{{short description|Civil parish in the City of Milton Keynes, England}} {{Other uses}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} {{Use British English|date=June 2025}} {{More citations needed|date=August 2010}} {{Infobox UK place |country = England |coordinates = {{coord|52.1122|-0.7608|display=inline,title}} |population= 127 |population_ref= (2021 census)<ref name="Census 2021">{{cite web |title=PP012 - Age |url=https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/datasets/c2021pp012 |website=NOMIS (Office for National Statisitcs}}, then select Milton Keynes, then this parish </ref> |official_name= Gayhurst |civil_parish=Gayhurst |unitary_england= Milton Keynes City Council | shire_district = City of Milton Keynes |lieutenancy_england=Buckinghamshire |region= South East England |constituency_westminster= Milton Keynes North |post_town= NEWPORT PAGNELL |postcode_district = MK16 |postcode_area= MK |dial_code= 01908 |os_grid_reference= SP849466 | mapframe = yes | mapframe-zoom = 12 | mapframe-point = on }}

'''Gayhurst''' is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority area of the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England.<ref name=BMK-parishes>{{cite web |url=https://www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/your-council-and-elections/councillors-and-committees/parish-and-town-councils/contact-your-parish-or-town-council | title = Contact your Parish, Town or Community Council | publisher = Milton Keynes Council | access-date= 10 October 2020}}</ref> It is about {{convert|2.5|mi}} NNW of Newport Pagnell, and {{convert|5|mi}} north of Central Milton Keynes.

The village name is an Old English language word meaning 'wooded hill where goats are kept'.<ref>{{cite web |title=Key to English place names |url=http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Buckinghamshire/Gayhurst |publisher=Institute for Name-Studies, University of Nottingham |access-date=24 November 2022}}</ref> In the Domesday Book in 1086 it was recorded as ''Gateherst''; later names include Goathurst.<ref name=VCH /> At that time the manor was owned by Bishop Odo of Bayeux.<ref name=VCH>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/bucks/vol4/pp343-347 |series = Victoria History of the Counties of England |publisher= Constable & Co. Ltd. |title= A History of the County of Buckingham |chapter = Parishes : Gayhurst |volume = 4 |pages=343{{ndash}}347 |editor= William Paige | date=1927}}</ref>

==History== In 1582, Queen Elizabeth I made a grant of Gayhurst Manor "in the event of its reversion to the Crown" to Sir Francis Drake,<ref name=VCH /> but there is no record that he ever received it. The house once belonged to Sir Everard Digby (1578–1606),<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Digby, Sir Everard | volume= 8 |last= Yorke | first= Philip Chesney |author-link= | pages = 260&ndash;261 |short= 1}}</ref> one of the conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.<ref name=VCH /> His son, Sir Kenelm Digby (1603–1665), was an English courtier, diplomat, natural philosopher and astrologer.<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Digby, Sir Kenelm | volume= 8 |last= Yorke | first= Philip Chesney |author-link= | pages = 261&ndash;262 |short= 1}}</ref> He was born at Gayhurst.

Gayhurst had an outstation from the Bletchley Park codebreaking establishment, where one of the Bombes used to decode German Enigma messages in World War Two were housed.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=344934&resourceID=19191 |title=Historic England Research Records {{!}} Gayhurst House |publisher=Historic Gateway |access-date=28 November 2022}}</ref>

===Listed buildings and structures=== The parish has two buildings listed at Grade I,<ref>{{NHLE |num=1115951 |desc=Flat numbers 13 to 26, Gayhurst Court }};<br />{{NHLE |num=1211931 |desc=Church of St Peter, Gayhurst Court }}</ref> five at Grade II* and 20 at grade II.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/results/?searchType=NHLE+Simple&search=Gayhurst&page=1 |title= Search Results for 'Gayhurst' | publisher=Historic England |access-date=24 November 2022}}</ref> <!-- The search returns a total of 31 but four of the places listed are not in Gayhurst --> The (Grade I listed) '''Church of St Peter''' was built in the classical style in 1728 to replace a medieval church; the designer is unknown.<ref>Betjeman, J. (ed.) (1968) ''Collins Pocket Guide to English Parish Churches: the South''. London: Collins; p. 127</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{Commons category|Gayhurst}} {{Milton Keynes parishes}}

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Category:Villages in Buckinghamshire Category:Areas of Milton Keynes Category:Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire

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