Heritage Open Day 2025 highlights risk to Great Linford Manor Park Almshouses

Volunteers from The Friends of Great Linford Manor Park were out in force at the 2025 Heritage Open Day on September 20th, offering history walks, a talk in St. Andrew’s Church, fun activities for children and an important message concerning the deterioration of the beloved Almshouses in the park.

Save the Almshouses

A display set up in front of the Almshouses drew a steady stream of visitors concerned to hear that the Almshouses, as well as the Great Barn, Pavilions and Radcliffe Building, are facing an uncertain future. We had some great conversations with members of the public, handed out leaflets and gained new members, with our focus being the need for emergency funding to stabilise the deteriorating fabric of the Almshouses.

Our display highlighting our concerns for the future of the estate buildings.

As part of our outreach, we produced a leaflet which provided visitors with a short summary of the situation and encouraged them to join the Friends group. The leaflet explains that the estate buildings need a sustainable plan for their future use, and that delays in securing and allocating funding for emergency repairs put the Almhouses at risk.

Leaflet given out at the 2025 Heritage Open Day.

Pictures of the Almshouses

The following selection of photographs demonstrates the fragile state of the Almshouses, both internally and externally.

Supports holding up an Almshouse roof.

Signs of damp.

Facia board rotting and tiles covered with vegetation.

Rear of almshouses showing damage to roof.

Rear of almshouses showing damage to roof.

A recently collapsed garden wall.

Heritage Open Day activities

Alongside raising public awareness about the estate buildings, the Friends ran several events and activities throughout the afternoon.

Walk for Bucks Vision

A well-received history walk was provided under the auspices of Bucks Vision, a charity whose "mission is to make a positive difference to the lives of blind and partially sighted people in Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes." We provided our regular walk with the addition of descriptive and tactile aspects for the participants.

Bucks Vision walk participants in front of the Old Rectory, whose owners kindly allowed access to their gardens for the Heritage Open Day.

In total, we conducted four history walks on the day, three of which were led by guides in historic costume.

Our village school teacher, Andrew White, leads a history walk.

From our marquee, kindly provided by The Parks Trust, we offered quill writing, Georgian costume colouring sheets, and a selection of reproduction historic photographs and documents about the village.

Visitors examine local history documents.

Our costumed volunteers were on hand throughout the day, including our school-master, and lord and lady of the manor.

Our village school-master.

Alongside our costumed characters, we also deployed our newly arrived tabards featuring the Friends of Great Linford Manor Park logo on front and back, continuing our mission to make the Friends a highly recognisable presence in the park and wider community.

John Gosling delivered a talk, A brief history of Great Linford, one of a number of talks offered throughout the day, both in St. Andrew's Church and in the talks tent in the manor grounds.

John Gosling delivers his talk, A brief history of Great Linford.

Other partners in the park

The day could not have been the success it was without the involvement of a great many other stakeholders, participants and partners, first and foremost The Parks Trust, who organised, managed and promoted the day to their usual high standard. The turnout, despite the threat of rain (which eventually arrived toward the end of the afternoon), was considerable, and people appeared to have been well satisfied by the wide variety of attractions on offer.

The following is a far from comprehensive list of the many other things to see and do during the afternoon.

Over in the talk tent, Doug Stuckey of Bucks Archaeological Society delivered a presentation on the HaHa excavated in the park, and David Wolfson spoke on the subject of MK Canals: Fenny to Wolverton.

Special thanks to St. Andrew's Church, for once again providing a wonderful space to share the history of the park, as well as a copious supply of tea, coffee and cake to visitors, the proceeds of which go to good causes.

Lace makers Wendy and Ros were on hand throughout the afternoon to show people this fascinating craft, and to demonstrate how important it once was to the economy of the village, while the team from Electra Community Boat provided a canal history display and invited members of the public to share their own memories and memorabilia.

In the park, Deborah Jones ran popular demonstrations in the art of willow weaving, and it was lovely to welcome back Milton Keynes Arts Centre, much missed after their departure earlier in the year from The Great Barn. They provided an activity, making nature prints from leaves.

​Finally, but certainly not least, an enormous thank-you to the volunteer members of The Friends of Great Linford Manor Park, who always put such effort and enthusiasm into promoting the park. The friends will be continuing their efforts to find a solution to preserve the estate buildings for future generations, and if you would like to add your voice to the debate, please do consider joining for free. You can read more about the Friends of Great Linford Manor park here, and join online.

The Friends Annual General Meeting will be held on Thursday, October 23rd.  There is a change of venue this year, to the Marsh Drive Community Centre, MK14 5HH. What3word reference: undulation.triangles.shampoos. Please arrive for 6.45pm to get seated and help yourself to tea, coffee and biscuits before a prompt start at 7pm.