracted interest from some major players. Lancia had joined the fray with their D50 , and Daimler-Benz were back;

720-624: A Lotus. Once the most prestigious race of the motorcycle calendar, the Isle of Man TT had been increasingly boycotted by the top riders, and finally succumbed to pressure and was dropped, being replaced by the British Motorcycle Grand Prix . 1977 marked the beginning of this era, and Silverstone was the chosen venue. It took place on 14 August, with Pat Hennen riding a Suzuki RG500 to victory from Steve Baker (Yamaha). The International Trophy attracted World Championship contenders for

840-522: A chicane in just 19 days ready for the 1994 Grand Prix. Parts of the circuit, such as the starting grid, are 17 m (19 yd) wide, complying with the latest safety guidelines. With the termination of hostilities in Europe in 1945, the first motorsport event in the British Isles was held at Gransden Lodge in 1946 and the next on the Isle of Man , but there was nowhere permanent on the mainland which

960-647: A distinct disadvantage. When the race was abandoned after only six laps, Reg Parnell was in the lead in the "Thinwall Special" ; no official winner was declared. In 1952, the RAC decided it no longer wished to run the circuit, and on 1 January the lease was taken on by the BRDC, with James Brown continuing as track manager. The lease covered only the perimeter track and other areas at specific times. The original pits between Abbey and Woodcote were demolished, and new pit facilities were constructed between Woodcote and Copse. Coinciding with

1080-422: A final. Victory in heat one went to Prince Birabongse ('Bira') and the second to Giuseppe Farina – both driving Maserati 4CLT/48s, but the final went to a Ferrari Tipo 125 driven by Alberto Ascari from Farina, with Luigi Villoresi third in another Ferrari. For this meeting, the chicane at Club Corner was dispensed with and the circuit took up a shape that was to last for 25 years. The 1950 British Grand Prix

1200-644: A further generation of new towns in the South East of England was needed to relieve housing congestion in London. Since the 1950s, overspill housing for several London boroughs had been constructed in Bletchley . Further studies in the 1960s identified north Buckinghamshire as a possible site for a large new town, a new city, encompassing the existing towns of Bletchley, Stony Stratford , and Wolverton . The New Town (informally and in planning documents, 'New City')

1320-752: A golf course and a farm". The Grand Union Canal is another green route (and demonstrates the level geography of the area – there is just one minor lock in its entire 10-mile (16 km) meandering route through from the southern boundary near Fenny Stratford to the "Iron Trunk" aqueduct over the Ouse at Wolverton at its northern boundary). The initial park system was planned by Peter Youngman (Chief Landscape Architect ), who also developed landscape precepts for all development areas: groups of grid squares were to be planted with different selections of trees and shrubs to give them distinct identities. The detailed planning and landscape design of parks and of

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1440-401: A grid-road bus-stop. Consequently, each grid square is a semi-autonomous community, making a unique collective of 100 clearly identifiable neighbourhoods within the overall urban environment. The grid squares have a variety of development styles, ranging from conventional urban development and industrial parks to original rural and modern urban and suburban developments. Most grid squares have

1560-413: A key element of the planners' vision, Milton Keynes has a purpose built centre, with a very large "covered high street" shopping centre, a theatre , municipal art gallery , a multiplex cinema , hotels, central business district , an ecumenical church , Milton Keynes Civic Offices and central railway station . Campbell Park , a formal park extending east from the business area to

1680-449: A local centre, intended as a retail hub, and many have community facilities as well. Each of the original villages is the heart of its own grid-square. Originally intended under the master plan to sit alongside the grid roads, these local centres were mostly in fact built embedded in the communities. Although the 1970 master plan assumed cross-road junctions, roundabout junctions were built at intersections because this type of junction

1800-683: A notable first and last – the first and only appearance of the American Scarab and the last appearance of the Vanwall, in the hands of Surtees. The race was wet and Moss demonstrated his supreme prowess in Rob Walker's Cooper by lapping all but Brabham twice. In 1962, the second year of the Formula, the International Trophy was run for the 1.5 litre cars. This was the classic occasion when Hill in

1920-517: A programme of intensive planting, balancing lakes and parkland. Central Milton Keynes ("CMK") was not intended to be a traditional town centre but a central business and shopping district to supplement local centres embedded in most of the grid squares. This non-hierarchical devolved city plan was a departure from the English new towns tradition and envisaged a wide range of industry and diversity of housing styles and tenures. The largest and almost

2040-461: A rejuvenated phrase with the coming of Group C ; the BRDC and l'Automobile Club de l'Ouest instituted a joint Silverstone/Le Mans Challenge Trophy. The trophy eventually went to Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell in a Porsche 956 , but at Silverstone they could not make maximum use of the fuel allowance and victory went to the Lancia LC1 of Riccardo Patrese and Michele Alboreto . The winning car completed

2160-616: A shortfall that the Council aims to rectify. In January 2019, the council and its partner, Cranfield University, invited proposals to design a campus near the Central station for a new university, code-named MK:U . However this project seems unlikely to proceed, following a government decision in January 2023 to deny funding. In June 2023, the Open University announced that it would "initiate work on

2280-550: A total of 3,000 – 4,500 children. A central resource area served all the schools on a campus. In addition, each campus included a leisure centre with indoor and outdoor sports facilities and a swimming pool, plus a theatre. These facilities were available to the public outside school hours, thus maximising use of the investment. Changes in central government policy from the 1980s onwards subsequently led to much of this system being abandoned. Some schools have since been merged and sites sold for development, many converted to academies, and

2400-527: A unique insight into the history of a large sample of the landscape of North Buckinghamshire. The corporation's strongly modernist designs were regularly featured in the magazines Architectural Design and the Architects' Journal . MKDC was determined to learn from the mistakes made in the earlier new towns , and revisit the garden city ideals . They set in place the characteristic grid roads that run between districts ( 'grid squares' ), as well as

2520-419: A very strong north-south axis. If you've got to build a city between (them), it is very natural to take a pen and draw the rungs of a ladder. Ten miles by six is the size of this city – 22,000 acres. Do you lay it out like an American city, rigid orthogonal from side to side? Being more sensitive in 1966-7, the designers decided that the grid concept should apply but should be a lazy grid following

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2640-724: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Silverstone Circuit Silverstone Circuit is a motor racing circuit in England, near the Northamptonshire villages of Silverstone and Whittlebury . It is the home of the British Grand Prix , which it first hosted as the 1948 British Grand Prix . The 1950 British Grand Prix at Silverstone was the first race in the newly created World Championship of Drivers . The race rotated between Silverstone, Aintree and Brands Hatch from 1955 to 1986, but settled permanently at

2760-474: Is composed of about 90% service industries and 9% manufacturing. It may startle some political economists to talk of commencing the building of new cities ... planned as cities from their first foundation, and not mere small towns and villages. ... A time will arrive when something of this sort must be done ... England cannot escape from the alternative of new city building. In the 1960s, the UK government decided that

2880-448: Is home to fish such as the stone loach ( Barbatula tarantula ), the common minnow ( Phoxinus phoxinus ), the common roach (Rutilus rutilus), the european bullhead ( Cottus gobio ), and the three-spined stickleback ( Gasterosteus aculeatus ). larger fish including european chub ( Squalius cephalus ) and river trout ( Salmo trutta fario ) are also resident in the river. There are also signal crayfish ( Pacifastacus leniusculus ) in

3000-478: Is more commonly known as the city. Labour Minister Dick Crossman …looked at [a] map and saw [the] name and said " Milton the poet , Keynes the economic one . 'Planning with economic sense and idealism, a very good name for it.'" Jock Campbell, Baron Campbell of Eskan The name 'Milton Keynes' was a reuse of the name of one of the original historic villages in the designated area, now more generally known as ' Milton Keynes Village ' to distinguish it from

3120-541: Is more efficient at dealing with small to medium volumes. Some major roads are dual carriageway , the others are single carriageway . Along one side of each single carriageway grid road, there is usually a (grassed) reservation to permit dualling or additional transport infrastructure at a later date. As of 2018 , this has been limited to some dualling. The edges of each grid square are landscaped and densely planted – some additionally have noise attenuation mounds  – to minimise traffic noise from

3240-589: Is not concerned solely to Formula One however, and 1976 saw one of the closest finishes in endurance racing during the Silverstone Six-Hour race, which was a round of the World Championship for Makes. The series was almost a German benefit that season as the main contenders were the Porsche 935s and BMW 3-litre CSLs (common known as the 'Batmobiles'). Porsche had had the upper hand in the opening rounds of

3360-417: Is only a small medieval chapel and a manor house occupying the site. New Bradwell , to the north of Bradwell and east of Wolverton, was built specifically for railway workers. The level bed of the old Wolverton to Newport Pagnell Line near here has been converted to a redway, making it a favoured route for cycling. A working windmill is sited on a hill outside the village. Great Linford appears in

3480-417: Is so called because it is generally surfaced with red tarmac. The national Sustrans national cycle network routes 6 and 51 take advantage of this system. The original design guidance declared that commercial building heights in the centre should not exceed six storeys, with a limit of three storeys for houses (elsewhere), paraphrased locally as "no building taller than the tallest tree". In contrast,

3600-682: The A422 Bedford to Worcester road. This bridge also used to serve as an aqueduct to carry the Buckingham Arm of the Grand Union Canal over the river. Now most of the canal is disused and has become dried up or filled in. Just over half a mile (1 km) afterwards the Leck discharges into the Great Ouse at Thornton . The name of the river is taken from the village of Leckhampstead. The River Leck

3720-541: The British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) take over the lease from the RAC, and set about making the circuit into something more permanent. The International Trophy attracted the cream of Formula One, including the seemingly invincible Alfas, driven by Fangio and Farina. However, the weather worsened for the final and visibility was almost nil, and in those conditions the Alfettas with their supercharged engines were at

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3840-522: The Domesday Book as Linforde , and features a church dedicated to Saint Andrew , dating from 1215. Today, the outer buildings of the 17th century manor house form an arts centre . Milton Keynes (Village) is the original village to which the New Town owes its name. The original village is still evident, with a pleasant thatched pub , village hall , church and traditional housing. The area around

3960-473: The Great Ouse and of its tributaries (the Ouzel and some brooks) have been protected as linear parks that run right through Milton Keynes; these were identified as important landscape and flood-management assets from the outset. At 4,100 acres (1,650 ha) – ten times larger than London's Hyde Park and a third larger than Richmond Park  – the landscape architects realised that

4080-613: The Local Government Act 1972 , Milton Keynes Borough (now City) Council). From 2004 to 2011 a government quango , the Milton Keynes Partnership , had development control powers to accelerate the growth of Milton Keynes. Along with many other towns and boroughs, Milton Keynes competed (unsuccessfully) for formal city status in the 2000, 2002 and 2012 competitions. However the Borough (including rural areas, in addition to

4200-462: The Milton Keynes Partnership , in its expansion plans for Milton Keynes , believed that Central Milton Keynes (and elsewhere) needed "landmark buildings" and subsequently lifted the height restriction for the area. As a result, high rise buildings have been built in the central business district. More recent local plans have protected the existing boulevard framework and set higher standards for architectural excellence. The flood plains of

4320-594: The Milton Keynes urban area (one inter-city). The Open University is based here and there is a small campus of the University of Bedfordshire . Most major sports are represented at amateur level; Red Bull Racing (Formula One), MK Dons (association football), and Milton Keynes Lightning (ice hockey) are its professional teams. The Peace Pagoda overlooking Willen Lake was the first such to be built in Europe. The many works of sculpture in parks and public spaces include

4440-560: The Norman conquest ; detailed archaeological investigations before development revealed evidence of human occupation from the Neolithic period, including the Milton Keynes Hoard of Bronze Age gold jewellery. The government established Milton Keynes Development Corporation (MKDC) to design and deliver this new city. The Corporation decided on a softer, more human-scaled landscape than in

4560-517: The Renault RS10 with Jean-Pierre Jarier third in the Tyrrell 009. The winners average speed was 138.80 mph (223.38 km/h). The 1979 British Motorcycle Grand Prix was again held at Silverstone and would be one of the closest races in the history of Motorcycle Grand Prix racing. The 1978 winner Kenny Roberts and the pair of works Suzuki riders, Barry Sheene and Wil Hartog broke away from

4680-552: The Royal Parks model would not be appropriate or affordable and drew on their National Park experience. As Bendixson and Platt (1992) write: "They divided the Ouzel Valley into 'strings, beads and settings'. The 'strings' are well-maintained routes, be they for walking, bicycling or riding; the 'beads' are sports centres, lakeside cafes and other activity areas; the 'settings' are self-managed land-uses such as woods, riding paddocks,

4800-661: The Vanwall took over, going on to win. With the Lancias broken by the Brit, the rest of the podium was taken by the Connaughts of Archie Scott Brown and Desmond Titterington . For 1958 drastic rule changes were introduced into Formula One, Fangio had retired and Maserati had withdrawn due to financial difficulties. Throughout the season the battle was between Ferrari and Vanwall and it was fervently hoped that Vandervell would success at home but it

4920-440: The south east of England was needed to relieve housing congestion in London. Milton Keynes was to be the biggest yet, with a population of 250,000 and area of 22,000 acres (9,000 ha). At designation, its area incorporated the existing towns of Bletchley , Fenny Stratford , Wolverton and Stony Stratford , along with another fifteen villages and farmland in between. These settlements had an extensive historical record since

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5040-639: The 1965 season, BRM had taken a chance and signed Jackie Stewart straight from Formula Three; the International Trophy was only his fourth Formula One race, but despite this he won handsomely from Surtees in the Ferrari. When the Formula One returned for the British Grand Prix later that year, Stewart finished a creditable fifth. Fellow Scot, Clark won the race in his Lotus-Climax 33 from the BRM P261 of Hill and

5160-487: The 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms the northern boundary of the urban area; a tributary, the River Ouzel , meanders through its linear parks and balancing lakes . Approximately 25% of the urban area is parkland or woodland and includes two Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). In the 1960s, the government decided that a further generation of new towns in

5280-465: The 235 laps (687 miles) being completed at 114.602 mph (184.434 km/h). The only other to complete the full race distance was the Siegfried Brunn / Jürgen Barth (Porsche 908/3), with a Porsche 935K Turbo driven by John Paul and Brian Redman third, a lap down. 1981 saw the arrival of the one-one-one grid, staggered in two rows. The turbocharged era saw Renault occupying the front row of

5400-518: The 240 laps at a speed of 128.5 mph (206.8 km/h), with the second-place car three laps adrift, that of Ickx/Bell. The final podium place went to the Joest Racing Porsche 936C Turbo of Bob Wollek/ Jean-Michel Martin / Philippe Martin . May 1983 saw the running of the Silverstone 1000 kilometres, which was a round of the newly instigated World Endurance Championship. Porsche dominated

5520-487: The 28 entries were Cosworth-powered, there being just two Ferraris to challenge them. Tom Pryce placed his Shadow DN5 on pole for the 1975 Grand Prix, but an accident destroyed his chances as the race was run in appalling weather and it was stopped at two-thirds distance, following multiple cars crashing on the very wet circuit. Victory went to Fittipaldi (McLaren M23) from Carlos Pace ( Brabham BT44 B) and Scheckter (Tyrrell 007). International motor racing at Silverstone

5640-558: The 3-litre era was now into its fifth season; it was also the year when sponsorship came to the fore. Ken Tyrrell became a constructor and Jackie Stewart won at Silverstone driving the Tyrrell 003 on his way to a second World Championship. Ronnie Peterson was second in March 711 from Emerson Fittipaldi in Lotus 72D ; all were Cosworth-powered in what fast becoming Formula Super Ford; the race average

5760-452: The BRDC taking over the running of the Grand Prix, there was a little unrest within the sport which led to the downgrading of Grand Prix racing to Formula Two , which was won by Alberto Ascari at 90.9 mph (146.3 km/h) from his Ferrari teammate Piero Taruffi – both driving the Tipo 500 . The podium was completed by Mike Hawthorn driving a Cooper-Bristol T12 . The International Trophy

5880-601: The BRM crossed the finishing line almost sideways to snatch victory from Jim Clark 's Lotus 24 ; both drivers were credited with the same race time. Clark was to win the British Grand Prix when it returned to Silverstone in 1963, driving the Lotus-Climax 25 . By now, even Ferrari had succumbed to the rear-engined layout, but sent only one to Northamptonshire for Surtees ( Ferrari 156 ). He finished second, ahead of three BRM P57 's of Hill, Richie Ginther and Lorenzo Bandini . For

6000-472: The BRM was troubled by fading brakes which led to Hill spinning off at Copse Corner. 1961 was the year of the new 1.5 litre Formula One introduced by the governing body on safety grounds – it met with strong opposition in Britain which gave birth to the short-lived Intercontinental Formula , which extended the life of the now-obsolete Formula One cars. The International Trophy was run to this Formula and produced

6120-438: The British Grand Prix. It was to use the full perimeter track with a chicane inserted at Club Corner. The length of the second circuit was exactly three miles and the race run over 100 laps, making it the longest post-war Grand Prix held in England. There were again 25 starters and victory went to a 'San Remo' Maserati 4CLT/48 , this time in the hands of Toulo de Graffenried , from Bob Gerard in his familiar ERA and Louis Rosier in

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6240-705: The Corporation attracted talented young architects, led by the respected designer, Derek Walker. In the modernist Miesian tradition is the Shopping Building designed by Stuart Mosscrop and Christopher Woodward, a grade II listed building , which the Twentieth Century Society inter alia regards as the 'most distinguished' twentieth century retail building in Britain. The Development Corporation also led an ambitious public art programme. The urban design has not been universally praised. In 1980,

6360-689: The Development Corporation was being wound up , it transferred the major parks, lakes, river-banks and grid-road margins to the Parks Trust , a charity which is independent of the municipal authority. MKDC endowed the Parks Trust with a portfolio of commercial properties, the income from which pays for the upkeep of the green spaces. As of 2018 , approximately 25% of the urban area is parkland or woodland. It includes two Sites of Special Scientific Interest , Howe Park Wood and Oxley Mead . As

6480-469: The Ferrari of Surtees. The following year, the new 3-litre Formula One was heralded as the "Return of Power" , however the first Grand Prix under these regulations was held at Brands Hatch. It was not until 1967 that the big-engined cars came to Northamptonshire. The result remained unchanged, with Clark winning in the Lotus-Cosworth 49 at a race average speed of 117.6 mph (189.3 km/h). Second

6600-529: The Grand Union Canal, is described in the Pevsner Architectural Guides as " ...the largest and most imaginative park to have been laid out in Britain in the 20th century". The park is listed (grade 2) by Historic England , Milton Keynes consists of many pre-existing towns and villages that anchored the urban design, as well as new infill developments. The modern-day urban area outside

6720-572: The Green . These historical settlements were made the focal points of their respective grid square. Every other district has an historical antecedent, if only in original farms or even field names. Bletchley was first recorded in the 12th century as Blechelai . Its station was an important junction (the London and North Western Railway with the Oxford-Cambridge Varsity Line ), leading to

6840-608: The High Street is reputedly the last place the Princes in the Tower were seen alive. The manor house of Walton village, Walton Hall , is the headquarters of the Open University and the tiny parish church (deconsecrated) is in its grounds. The small parish church (1680) at Willen was designed by the architect and physicist Robert Hooke . Nearby, there is a Buddhist Temple and

6960-549: The MK urban area ) was successful in 2022, in the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours competition. On 15 August 2022, the Crown Office announced formally that Queen Elizabeth II had ordained by letters patent that the Borough of Milton Keynes has been given city status. In law, it is the Borough rather than its eponymous settlement that has city status; nevertheless it is the latter that

7080-416: The Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire border and is accessed from the nearby A43 . The Northamptonshire towns of Towcester (5 miles (8.0 km)) and Brackley (7 miles (11 km)) and the town of Buckingham , (situated in Buckinghamshire) (6 miles (9.7 km)) are close by, and the nearest city is Milton Keynes , the home of Formula One team Oracle Red Bull Racing . Many F1 teams have bases in

7200-426: The Silverstone Six-Hours, a round of the World Championship for Makes. A 3.2-litre Porsche 935 won in the hands of Jacky Ickx and Jochen Mass from a 3.0-litre version driven by Wollek and Henri Pescarolo ; third and fourth were BMW 320s handled by Harald Grohs / Eddy Joosen and Freddy Kottulinsky / Markus Hotz . The race was run over 235 laps of the Grand Prix circuit to make a total of a little over 689 miles which

7320-441: The Silverstone track in 1987. The circuit also hosts the British round of the MotoGP series. The Silverstone circuit is on the site of a Royal Air Force bomber station, RAF Silverstone , which was operational between 1943 and 1946. The station was the base for the No. 17 Operational Training Unit. The airfield's three runways, in classic WWII triangle format , lie within the outline of the present track. The circuit straddles

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7440-446: The UK, but Aston Martin (formerly Force India ) is the closest to the track, with a new base having just been built under a kilometre from the race circuit. Silverstone was first used for motorsport by an 'ad hoc' group of friends who set up an impromptu race in September 1947. One of their members, Maurice Geoghegan, lived in nearby Silverstone village and was aware that the airfield was deserted. He and eleven other drivers raced over

7560-415: The alternative venue. By the time the Grand Prix returned to Silverstone in 1956, Mercedes-Benz had gone, as had Lancia as an independent entrant, the cars having been handed to Scuderia Ferrari, who ran them as 'Lancia-Ferraris'. The great Fangio scored his only British Grand Prix win in one of these cars. Second was another Lancia-Ferrari which had started the race in the hands of Alfonso de Portago , but

7680-416: The appearance of Lancia meant that there were three Italian teams competing at the highest level, the others being Ferrari and Maserati. The British were catered for by the Owen Racing Organisation with their BRMs , the Vanwall of Tony Vandervell and Connaught still competing, while Cooper-Bristol were not to be forgotten. At the start of the season, Mercedes-Benz had swept all before them, but Silverstone

7800-399: The back of the grid of 25 cars) ahead of Bob Gerard in his ERA R14B/C . The race was 239 miles (385 km) long and was run at an average speed of 72.28 mph (116.32 km/h). Fourth place went to Louis Rosier 's Talbot-Lago T26, followed home by 'Bira' in another Maserati 4CLT/48. The second Grand Prix at Silverstone was scheduled for May 1949 and was officially designated

7920-523: The boundary of Milton Keynes was defined in 1967, some 40,000 people lived in four towns and fifteen villages or hamlets in the "designated area". The radical plan, form and scale of Milton Keynes attracted international attention. Early phases of development include work by celebrated architects, including Sir Richard MacCormac , Norman Foster , Henning Larsen , Ralph Erskine , John Winter , and Martin Richardson. Led by Lord Campbell of Eskan (chairman) and Fred Roche (General Manager),

8040-420: The city's green spaces are largely independent of the council's expenditure priorities. The Development Corporation's original design concept aimed for a "forest city" and its foresters planted millions of trees from its own nursery in Newlands in the following years. Parks, lakes and green spaces cover about 25% of Milton Keynes; as of 2018 , there are 22 million trees and shrubs in public open spaces. When

8160-430: The earlier English new towns but with an emphatically modernist architecture . Recognising how traditional towns and cities had become choked in traffic, they established a grid of distributor roads about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) between edges, leaving the spaces between to develop more organically. An extensive network of shared paths for leisure cyclists and pedestrians criss-crosses through and between them. Rejecting

8280-448: The event, taking the first five places, with Derek Bell and Stefan Bellof bringing their 956 home ahead of Wollek and Stefan Johansson in an identical car. Milton Keynes 52°02′N 0°46′W  /  52.04°N 0.76°W  / 52.04; -0.76 Milton Keynes ( / k iː n z / KEENZ ) is a city in Buckinghamshire , England, about 50 miles (80 km) north-west of London . At

8400-400: The final lap of the race. Following the deaths of Senna and fellow Grand Prix driver Roland Ratzenberger at Imola in 1994, many Grand Prix circuits were modified in order to reduce speed and increase driver safety. As a consequence of this the entry from Hangar Straight into Stowe Corner was modified in 1995 to improve the run off area. In addition, the flat-out Abbey kink was modified to

8520-409: The flow of land, its valleys, its ebbs and flows. That would be nicer to look at, more economical and efficient to build, and would sit more beautifully as a landscape intervention. David Lock The Milton Keynes Development Corporation planned the major road layout according to street hierarchy principles, using a grid pattern of approximately 1 km (0.62 mi) intervals, rather than on

8640-421: The following 38 years. For the 1975 meeting a chicane was introduced to try to tame speeds through Woodcote Corner (although MotoGP would still use the circuit without the chicane up until 1986), and Bridge Corner was subtly rerouted in 1987 . The track underwent a major redesign between the 1990 and 1991 races, transforming the ultra-fast track (where, in its last years, fourth or fifth gear, depending on

8760-505: The grid road impacting the adjacent grid square. Traffic movements are fast, with relatively little congestion since there are alternative routes to any particular destination other than during peak periods. The national speed limit applies on the grid roads, although lower speed limits have been introduced on some stretches to reduce accident rates. Pedestrians rarely need to cross grid roads at grade , as underpasses and bridges were specified at frequent places along each stretch of all of

8880-478: The grid roads was evolved under the leadership of Neil Higson, who from 1977 took over from Youngman. In a national comparison of urban areas by open space available to residents, Milton Keynes ranked highest in the UK. Milton Keynes is unusual in that most of the parks are owned and managed by a charity, the Milton Keynes Parks Trust rather than the local authority, to ensure that the management of

9000-415: The grid roads. In contrast, the later districts planned by English Partnerships have departed from this model, without a road hierarchy but with conventional junctions with traffic lights and at grade pedestrian crossings. There is a separate network (approximately 170 miles (270 km) total length) of cycle and pedestrian routes  – the redways  – that runs through

9120-562: The grid was the product of Règie Renault which was exploiting a rule in F1 regulations that allowed the use of 1.5-litre turbocharged engines. The Renault RS01 expired early in the race. Ulsterman John Watson had an early battle with James Hunt , but the fuel system in Watson's Brabham-Alfa Romeo let him down and the winner Hunt ( McLaren M26 ) won at a speed of 130.36 mph (209.79 km/h), with Niki Lauda second for Ferrari from Gunnar Nilsson in

9240-550: The grid, and turbo-engined Ferraris fourth and eighth. The Renaults dominated the race, but total reliability was still lacking and the victory went to John Watson in a McLaren MP4/1 . Second place went to Carlos Reutemann in the Williams FW07 C from the Talbot-Ligier JS17 of Jacques Laffite , a lap down; the race speed was down a little at 137.64 mph (221.51 km/h). For 1982, endurance sport car racing entered

9360-453: The grid-squares and often runs alongside the grid-road network. This was designed to segregate slow moving cycle and pedestrian traffic from fast moving motor traffic. In practice, it is mainly used for leisure cycling rather than commuting, perhaps because the cycle routes are shared with pedestrians, cross the grid-roads via bridge or underpass rather than at grade, and because some take meandering scenic routes rather than straight lines. It

9480-482: The iconic Concrete Cows at Milton Keynes Museum . Milton Keynes is among the most economically productive localities in the UK, ranking highly against a number of criteria. It has the UK's fifth-highest number of business startups per capita (but equally of business failures). It is home to several major national and international companies. Despite economic success and personal wealth for some, there are pockets of nationally significant poverty. The employment profile

9600-509: The intention that it would be self-sustaining and eventually become a major regional centre in its own right. Planning control was taken from elected local authorities and delegated to the Milton Keynes Development Corporation (MKDC). Before construction began, every area was subject to detailed archaeological investigation: doing so has exposed a rich history of human settlement since Neolithic times and has provided

9720-525: The landscape of south-central England. There is evidence of Stone Age , late Bronze Age /early Iron Age , Romano-British , Anglo-Saxon , Anglo-Norman , Medieval , and late Industrial Revolution settlements such as the railway towns of Wolverton (with its railway works ) and Bletchley (at the junction of the London and North Western Railway with the Oxford–Cambridge Varsity Line ). The most notable archaeological artefact

9840-468: The last of the British New Towns, Milton Keynes has 'stood the test of time far better than most, and has proved flexible and adaptable'. The radical grid plan was inspired by the work of Melvin M. Webber , described by the founding architect of Milton Keynes, Derek Walker , as the 'father of the city'. Webber thought that telecommunications meant that the old idea of a city as a concentric cluster

9960-514: The last time in 1978 but the race witnessed the début of the epoch-making Lotus 79 in the hands of Mario Andretti . Such events as this gave the Formula One also-rans a chance to start, which they were normally denied in Grands Prix; two such were the Theodore and Fittipaldi . Keke Rosberg won the former in atrocious conditions from Fittipaldi in his namesake car. 14 May witnessed the running of

10080-441: The late 1930s had the title of 'Donington Grand Prix'). In August 1948, Andrews employed James Brown on a three-month contract to create the Grand Prix circuit in less than two months. Nearly 40 years later, Brown died while still employed by the circuit. Despite possible concerns about the weather, the 1948 British Grand Prix began at Silverstone on Thursday 30 September 1948. The race took place on 2 October. The new circuit

10200-515: The leisure centres outsourced to commercial providers. As in most parts of the UK, the state secondary schools in Milton Keynes are comprehensives , although schools in the rest of Buckinghamshire still use the tripartite system . Private schools are also available. The Open University 's headquarters are in the Walton Hall district; though because this is a distance learning institution,

10320-648: The modern settlement. After the Norman conquest, the de Cahaignes family held the manor from 1166 to the late 13th century as well as others in the country ( Ashton Keynes in Wiltshire, Somerford Keynes in Gloucestershire, and Horsted Keynes in West Sussex). The village was originally known as Middeltone (11th century); then later as Middelton Kaynes or Caynes (13th century); Milton Keynes (15th century); and Milton alias Middelton Gaynes (17th century). The area that

10440-465: The more conventional radial pattern found in older settlements. Major distributor roads run between communities, rather than through them: these distributor roads are known locally as grid roads and the spaces between them – the neighbourhoods – are known as grid squares (though few are actually square or even rectilinear ). This spacing was chosen so that people would always be within six minutes' walking distance of

10560-473: The only students resident on campus are approximately 200 full-time postgraduates. Cranfield University , an all-postgraduate institution, is in nearby Cranfield , Bedfordshire. Milton Keynes College provides further education up to foundation degree level. A campus of the University of Bedfordshire provides some tertiary education facilities locally. As of 2023 , Milton Keynes is the UK's largest population centre without its own conventional university,

10680-534: The original six towns (Bletchley, Fenny Stratford, Newport Pagnell, Stony Stratford, Wolverton, and Woburn Sands ) was largely rural farmland but included many picturesque North Buckinghamshire villages and hamlets: Bradwell village and its Abbey , Broughton , Caldecotte , Great Linford , Loughton , Milton Keynes Village , New Bradwell , Shenley Brook End , Shenley Church End , Simpson , Stantonbury , Tattenhoe , Tongwell , Walton , Water Eaton , Wavendon , Willen , Great and Little Woolstone , Woughton on

10800-469: The podium going to the Coventry-Climax–powered cars, with victory going to Jack Brabham in the works Cooper T53 from John Surtees and Innes Ireland in their Lotus 18s . Although the race is remembered as the race lost by Graham Hill , rather than won by Brabham. Hill stalled his BRM on the grid, left the line in last place, then proceeded to carve through the whole field. Once in the lead,

10920-436: The residential tower block concept that had become unpopular , they set a height limit of three storeys outside Central Milton Keynes . Facilities include a 1,400-seat theatre, a municipal art gallery, two multiplex cinemas, an ecumenical central church, a 400-seat concert hall, a teaching hospital, a 30,500-seat football stadium, an indoor ski-slope and a 65,000-capacity open-air concert venue. Seven railway stations serve

11040-551: The rest of the field. After a few laps, Hartog fell off the pace as Sheene and Roberts continued to swap the lead throughout the 28-lap event, the American winning for the second time ahead of Sheene by a narrow margin of just three-hundreds of a second. In May 1980, sports cars returned in the form of the Silverstone Six-Hours, which was won by Alain de Cadenet driving a car bearing his own name, partnered by Desiré Wilson ;

11160-446: The river with most of the crayfish being small in size with a small number of larger ones. There also be a range of other wildlife such as swans, ducks and myriad types of water insects. 52°02′06″N 0°56′26″W  /  52.03500°N 0.94056°W  / 52.03500; -0.94056 This Buckinghamshire location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Northamptonshire location article

11280-493: The runways themselves, with long straights separated by tight hairpin corners, the track demarcated by hay bales. However, for the 1949 International Trophy meeting, it was decided to switch to the perimeter track. This arrangement was used for the 1950 and 1951 Grands Prix. In 1952 the start line was moved from the Farm Straight to the straight linking Woodcote and Copse corners, and this layout remained largely unaltered for

11400-451: The series, but at Silverstone things were different. John Fitzpatrick and Tom Walkinshaw kept their BMW ahead to win by 197 yd (180 m) (1.18secs) from the Bob Wollek / Hans Heyer Porsche 935 Turbo. Third was a Porsche 934 Turbo in the hands of Leo Kinnunen and Egon Evertz . The 1977 British Grand Prix saw the beginning of a revolution in Formula One, for towards the back of

11520-469: The strategic and financial case to relocate [from] the OU's existing campus at Walton Hall to a new site adjacent to the central railway station" and possibly commence teaching full-time undergraduates. Through Milton Keynes University Hospital , the city also has links with the University of Buckingham 's medical school. Milton Keynes City Discovery Centre at Bradwell Abbey holds an extensive archive about

11640-558: The substantial urban growth in the town in the Victorian period. It expanded to absorb the village of Water Eaton and town of Fenny Stratford . Bradwell is a traditional rural village with earthworks of a Norman motte and bailey and parish church. There is a YHA hostel beside the church. Bradwell Abbey , a former Benedictine Priory and scheduled monument , was of major economic importance in this area of North Buckinghamshire before its dissolution in 1524. Nowadays there

11760-553: The then president of the Royal Town Planning Institute , Francis Tibbalds, described Central Milton Keynes as "bland, rigid, sterile, and totally boring." Michael Edwards, a member of the original consultancy team, believes that there were weaknesses in their proposal and that the Development Corporation implemented it badly. The geography of Milton Keynes – the railway line , Watling Street , Grand Union Canal , M1 motorway  – sets up

11880-459: The transmission of the car, was used for every corner except the Bridge chicane which was usually taken in second gear) into a more technical track. The reshaped track's first Formula One race was won by Nigel Mansell in front of his home crowd. On his victory lap back to the pits Mansell picked up stranded rival Ayrton Senna to give him a lift on his side-pod after his McLaren had run out of fuel on

12000-527: The village has reverted to its 11th century name of Middleton (Middeltone ). The oldest surviving domestic building in the area (c. 1300 CE), "perhaps the manor house", is here. Stony Stratford began as a settlement on Watling Street during the Roman occupation , beside the ford over the Great Ouse. There has been a market here since 1194 (by charter of King Richard I ). The former Rose and Crown Inn on

12120-436: The winning car covered at 114.914 mph (184.936 km/h). Come the 1979 Grand Prix and the passage of two years had made a great difference to the performance of the turbocharged Renaults; the car which qualified on the last row in 1977 was now on the front row beside Alan Jones in the Williams FW07 . When Jones's Cosworth expired, his teammate Clay Regazzoni moved into the lead, going on to win from René Arnoux in

12240-414: Was 130.5 mph (210.0 km/h). 1973 was the year that Jody Scheckter lost control of his McLaren at the completion of the first lap, spinning into the pit wall and setting in motion the biggest accident ever seen on a British motor racing circuit. The race was stopped on lap two and the carnage cleared away; it speaks highly for the construction of the cars that only one driver was injured. The race

12360-530: Was Kiwi Denny Hulme aboard the Brabham-Repco , from the Ferrari 312 of his fellow countrymen Chris Amon . There was a frightening increase in race average speed in 1969, for it rose by 10 mph (16 km/h), to 127.2 mph (204.7 km/h) when Stewart won in his Matra-Cosworth MS80 from Jacky Ickx (Brabham-Cosworth BT26) and Bruce McLaren driving one of his own Cosworth-powered M7Cs . By 1971,

12480-515: Was a 19th-century New Town built to house the workers at the Wolverton railway works , which built engines and carriages for the London and North Western Railway . Among the smaller villages and hamlets are three – Broughton , Loughton and Woughton on the Green  – that are of note in that their names each use a different pronunciation of the ough letter sequence in English. In early planning, education provision

12600-399: Was a débâcle for the team, which returned to Untertürkheim in defeat. The 263 miles (423 km) race was won by González from Hawthorn in the works 625s , with Onofre Marimón third in the works Maserati 250F . The best Mercedes driver was pole-man Fangio in his W196 . From 1955, the Grand Prix was alternated between Aintree and Silverstone, until 1964 when Brands Hatch took over as

12720-464: Was a significant occasion for three reasons: it was the first ever World Championship Grand Prix, carrying the title of the European Grand Prix; it was the first race in the newly created World Championship of Drivers ; and the event was graced by the presence of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth – the first and only time a reigning monarch has attended a motor race in Britain. The year

12840-447: Was carefully integrated into the development plans with the intention that school journeys would, as far as possible, be made by walking and cycling. Each residential grid square was provided with a primary school (ages 5 to 8) for c.240 children, and for each two squares there was a middle school (ages 8 to 12) for c.480 children. For each eight squares there was a large secondary education campus, to contain between two and four schools for

12960-490: Was marked out with oil drums and straw bales and consisted of the perimeter road and the runways running into the centre of the airfield from two directions. Spectators were contained behind rope barriers and the officials were housed in tents. An estimated 100,000 spectators watched the race. There were no factory entries but Scuderia Ambrosiana sent two Maserati 4CLT/48s for Luigi Villoresi and Alberto Ascari who finished in that order (notwithstanding having started from

13080-478: Was memorable for it saw the defeat of the Alfas, with victory going to the popular Argentinian driver, Froilán González driving the Ferrari 375 . His fellow countryman Juan Manuel Fangio was second in an Alfa Romeo 159B , and Luigi Villoresi in another Ferrari 375 was third. The race distance had increased to 263 miles (423 km), and the race average speed was now 96.11 mph (154.67 km/h). 1951 also saw

13200-437: Was not to be; the green cars fell apart, Stuart Lewis-Evans the best placed finisher in fourth. Victory went to Collins from Hawthorn, both driving Ferrari Dino 246s . The crowd of 120,000 witnessed a trio of British drivers on the podium with Roy Salvadori coming home third in one of John Cooper's Coventry-Climax rear-engined powered cars. At the British Grand Prix of 1960, the front-engined cars were completely outclassed,

13320-574: Was notable in 1952, in that it saw a rare victory for Hersham and Walton Motors when Lance Macklin had a win. The same situation continued into 1953 with the World Championship being run for Formula Two cars. The race was a straight fight between the Maserati and Ferrari teams, with victory going to Ascari at 92.9 mph (149.5 km/h) aboard a Ferrari Tipo 500, from the Maserati A6GCM of Fangio and another Tipo 500 of Farina. The racecard included

13440-491: Was out of date and that cities which enabled people to travel around them readily would be the thing of the future, achieving "community without propinquity " for residents. The government wound up MKDC in 1992, 25 years after the new town was founded, transferring control to the Commission for New Towns (CNT) and then finally to English Partnerships , with the planning function returning to local council control (since 1974 and

13560-615: Was suitable. In 1948, Royal Automobile Club (RAC), under the chairmanship of Wilfred Andrews , set its mind upon running a Grand Prix and started to cast around public roads on the mainland. There was no possibility of closing the public highway as could happen on the Isle of Man, or the Channel Islands; it was a time of austerity and there was no question of building a new circuit from scratch, so some viable alternative had to be found. A considerable number of ex-RAF airfields existed, and it

13680-465: Was taken over by Peter Collins at half-distance and third place was Jean Behra in a Maserati 250F. Matters were somewhat happier for the British enthusiast at the International Trophy; a quality field had been attracted including Fangio and Collins in their Lancia-Ferraris, but the 13 laps of the race were led by the new BRM P25 driven by Hawthorn. When the engine of the BRM expired, Stirling Moss in

13800-531: Was the Milton Keynes Hoard , which the British Museum described as 'one of the biggest concentrations of Bronze Age gold known from Britain and seems to flaunt wealth.' Bletchley Park , the site of World War II Allied code-breaking and Colossus , the world's first programmable electronic digital computer , is a major component of MK's modern history. It is now a flourishing heritage attraction, receiving hundreds of thousands of visitors annually. When

13920-419: Was the institution of the World Championship for Driver, and Silverstone witnessed the first time that Alfa Romeo 158 'Alfettas' had been seen in England, and they took the first three places in the hands of Giuseppe Farina, Luigi Fagioli and Reg Parnell , with the race average having increased to 90.96 mph (146.39 km/h); however the race distance had been reduced to 205 miles (330 km). 1951

14040-480: Was to be the biggest yet, with a target population of 250,000, in a ' designated area ' of 21,883 acres (8,855.7 ha). The name 'Milton Keynes' was taken from that of an existing village on the site. On 23 January 1967, when the formal "new town designation order" was made, the area to be developed was largely farmland and undeveloped villages. The site was deliberately located equidistant from London, Birmingham , Leicester , Oxford , and Cambridge , with

14160-452: Was to become Milton Keynes encompassed a landscape that has a rich historic legacy. The area to be developed was largely farmland and undeveloped villages, but with evidence of permanent settlement dating back to the Bronze Age . Before construction began, every area was subject to detailed archaeological investigation: this work has provided an insight into the history of a very large sample of

14280-557: Was to these the RAC turned their attention to with particular interest being paid to two near the centre of England – Snitterfield near Stratford-upon-Avon and one behind the village of Silverstone . The latter was still under the control of the Air Ministry, but a lease was arranged in August 1948 and plans put into place to run the first British Grand Prix since the RAC last ran one at Brooklands in 1927 (those held at Donington Park in

14400-415: Was won Scheckter's teammate, Peter Revson ( McLaren M23-Cosworth ) from Peterson (Lotus 72E) and Denny Hulme (McLaren M23). The race average speed had risen again to 131.75 mph (212.03 km/h). The 1973 débâcle wrought changes upon Silverstone as it was deemed necessary to slow these cars through Woodcote, therefore a chicane was inserted. "Formula Super Ford" reached its peak in 1975, when 26 of

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