Fountain Hotel
Note: This map only gives the position for the Landing Ground. The Fountain Hotel on the old A5 was about 1nm away to the NNW.
FOUNTAIN HOTEL: Private Landing Ground (Aka LOUGHTON and FOUNTAIN INN)
Operated by: The Fountain Hotel, Proprietor R J Harrison Lieut-Cmdr. R.N.
Location: About I nm SSE of the Fountain Hotel which was midway between Fenny Stratford and Stony Stratford on the A5, then referred to as the main London to Birmingham Road. London was given as being 47½ miles and Birmingham 61 miles.
Period of operation: 1930s
Runways: NW/SE 350 yards (320 metres), SW/NE 320 yards (293 metres) All grass
NOTES: This site was listed as a Landing Ground in Flying – The Light Aeroplane Weekly compilation of UK Flying Clubs & Landing Grounds 1933-34 as LOUGHTON. Also listed in the 1930s ‘A.A. Landing Grounds Register’, this being one of the seventy-four AA (Automobile Association) approved Landing Grounds on mainland Britain.
Please also note how this location has been totally subsumed, not a trace left, within the development of Milton Keynes, that project being founded in 1967.
FLYING CIRCUS VENUE
This was the 85th planned venue on the 16th July 1932 for Sir Alan Cobham’s National Aviation Day UK Display Tour and just possibly, (but unlikely?), the venue on the 29th September 1933 for the No.2 Tour display at Bletchley?
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
We have to thank Mike Holder, a great long-term friend of this 'Guide', for investigating what is available to help illustrate this listing with texts. As you can see below, he certainly succeeded and has also provided the annotated maps and photographs. These being very useful indeed with the Landing Ground being some distance away from the hotel. A situation that is most unusual even today in the UK.
The Notice was published in the Northampton Mercury on the 8th July 1932. The aerial photo of the Fountain Hotel was taken around 1931.
FROM THE PRESS
Article One was published in The Tatler on the 6th January 1932. The short article appeared in the Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer on the 4th April 1932.
Article Two was published two years later in The Bystander on the 20th March 1934.
The local area and area views are from my Google Earth© derived database.
A QUEST
Several years ago Mr Tony Southam very kindly sent me copies of a couple of postcards of the Fountain Hotel in Loughton, described as being the “Hotel which is different”. The location is described as, “Midway between Fenny Stratford and Stony Stratford on the main London – Birmingham Road”, the A5 of course. Today this area has of course been absorbed into MILTON KEYNES. It is very frustrating, but when adding this listing in 2017, I could not find these pictures. As you might imagine I have an enormous amount stored in various files - so hopefully I will come across them sooner rather than later.
Andrew Jackson
This comment was written on: 2017-12-26 10:51:53There is a picture of the Fountain Hotel in 1931 on page 124 of the book England's Motoring Heritage from the Air (it is incorrectly attributed to Loughton ESSEX). Shows petrol pumps at the front of the hotel! It is still called The Fountain and is operated by Harvester.
George Nairn
This comment was written on: 2020-01-26 08:38:55I have an original postcard of the hotel with the information on the back for sale if interested please contact me
Nigel Perry
This comment was written on: 2020-09-09 15:06:19May 1937 used by Avro 504N Cpt phillips to aero-tow gliders from London gliding club Dunstable, temporarily operating from here. See also Fenny Stratford.
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