Industrial Past - Wolverton Railway Works Documentary

A brief historical overview of the great railway works of Wolverton, Milton Keynes
Created December, 2011
Video by M. Cunliffe
Historical Expertise and Narration Provided by Roger Kitchen
Wolverton Railway Works Photographs Courtesy of The Living Archive
Includes clips from two public domain films
This video uses the following sounds from Freesound.org:
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[@aquilarossa5191]

Thanks for making this film. I used to explore around there as an early 1980s kid. Obsessed with trains and then car ferries. I could see the works and the railway viaduct from my bedroom window. A cardboard council house on Bradville Estate that was really cold during winter (we had to put 50p in the gas meter to get hot water). I could also see a spot with dozens of tall radio masts just to the north east of Wolverton. Some kind of military installation. I have been in NZ for yonks now and still wonder what that place was. The masts seem to be gone. Hanslope Park might be what it was. That's still a secret government location and is blurred out on Google street view. We thought it would get nuked if the big war kicked off, so did not fancy our chances (it's all we talked about for a few days after The Day After was on TV). P.S. I see my old school Stantonbury Campus is now on the problem schools list and has been privatized. That's sad. It was such a great school back in the early days. With MK being the government's pet project, they spared no expense on the school. It had everything a school could possibly need and then some. I guess they were trying to teach the London Overflow kids how to be all proper and all that. They must have given up.

[@ededdynova]

great video thanks for making it

[@suebradford890]

This is a fascinating film. I lived in the town between 1955 and 1962, my dad owned the hardware shop on The Square, Radcliffe street. Watching the section about the Secret Garden I now realise (I've looked on a map exactly where it is) I visited one of the Victorian houses there as my mum was friendly with a couple who lived in one of them. Their name was Waldren and the husband was a keen photographer. Does anyone remember this couple?

[@stevenking8138]

Agree with the comment the railway houses were opposite side of the works wall , purposely built for the employee, I also believe some of the house can be attributed to the printing company ( Mccorkindales? ) that was on the oppersite side of the works for many years. Moved there to Wolverton to live in a previous railway housewith my parents back in 1965, council house by then . Tesco is actually built on the workshop where I did some of my apprenticeship, and worked in when qualified. TBH I believe a lot more effort could of/ should of been made in some sort of preservation and sympathetic respect to the Wolverton workers, and town occupier’s.

[@montylynds2787]

One inaccuracy here. The railway houses were not on the ground where Tesco’s now stands. They were the opposite side of theStratford road covering the area stretching from Aldi to the Gables tower block.

[@andyb1332]

Not quite because prior to the housing which existed in the area you menton were the earlier and original streets (Gas Street, Bury Street, Walker Street, Garnett Street and Cooke Street) and the first gas works which were built on the northern side of Stratford Road where Tesco's car park is now situated. Despite being relatively new, all these buildings were demolished during the mid-1850s to facilitate a huge expansion of the works. The "Little Streets" on the southern side of Stratford Road (Ledsam Street, Creed Street, Glyn Square, and Young Street) were the second housing development. A great and fascinating read is "The Lost Streets of Wolverton" by Bryan Dunleavy (ISBN 978-1-4452-6118-8).

[@johnbarnett361]

I think that the very first railway houses eg Gas Street were to the north of Stratford Road but they were soon demolished and replaced by the " Little streets " In fact you can see the remnants of Gas Street in the form of a wall with brick outlines of window frames forming the boundary of Tesco car park

[@jagracershoestring609]

Are you sure the works built French Chapelon engines at Wolverton?

[@leey7h]

where did all that lot come from in the name of progress, doesnt look like the same place from 1980.