Available onlineEighteenth Century
(page 5 of 8)| Image : | Walton Hall - mid eighteenth century |
| Date: | 1989 |
| Image : | Walton Hall and Cedar Tree, c.1990 |
| Date: | 1990 |
| Image : | St Michael's Church Tenor Bell, 1709 |
| Date: | 2021 |
The Walton estate during the Eighteenth Century
Walton Hall
During the early to mid-eighteenth century further alterations were made to Walton Hall by the Pinfold family. These were probably begun by Sir Thomas Pinfold (1638-1701) after he purchased the Hall in 1698 and continued by his son Charles (1677-1754) and grandson Charles (1709-1788). According to an article written by OU Assistant Surveyor David Ball in 'Open House' magazine in 1989, “The middle bay of the timber framed house was demolished. A two-storey brick building with a tiled pitched roof was built in its place which extended over one single storey room. The extension had a balanced south facing façade with vernacular sub-medieval windows each side of the entrance door.” The Hall was built roughly on a north-south axis, with the entrance drive approaching the front door from the east. Part of this brick-built structure remains today as the back premises of Walton Hall. The first image on this page is a drawing of the Hall as it may have looked around the middle of the eighteenth century.
Cedar Trees
From the 1740s onwards cedar trees were planted in the grounds of nearly every stately home and mansion in the UK. Several cedar trees were planted on the Walton Hall estate around this time including one next to Walton Hall. This magnificent tree, along with two others on the estate, were to live for at least 250 years. The tree planted closest to Walton Hall features on several photographs of the house until the early twenty first century when it eventually died due to an infestation by the Small Cedar Aphid. The photograph on this page was taken c.1990.
Following the death of the cedar tree The Open University decided to have it preserved as a sculpture. It is titled 'Contemplation' and was created by wood carver Tom Harvey in 2010. The last surviving cedar tree on the Walton Hall estate was located just to the north of St Michael's Church and was blown over in strong winds on 14 January 2014.
Walton
In 1760 clergyman and noted antiquary William Cole (1714-1782), who served as the rector for Bletchley for 14 years, described Walton as “a most dirty, detestable village” but also recorded that the pastures were remarkable for the goodness of their produce.
The eighteenth century was a significant time for agricultural communities across Britain. Great areas of common land were enclosed. Where there were once large, communal open fields, land was now hedged and fenced off, and old boundaries disappeared.
In 1799 over one thousand acres within the parish of Walton were enclosed by Act of Parliament. These enclosures resulted in a decrease in the farming of wheat at Walton, and large areas were given over to the cultivation of walnut trees, the wood of which was largely grown for the production of furniture and gun stocks. The sixteenth century farm situated close to Walton Manor was renamed Walnut Tree Farm as a result of this change in farming. A large walnut tree still grows in the churchyard of St Michael's Church close to the gate on the north side of the building. The area of Walnut Tree in Milton Keynes is located adjacent to Walton Hall and is named after Walnut Tree Farm which still exists as a private dwelling today.
St Michael’s Church
A new tenor bell was cast and hung in St Michael's Church in 1709. It was inscribed ‘Chandler made me 1709’ and was made by brothers Richard and George Chandler. The Chandler family operated a bell foundry at nearby Drayton Parslow from 1635 to 1726.
The tenor bell was finally removed from the bell tower during the church’s restoration by The Open University in the 1970s and now resides on the floor of the chancel. A photograph of the bell, taken in 2021, can be viewed on this page.
