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Local Information for Olney

Olney is a small town near Milton Keynes, England with a population of around 6,000 people. It lies on the River Great Ouse, and it is very close to the borders with Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire.

The town originally grew as a lace-making centre, and is the place where the Olney Hymns were written. John Newton, author of the hymn Amazing Grace was curate of Olney and is buried here as well as having the Cowper and Newton museum dedicated to him in the town.

Since 1445, a pancake race has been run in the town every Pancake Day.

Before an administrative boundary change in 1995, Olney was in Buckinghamshire. It now forms part of the Borough of Milton Keynes, a unitary authority.

Although Olney is in the Milton Keynes area, and uses an MK postcode, it uses the Bedford dialling code (01234).

The town is neatly divided by the A509, before the road now known as the A509 came to be so large the High Street was much wider with large parved areas on...More