Fenny Stratford - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

FENNY STRATFORD, a market town in the Buckingham Parliamentary division of Buckinghamshire, England, 48 m.

N.W. by N. of London on a branch of the London & NorthWestern railway. Pop. of urban district (1901), 4799. It lies in an open valley on the west (left) bank of the Ouzel, where the great north-western road from London, the Roman Watling Street, crosses the stream, and is r m. E. of Bletchley, an important junction on the main line of the North-Western railway. The church of St Martin was built (c. 1730) on the site of an older church at the instance of Dr Browne Willis, an eminent antiquary (d. 1760), buried here; but the building has been greatly enlarged. A custom instituted by Willis on St Martin's Day (November 11th) includes a service in the church, the firing of some small cannon called the "Fenny Poppers," and other celebrations. The trade of the town is mainly agricultural.