Loughton

As a teenager in the 1950s I got a Saturday job working at the Talbot Inn washing dishes and stacking shelves. In those days there was still no M1 and coach travellers used the Talbot regularly as a refreshment stop. Trade was good, particularly on Saturday and I imagine that Loughton was a favourite stop as parking was much easier than in, say, Fenny or Stony Stratford. The landlord was Cliff Benmore, a muscular man who used to tell me he was glad he had his health and strength and that this was the most important thing in life. At my tender age I could scarcely relate to that.

Loughton was still a very small village in the 1950s, much like others in the area, with the exception that the A5 ran along the edge of the village and probably brought most, if not all its business. There were four pubs along the A5 - The Fountain, The Plough, The Talbot and The Bell, together with a few village shops. I think the Post Office in Shenley Church End served both communities. The old 17th/18th century part of the village was about half a mile to the north around a triangular green bounded by Leys road, Pitcher Lane and the Bradwell Road. Here there was a Church, Primary School and Manor House. The population was probably around the 400 mark.

The Talbot Inn was strategically the best placed, being at the crossroads of the Shenley-Bradwell Road and the London Road in a dip, and therefore a good place to stop. The London Road is still there but is now a quiet residential street, although early 20th century photographs don't show a great deal of traffic. The Talbot was probably built in the 17th century and enlarged in the 18th century to it present size when the coaching trade was at its peak. The arrival of the railways seriously hit the coaching trade and the 19th century censuses do not betray a great deal of activity. In the mid 19th century it was run by William Hines, who saw himself as a farmer first and innkeeper second. It was the motor car which revived the fortunes of the Talbot and the stables were converted to garages and they even sold petrol. As I mentioned earlier it was a busy place until the M1 began to drain away business.

Further up the hill is an old tavern called The Fountain. It was a "spit and sawdust" local until it was acquired in the 1930s by a character called Captain Frederick Maxwell McCormac, who upgraded both the pub and its clientele and proudly proclaimed it on his sign as "The Inn which is Different". There were some fields associated with The Fountain and I have heard that some of his friends used to fly in.

On the hill to the north was another pub called The Bell. This pub was still functioning after the war but it has now disappeared.

On the Shenley side of the London Road, between The Talbot and The Fountain stood The Plough. This is now a private residence.

There was a pub called The Wheatsheaf in Loughton in the 19th century. I don't know where this was located.

The rest was farmland, divided between four farms: Manor Farm, Lodge Farm, Rectory Farm and Old Farm. The 1851 Census shows a complete farming community, with a few farmers, a vicar and a land agent, and the supporting trades: butcher, baker, carpenter, blacksmith, tailor, shoemaker. The bulk of the population is made up of agricultural labourers and shepherds and a significant number of paupers - illustrating as much as anything the decline in agriculture in the 19th century.

Loughton is now a residential development close to Central Milton Keynes. The old Common Lane, which once would have taken you to Bradwell Common and Seckloe mound now comes to an abrupt halt after a few yards at the new A5.