Long Marston, Warwickshire

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Long Marston is a planned new town under development, formerly village, and civil parish about Script error: No such module "convert". southwest of Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, England. The southern and western boundaries of the parish form part of the county boundary with Worcestershire. Historically, the town was in Gloucestershire. The 2021 census recorded the parish's population as 1,630.[1]

Talk of expanding Long Marston dates back to May 2007, when Gordon Brown announced that it was one potential site for an eco-town, which would have seen it be renamed Middle Quinton.[2][3][4] Though the Middle Quinton plan was ultimately scrapped in 2010, in a January 2017 announcement the idea was revived when Long Marston was targeted for expansion by the government a second time. This time, it was classified as a garden village and has held the title since, a designation for new towns drawing inspiration from Ebenezer Howard's garden city movement. The garden villages have been described as intended to be "modern market towns with a focus on mixed use".[5][6][7][8][9]

The first residents moved into Fernleigh Park, Long Marston's first newbuild housing development as part of the garden village project, in early 2022. In 2025, Long Marston was also labelled one of several "potential New Settlement" locations by Warwickshire County Council, which would see even more homes built if approved.[10][11][12]

History

Long Marston was part of Gloucestershire until 1931, when the Provisional Order Confirmation (Gloucestershire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire) Act moved Marston Sicca Rural District into Warwickshire.[13] The civil parish was also renamed from Marston Sicca to Long Marston in 1931.[14] It is recorded in the Domesday Book "In Celfledetorn Hundred, St Mary's Priory and Cathedral in Merestone, holds 10 hides. In lordship 3 ploughs; 15 villagers and 3 smallholders with 12 ploughs. 6 slaves; meadow at 10s. The value was £8; now 100s.[15][16] The name of the hundred, Celfledethon means Ceolflaed's thorn, perhaps indicating that the original meeting place in the centre of the hundred was a thorn tree.[17]

Long Marston is known as one of the "Shakespeare villages". William Shakespeare is said to have joined a party of Stratford folk which set itself to outdrink a drinking club at Bidford-on-Avon, and as a result of his labours in that regard to have fallen asleep under the crab tree of which a descendant is still called Shakespeare's tree. When morning dawned his friends wished to renew the encounter but he wisely said "No I have drunk with Piping Pebworth, Dancing Marston, Haunted Hillboro', Hungry Grafton, Dodging Exhall, Papist Wixford, Beggarly Broom and Drunken Bidford' and so, presumably, I will drink no more." The story is said to date from the 17th century but of its truth or of any connection of the story or the verse to Shakespeare there is no evidence.[18]

On 10 September 1651 Charles II stayed in Long Marston at the house of a kinsman of Jane Lane called Tomes, on his way from Bentley Hall to Abbots Leigh during his escape following the defeat of the army at the Battle of Worcester. He was traveling incognito as a servant to Jane Lane, sister-in-law of George Norton, the owner of the house at Abbots Leigh to which they were bound.[19] In keeping with his outward guise as a servant, the cook of the house put him to work in the kitchen winding the jack used to roast meat in the fireplace. Charles was clumsy at this but explained his clumsiness by saying that as the son of poor people, he so rarely ate meat that he did not know how to use a roasting jack. Given the state of the economy at the time, his story was accepted and he was not identified.[20][21]

Parish church

The Church of England parish church of Saint James the Great[22] has a 14th-century Decorated Gothic nave and chancel, but was rebuilt in the 19th century.[23] The pulpit is Jacobean.[23] The church is a Grade I listed building.[24] Its parish is part of the Benefice of Quinton, Welford-on-Avon, Weston-on-Avon and Marston Sicca.[25]

Railway

In 1859 the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway opened a branch line from Template:Rws to Template:Rws. Long Marston railway station opened at the same time as one of the stops on the line. In 1966 British Railways withdrew passenger services between Honeybourne and Stratford, closed Long Marston station and removed the track between Long Marston and Stratford. The line between Honeybourne and Long Marston remains open for non-passenger trains to and from the former MoD depot.

Long Marston Military Railway (LMMR) was a project at the MoD depot to keep alive military railway skills. A "Military Railfest" was planned for 6–10 May 2015 which was expected to include about 20 former army locomotives. Barclay 0-4-0 DM Mulberry[26] was already at Long Marston railway station and was to be joined by USATC S160 Class 2-8-0 number 3278 on 22 April 2014. The project had been using the shed vacated by the Stratford on Avon and Broadway Railway.[27] In March 2015, it was reported that the project had collapsed and that the majority of the site would be redeveloped for housing, with sidings retained for the storage of London Underground District line stock for Vivarail's conversion into British Rail Class 230 multiple units.[28]

The Shakespeare Line Promotion Group is promoting a scheme to reopen the Script error: No such module "convert". of line south of Stratford upon Avon to Template:Rws where it would link to the Cotswold Line. Called the "Avon Rail Link", the scheme (supported as a freight diversionary route by DB Schenker[29]) would make Stratford-upon-Avon station a through station once again with improved connections to the South, and would open up the possibility of direct services to Template:Rws and Worcester via Template:Rws.[30] The scheme faces local opposition.[31] There is, however, a good business case for Stratford-Cotswolds link.[32]

Airfield

Long Marston Airfield is north-east of the village. It was built in 1940 as RAF Long Marston and decommissioned as a military airfield in 1958.[33] Since 1987 the airfield has been the venue of the Bulldog Bash, considered to be one of Europe's most popular annual motorcycle festivals. Since 2001 the airfield has also been the venue of the annual Global Gathering club music festival.

Former military depot

Long Marston depot is a former Ministry of Defence facility south-east of the village. Since the privatisation of British Rail in the mid-1990s, rolling stock companies (ROSCOs) have used the depot to store out-of-lease rolling stock. In about 2009 the depot's owners, St. Modwen Properties, along with The Bird Group of Companies, proposed to redevelop the site as Middle Quinton eco-town. In 2021, it was announced that Porterbrook had leased the site for rail rolling stock storage.[34]

Amenities

Long Marston has a public house, the Mason's Arms,[35] and a community shop called the "Poppin". When developed, it's anticipated that the garden village will include a town centre in its own right including a community hall, medical centre and schools.[36]

See also

References

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  13. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  14. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  15. ↑ Domesday Book for Gloucestershire, Phillimore edited by John Morris Template:ISBN
  16. ↑ http://www.1066.co.nz/Mosaic%20DVD/library/domesday/Folio_166_Gloucestershire.html Template:Bare URL inline
  17. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  18. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  20. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  21. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  22. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  24. ↑ Template:NHLE
  25. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  26. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  27. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  28. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  29. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  30. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  31. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  32. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  33. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  34. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  35. ↑ The Masons Arms
  36. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

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