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Welcome to Castlethorpe

Castlethorpe is a village with a population of around 1,100 set in rolling countryside seven miles north of Milton Keynes city centre and close to the boundary with Northamptonshire. It lies on the northern edge of the Tove River Valley, which is designated as being landscape of Special Character. 
The surrounding area is thought to have first been inhabited in the Iron Age but the village itself started out in life as a Norman castle belonging to the lord of the manor of nearby Hanslope which was destroyed in 1215 during the Barons' Revolt against King John. 

The parish church is dedicated to St Simon and St Jude, and dates back to Anglo-Saxon times, though the present church is of mainly Norman design.
There are a number of other listed buildings in the village, some dating back to the 15th Century, with fine examples of homes from the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st centuries as well. 
Click here to find more information about the village's history, including pictures and a video, and there's even more on the Milton Keynes Heritage Association website at www.mkheritage.org.uk/cv.

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MK City Council elections on 7 May

Milton Keynes City Council's local elections will take place on Thursday 7 May, and every single council seat will be contested under brand-new ward boundaries.
The changes follow an independent review and two public consultations by the Local Government Boundary Commission, the national body that draws boundaries for English elections. As population changes over time, the Commission routinely reviews an area's boundaries to ensure councillors represent about the same number of electors. Milton Keynes' boundaries were last reviewed and redrawn in 2014.
Last year, the Commission confirmed its final recommendations:
• The number of councillors will increase from 57 to 60
• Wards will increase from 19 to 21
• There will be 19 three-councillor wards, one two-councillor ward (New Bradwell), and one single-councillor ward (Hanslope, which includes Castlethorpe). 
The new boundaries can be viewed on the Commission's website at https://www.lgbce.org.uk/all-reviews/milton-keynes.
While some councils across the country have asked to delay their elections because they're becoming unitary authorities, this is not the case in Milton Keynes. Milton Keynes City Council is already a unitary authority, and elections will take place as planned.
Registering to vote is quick and easy. It takes just five minutes. You will need your National Insurance number. You can register online now at https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote and to vote in the May local elections you will need to register before 20 April.
Further information about the May 2026 election can be found at https://www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/your-council-and-elections/elections-and-register-vote/elections-7-may-2026.
Other important deadlines:
• If you are applying for a postal vote, you should do this before 5pm on Tuesday 21 April
• If you want someone else to vote on your behalf (called a proxy vote) you should apply before 5pm on Tuesday 28 April
• In accordance with national rules, you will need to bring accepted photographic identification to the polling station to vote in person. You can also apply for a free Voter ID known as a Voter Authority Certificate before 5pm on Tuesday 28 April.

Just one crime reported in village

There was just one crime reported in Castlethorpe in the period from 1 December to 5 January, according to the latest update from our PCSO Connor Braddish – an attempted theft from a vehicle.
However there were other Incidents in surrounding villages:
Emberton – Anglian Water had equipment stolen
Hardmead – Hare coursing
Stoke Goldington – Rogue traders
The next Rural East Community Forum will be held on Wednesday 25 February at 7 pm in the Olney Centre, Olney and everyone is welcome to attend.

Latest roadworks around MK

Milton Keynes City Council publishes updated details of the latest roadworks in Milton Keynes every week. Click here to see all the current Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs), Temporary Traffic Regulation Orders (TTROs) and Experimental Orders for closures of the highway in Milton Keynes. You can also see the details in a map on the Causeway One Network website at https://one.network/ - type Castlethorpe in the search bar for the local area.

Remembering our fallen heroes

The village held its annual Remembrance Sunday service in tribute to all our fallen heroes at the War Memorial on Sunday 9 November. The Beavers and Cubs paraded and did Castlethorpe proud laying the village wreath and a Scouts wreath. Our MP Chris Curtis laid a wreath, as did Councillor Alison Andrew and PCSO Matt Rickman. 


You can keep up to date by reading the latest news from Milton Keynes City Council, Thames Valley Police, other statutory bodies and local charities on our Public Notices page by clicking here. There's also a guide on the latest scams and how to avoid them.

Castlethorpe runner-up
as Best Kept Village

Castlethorpe was the runner-up in the 2025 Buckinghamshire Best Kept Village Competition, narrowly losing out to Mursley for the Morris Cup for villages with a population between 500 and 1,500.
The judges awarded us 187 points out of a possible 200 and praised the general look and feel of the village, especially the Sports Ground, play areas, the shop and the Village Hall, and were particularly impressed by all the individual floral displays dotted around the village, including those on the Triangle.
The competition was founded in 1957 as an initiative driven by Sir Francis Dashwood and the Local Councils Association. Its objective is to encourage entrants to work together as a community, involving all age groups, to make villages and towns more attractive places, not only for residents but also for visitors.

Great Fire commemorative flipbook

2025 marked the 120th anniversary of the most devastating day in the village’s history, the Great Fire of Castlethorpe, and the Parish Council has published a special commemorative flipbook with newspaper reports of the time about the devastation it caused, which you can read at https://castlethorpe-pc.gov.uk/greatfire/

On 4 August 1905 a spark from a passing train set light to cottages and barns in the centre of the village. The fire started at about 2:20pm; a village resident spotted flames in a barn opposite Back Street (now South Street). The stone cottages in the centre of the village had thatched roofs and with the prevailing high wind the fire soon took hold.

Although the fire started in Back Street it soon spread through the passage towards Front Street (North Street) destroying a total of 13 houses, Lacks Yard and Varneys Yard and making 36 people homeless who because of the speed and intensity of the fire saved very few of their possessions.

Because of the time of day there were few village men available to fight the fire as most were at work, either in the fields or at Wolverton Works. Stony Stratford fire brigade were the first to arrive on the scene. They could do little to save the 13 cottages that were well ablaze, but with the help of a 1,000ft hose and a local pond further disaster was averted. The estimated cost of the damage caused was £3,000, but the cost of rebuilding and repairing the damaged cottages today would be many millions of pounds.

Only two of the village's thatched houses which were untouched by the fire remain with thatched roofs today, The Inglenooks in South Street and Elm Tree Cottage in North Street.


Defibrillators

Castlethorpe has two defibrillators - one outside the Village Hall and the other on the Cricket Pavilion at the Sports Ground. Both are in code-locked cabinets which are registered with the emergency services and show up on their equipment maps. The defibrillators are fully automatic and will tell the user exactly what to do.

New PCSO for village

Castlethorpe has a new Police Community Support Officer. Connor Braddish (PCSO C9590) takes over from our previous PCSO Tilly Skippen. His contact details are: Email – connor.braddish@thamesvalley.police.uk
Mobile – 07800 703714

Speedwatch volunteers needed

Castlethorpe has a Community Speedwatch programme, which uses a speed gun operated by volunteers to cut down speeding in the village. We are looking for volunteers so if you'd like to help please email clerk@castlethorpe-pc.gov.uk or call 07707 836973. Full training will be given,

The village's weekly refuse collection day is normally Friday, even after Bank Holidays. The only change is over the Christmas and New Year period. The black (general waste) and green bins (garden waste and food) are collected every week and the red (cardboard and paper) and blue (plastic, metal and glass) bins on alternate weeks, as shown in the schedule above.
You can find out more information on what goes in each bin here. 
You can book slots at the household recycling centres here 
and complain if your bin goes missing here.

Live travel updates

Castlethorpe statistics

Population                   1,112 (2021 Census)
OS grid reference      SP795445
Latitude/longitude  52.093°N   0.840°W
Civil parish                   Castlethorpe
Unitary authority      Milton Keynes
Ceremonial county   Buckinghamshire
Region                            South East
Post town                     Milton Keynes 
Postcode district      MK19
Dialling code                01908
Police                              Thames Valley
Fire                                  Buckinghamshire
Ambulance                   South Central
UK Parliament            Milton Keynes North