Willen Tales

Willen in the 60s: the coming of Milton Keynes

 Back to the arrival of the monks
It is the late 1960's and Willen is about to undergo the biggest change of its long history. After years of isolation Willen will become an 'oasis village' in the brand new city of MiltonKeynes.
"When we heard this new city was coming, we didn't like it very much. In fact, I helped form an organisation to fight it - a short lived venture - talk about David and Goliath! We were lucky in the sense that it was a long time before the development actually came here but then it did and there were pile drivers across the road putting in foundations."

Don Beamish
"They were going to put that road that comes at the back of the village much closer. The mound to put the road on was right behind the houses at the bottom of the village. I got a video tape to do a program about how Willen would feel and everyone joined in and it did change plans and the road was moved further back."

Roger Else
"We came home from school one day and Cotton Valley Farm was on fire - they were burning it out. Then at the weekend these big yellow earthmovers arrived.

For some reason, all the lorries carrying construction stuff to Bletchley from the M1 started coming through Willen.

It was just so awful. There would be huge transporters coming up Milton Road. We were really glad when they closed the road in early 1970 for the lake construction."

Frances
The return of tranquillity to Milton Road. The earth mound in early 1970 which turned the road into a cul de sac.