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MILESTONES
- 1194.
Richard I granted Stony Stratford the
right to hold a market.
- 1215.
King John stayed in the town with his
retinue, issuing letters, patents and
writs.
- 1290.
Edward I stayed in Stony Stratford with
Queen Eleanor's funeral cortege, and
erected the Eleanor Cross.
- 1380.
Richard II stayed in Stony Stratford.
- 1409.
Henry IV held court in the town.
- 1464.
Edward IV courted his future bride from
the town.
- 1483.
the uncrowned Edward V - one of the Two
Princes - was abducted from the Rose and
Crown - as mentioned in Shakespeare's
Richard III.
- 1516.
Margaret of Scotland stayed in Stony
Stratford.
- Henry VIII visited
several times; 1525, 1531,
1540.
- Theophilus Eaton,
member of a puritan family prominent in
founding the colonies of Massachusetts
and Connecticut (and himself the first
Governor of New Haven) was born in Stony
Stratford in 1590.
- 1600;
The Horseshoe (or Lyon and Horseshoe) Inn
mentioned in 'Sir John Oldcastle', a play
attributed to Shakespeare.
- Charles I visited the
town during the Civil War.
- May 1644;
the region's last major Civil War
skirmish was fought in the town.
- Charles II
occasionally visited Stony Stratford en
route to his hunting lodge in Puxley.
- Benjamin Holloway,
prominent Anglican divine and noted
scientist, was born in Stony Stratford in
1691.
- Stony Stratford
develops its own lace pattern, called
Butterfly.
- Samuel Johnson, author
of the first dictionary, stayed at The
Cock Hotel.
- John Wesley visited
Stony Stratford three times, recorded as
preaching beneath the elm tree in Market
Square on 30 July 1777.
He said of the town "Stony by
nature, Stony by name".
- Mid 18thC -
Mid 19thC - The Coaching Era;
coining the phrase 'Cock and Bull story'
and the nursery rhyme 'Ride a Cock horse
to Banbury Cross'.
- June 1792;
the meeting to launch the Grand Junction
Canal was held in The Bull Hotel.
- Market Square painted
by the artist Hassel in 1812.
- The 19thC authoress
George Eliot was related to the Parrots
of Tower House, Stony Stratford. The town
features in Adam Bede.
- Mid 1800s.
Hayes Boatyard, London Road, began
producing ocean-going vessels.
- Stony
Stratford dance teacher Joseph Hambling,
who had a school in Church Street, was
the model for Charles Dickens's Mr
Turveydrop in Bleak House. Dickens stayed
in the town on several occasions.
- 1882;
the bell 'Great Paul' was hauled through
Stony Stratford on its way to St Paul's
Cathedral in London.
- The world's
largest trams (each holding 100 people)
began operating between Stony Stratford
and Wolverton.
- General
Booth, founder of the Salvation Army,
visited Stony Stratford in one of the
first motor cars in the country.
- Charles de
Gaulle stayed at Pitmans House during
World War II.
- Queen
Elizabeth II visited Stony Stratford in 1966.
- John Habgood,
present Archbishop of York, was born at
Wolverton House, in 1927,
and subsequently moved to Calverton
House.
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=======History