The parish of Emberton was formed from three villages that were annexed together for ecclesiastical purposes in 1650: Petsoe, Ekeney and Emberton. Today nothing remains of Ekeney and Petsoe only exists as a hamlet called Petsoe End.[3]
The village name is an Old English word and means Eanbeorht's Farm. In the Domesday Book of 1086 the village was called Ambretone;[4] in manorial records of 1227 it was Emberdestone, and by the fourteenth century it was Embirtone.[4]
In the twelfth century, the manor was owned by the Paynel (sic) family of Newport Pagnell.[4] The parish church is dedicated to All Saints.[5]
Although there are no shops in the village, there is a village pub called the Bell and Bear on the site of the old Bell Inn. The former Bear Inn was previously situated near Petsoe where the A509 now runs.[6]
Clock tower
At the heart of the village is a clock tower, which was restored in 1972[7] and then renovated with the help of a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. This poem is engraved on a panel below the clock:
Time's on the wing, how swift he speeds his way,
Hastening to sink in one continuous day,
Pause passing traveller, "what thy destiny?"
When death unveils a vast eternity
Live then to Christ, in Christ eternal gain
No Christ, No Hope, but everlasting pain.
Nearby geographic features
Hollington Wood, a small patch of ancient woodland, lies about a mile south-east of Emberton.
Emberton Country Park is a 200-acre (81 ha; 0.81 km2) Country park on the river Great Ouse. The original gravel works site where the modern park is located was transformed by Milton Keynes City Council in 1965 into a country park[10] and is the only one in the Milton Keynes UA to be designated as such, and one of five in Buckinghamshire.[a]
There are five lakes and a (touring) caravan park within the park area.
