Lost Sign Of The Times (6 May 1977)

I had not been long in this district when the only optician, Mr Leopold Durran, chided me about calling Fenny Stratford “Bletchley.”  Standing outside his premises on a corner of what are still universally known as the Fenny Stratford crossroads, he went on to delineate the local ecclesiastical and civil boundaries, including the fact that the Rose and Crown on the opposite corner was in Simpson.  He spoke of Bletchley as being just a little village on the outskirts of Fenny, which happened to have had its name given to the urban district – much as we speak today of Milton Keynes village in relation to the new city.

At that time (1946) I could not see what the fuss was about, although I found that most other Fenny worthies held the same view.  To me the whole set-up seemed crazy, though it did have a kind of oldsy worldsy charm.  Bletchley station was in Fenny and Fenny station was in Simpson, right opposite the Bletchley police station, which was likewise in Simpson.

People spoke of Bletchley, Old Bletchley and Far Bletchley.  They also spoke of the Freeman Methodist Church as the place where the preacher stood in one parish and the congregation sat in the other.  And North Street, Western Road and South Terrace were all fairly close together on the same side of Bletchley Road.

Clearly, any stranger coming to the district would have to watch out.  I don’t know that Mr Durran improved my eyesight, but he did much for my foresight.

Here a little bit of history will be appropriate.  For some hundreds of years Fenny had rightly considered itself to be a town rather than a village.  From about 1860 the development around the railway added to its importance.  So when urban districts were set up in 1895 Fenny invited Bletchley and Simpson to join it in forming one.  Bletchley declined, but Simpson accepted, and the first council for this particular district was the Fenny Stratford Urban District Council.  Three years later Bletchley changed its mind and also joined, but the name was not changed.  The Water Eaton civil parish wasn’t even invited.

From then until 1911 almost everything in the place – the Co-operative Society, the bowls club, etc – began either with the words “The Fenny Stratford . . .” or “The Fenny Stratford and Bletchley , , , “

Naturally, Fenny also had the biggest voice on the urban council.  Water Eaton did not join until the 1930s, but even in 1946 the Fenny Stratford Ward still had six of the 12 councillors, the other six seats being shared between “Old Bletchley” Ward, Simpson Ward and Water Eaton Ward.

But the writing had been put on the wall back in 1911 when the council decided to change its name from Fenny Stratford to Bletchley. The main reason for that change came out at a meeting of the council in 1950 which I attended.

At that time, the road signs on the A5 announced “Fenny Stratford and Bletchley.”  A majority of the council felt it was time this was altered and a council officer was instructed to find the likely view of the county council on this and related matters.

The county clerk replied that the officer had informed him that the district council were “very anxious to have the name of Fenny Stratford omitted from future designations as the whole of the area is now Bletchley , , ,”  His letter continued:

“I understand from the county surveyor that the Ministry of Transport are definitely opposed to the elimination of the name ‘Fenny Stratford’ from signposts on the trunk road, and I think the county council also would be averse to any steps being taken which would result in the disappearance of the old place-name of Fenny Stratford.”

Suggesting that Bletchley council were confusing the question of the name of their administrative area with the different question of named places, he wrote:  “Whereas the name of a county district can be change by administrative action, the name of a place or locality surely depends solely on popular usage over the years and cannot be altered at the wish of the local authority or government department . . .”

However, the matter would be put before the highways committee.

On hearing this, one Bletchley councillor wondered whether the writer knew that the council had changed from Fenny Stratford to Bletchley nearly 40 years previously or that practically all local traders now advertised themselves as being “of Bletchley.”

But the council’s “Father,” Harry Dimmock, said he was in complete sympathy with the letter.  The reason why the council had changed its name in 1911 was that at that time most people came to the town via Bletchley station.

“There is no question that if the change of name had been left another 15 or 20 years it would never have taken place at all,” he declared.

And now Fenny’s vicar, Canon Wright, formerly of Stony Stratford, has to complain that Fenny has been omitted altogether from the latest sign.  Certainly his church, which commands the city’s south gate, is not Bletchley church, as might be expected from the road sign.

Dimmock, thou(gh) shouldst be living at this hour!