Heighington and Milton Abbas (the North and the South West)
Theme: Village layout.
Heighington
The village of
Heighington stands on a hill overlooking the Vale of York. The village boasts a number of interesting features including an almost complete natural historical outer ring road providing easy access to the surrounding fields. The central village green provided overnight security for cattle before they were let out into the fields again the following morning, and the cottages sat between the green and the ring road. The village would have been eminently defensible, with its steep approach roads and narrow entrances. The church has a watchtower which is one of only three in the area. The watchtower allows views to the south and north so that the village could be pre-warned of any trouble brewing in the local areas.
Milton Abbas
Created in 1780, the current village of
Milton Abbas has a history which has led some to consider it to be the first planned town or village in England. When Lord Milton (later to become earl of Dorchester) built his new mansion in 1771 beside Milton Abbey, he found that the local town of Middleton was obscuring his view (and the sounds and smells were offending his sensibilities). Lord Milton’s solution was to demolish the town, rebuild it on the other side of the hill, and give it a new name: Milton Abbas. Once the town had been removed, a lake was created on the site. All but one of the townsfolk moved to the new village and when the last resident refused to leave, the sluice gates were opened anyway to create the lake.
Designed by Sir William Chambers, the new village was composed of a street of thatched cottages with large lawns at the front and horse chestnut trees in between (these were removed in 1953). Today the cottages retain their original charm and character and the street looks much as Chambers intended.
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