Magic Flute Publishing started over a decade ago by publishing books related to the North Bucks-Milton Keynes area
This work continues.
This work continues.

The district under consideration is Wolverton and its neighbouring parishes in North Bucks and those in Northamptonshire, north of the River Ouse. They have a shared history.
This first volume covers almost 2,000 years, from early settlement to 1838, when the arrival of the London and Birmingham Railway transformed the district.

The district under consideration is Wolverton and its neighbouring parishes in North Bucks and those in Northamptonshire, north of the River Ouse. They have a shared history.
Volume II, Pure Republic, describes the period from 1838 to the out-break of war in 1914.


The inn was at the centre of this trade and the town could always boast a good number and variety. At any one time there were 25 to 30 inns and alehouses in Stony Stratford.
This book describes the history of these inns and alehouses, which later became hotels and public houses. Every known documentary source has been investigated and the authors have been able to clear up some unanswered questions about earlier establishments.
A second section includes a compendium of all recorded licensed houses from medieval times to the present day. For good measure licensed houses in Old Stratford, Calverton, Wolverton and the Bradwells are included.

In 1914, Great Britain, as it liked to call itself, had enjoyed a long period of peace and prosperity and Stony Stratford was not excepted from this general well being. An assassination in far off Sarajevo would hardly seem to disturb that, but it did trigger a series of events that led to Britain entering the war on August 4th. Hundreds of thousands volunteered to fight against German aggres-sion and most believed it would be a very short war. Many came from Stony Stratford. In the end the Western Front bogged down in trench warfare in which millions of lives were lost for no progress. It changed everything. It transformed our understanding of warfare and transformed the society back home. A society which had a laissez faire government in 1914 and in which towns such as Stony Stratford largely administered their own affairs, became in 1918 part of a centralized regulation system.
Historian John Taylor captures in some detail the life of Stony Stratford as it was and as it changed during those four years. He describes the daily lives and efforts of those at home and the lives and deaths of those young men who volunteered to fight at the war front. And it was a volunteer army: recruitment was not an issue.
Against the background of war the affairs of Stony Stratford continued. Men and now women went to work, businesses continued to trade, the town and parish had to be managed, schools continued to educate, churches and chapels continued to care for their congregations, and there was sport and entertain-ment. John Taylor examines all this through contemporary sources and brings to life a picture of Stony Stratford as it was during those uncertain times.

Like every other community in the country the ancient market town of Newport Pagnell was affected by the Great War which began on August 4th 1914. Nobody could have anticipated the change it was to bring about in society and Newport Pagnell was a very different place 100 years ago. In this important book historian John Taylor records the events of a century ago and illustrates the daily lives and efforts not only of those at home but also of those young men who were to experience the horrors of an unanticipated and prolonged trench warfare.



Buckinghamshire and the district contributed over one quarter of the total number of the County’s soldiers to the war effort. In addition, Wolverton’s importance as a railway and manufacturing centre placed additional demands on the community. This is the first of two volumes in which John Taylor examines in detail all aspects of life in Wolverton during those war years.

Buckinghamshire and the district contributed over one quarter of the total number of the County’s soldiers to the war effort. In addition, Wolverton’s importance as a railway and manufacturing centre placed additional demands on the community.

There was much discussion and argu-ment in the years preceding the announcement, and the concept changed from a new town between Wolverton and Bletchley, with a high population density, to a more wide-spread development over a huge area of 25,000 acres. The final decision incor-porated Wolverton and Bletchley into the boundaries of the new town, although it left out Newport Pagnell.
Milton Keynes, at the time a small village with a total population of 159, was to be the designated name of the new town. A total population for the new town was projected to be 250,000, a target which has now been achieved.

There was much discussion and argu-ment in the years preceding the announcement, and the concept changed from a new town between Wolverton and Bletchley, with a high population density, to a more wide-spread development over a huge area of 25,000 acres. The final decision incor-porated Wolverton and Bletchley into the boundaries of the new town, although it left out Newport Pagnell.
Milton Keynes, at the time a small village with a total population of 159, was to be the designated name of the new town. A total population for the new town was projected to be 250,000, a target which has now been achieved.
This second volume describes the establishment of thye Milton Keynes Development Corporation and the work of the town planners, among the leading practitioners in their field, who shaped the vision for the future city.
This takes the story to 1970.


While Wolverton survives today as a part of Milton Keynes, very few traces of the original town survive. Indeed there is very little evidence that the railway works, once stretching a mile westward from the station, once dominated the town and the area and at its peak provided employment for over 5,000. This book tells the story of the foundation and building of the new town in rural North Buckinghamshire and attempts to reconstruct the early settlement from surviving resources.

There are approximately 250 voices in these pages, each with their own personality, and this shines through these conversations as the contributors sharpen their wit and engage in friendly banter. Surely a most entertaining way to discover some of the history of Wolverton.


The Edwardian postcard craze really took off in Woburn Sands, thanks to its spa-like reputation for a healthy climate that you could enjoy on your holidays. Several local postcard publishers vied to get the most interesting pictures for sale, sometimes even on the same day as the event had happened. Some views are still easily recognisable today, while others have long since disappeared.
