Britain’s most famous New Town has marked its 50th anniversary with a programme of events to celebrate a place that was first mentioned in the Domesday Book and is now home to almost 270,000 people.
January 23rd 1967 saw the start of a process to create a new town on 8,850ha of farmland and undeveloped villages that is roughly equidistant from London, Birmingham, Leicester, Oxford and Cambridge.
Around 40% of Milton Keynes is open space, with residents never more than half a mile from parkland. With 15 lakes and 11 miles of canals, the city has more bridges than Venice and more shoreline than the island of Jersey. There are more than 22 million trees and shrubs and more than 180 miles of dedicated bridleways, footpaths and cycle tracks.
The 50th anniversary will also see the town announce that it will bid in the European Capital of Culture 2023 competition. A year-long programme of activities starts with an exhibition telling the story of the city’s transformation from farmland to bustling metropolis over the past 50 years. Other events include a programme of new art, performances, family activities and talks inspired by the original plans for MK, a series of parties held at Midsummer and an interactive app-based trail celebrating the town’s iconic places such as Bancroft Villa to Elizabeth Frink’s Black Horse sculpture.
Visit the MK50 website
