Mildenhall(/ˈmaɪnəl/MY-nəl)[2]is a village andcivil parishin theKennet Valleyin Wiltshire, England, immediately east of themarket townofMarlborough.The village is about 1.5 miles (2 km) east of the centre of Marlborough, on the minor road which follows the River Kennet towardsRamsbury.The parish also contains the hamlets ofPoultonandStitchcombe.The name has often been written asMinal,and this is continued in the present-day pronunciation.[3][4]
| Mildenhall | |
|---|---|
 The Horseshoe Inn, Mildenhall, 2014 | |
  Mildenhall Location withinWiltshire | |
| Population | 477 (2011 census)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SU210696 |
| Civil parish |
|
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Marlborough |
| Postcode district | SN8 |
| Dialling code | 01672 |
| Police | Wiltshire |
| Fire | Dorset and Wiltshire |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Parish Council |
History
editThetoponymis derived from theOld Englishbut the site has been occupied since theRoman occupation of Britain,when the town ofCunetio(later a fortress) stood at an important road junction, on the opposite side of the river from the later village.[5]No remains of this town are now standing, but they are clearly visible on aerial photographs. TheCunetio Hoardof Roman coins was discovered here in 1978.[6]The name of theRiver Kennet,which runs through Mildenhall, is thought to have been derived from the Roman name, which is also used on the village's coat-of-arms.
Cunetio was deserted as aRomano-Britishsite in about AD 450, but the site was reoccupied in theAnglo-Saxon eraand aWest Saxoncharter drawn up between 803 and 805 refers to this settlement in its first recognisably modern form asMildanhald,[7]meaning "a nook of land of a woman called Milde or a man called Milda".[8]The village is recorded inDomesday Bookin 1086 asMildenhalle,a settlement of 20 households on land held byGlastonbury Abbey.[9]The name has since undergone numerous subtle changes in spelling and pronunciation.[10]
Part of the west boundary of the parish follows theRiver Og,until it meets the Kennet.[11]The ancient parish had threetithings,namely Mildenhall, Poulton (west, now on the edge of Marlborough) and Stitchcombe (south of the Kennet). The area was part ofSavernake Forestfrom at least the 13th century.[3]
Poulton House, dated 1706, is described by Pevsner as "the most perfect house in Marlborough".[12]
In 1881 theSwindon, Marlborough and Andover Railwaycompany built their Swindon-Marlborough line through theOg valleyin the southwest of the parish. The line closed in 1961 and the track was removed.[13]
Parish church
edit
Nikolaus Pevsnerdescribes theparish churchof St John the Baptist as "a perfect example of a small village church of many periods, and, together with its Late Georgian furnishings, preserved completely".[12]
Land at Mildenhall was granted to Glastonbury Abbey in the 8th century, and a church may have been built in the early 9th century.[14][15]The base of the tower of the present church is from the 9th or 10th century, and the rest is the result of stages of rebuilding in the late 12th century and early 13th.[16]In the 15th century the third stage of the tower and the clerestory were added, and most of the windows renewed. The plaster ceiling of the chancel is early 17th century, and the earlier nave roof was embellished at the same time.[3]In the 18th or 19th centuries the south aisle was partly rebuilt and the south porch added. In 1816 a round-headed window was added to the south side of the clerestory, and another over the west door.[17][18]
The church is notable for its oak fittings, installed in 1814–1816 and called "outstanding" by Historic England. Julian Orbach, updating Pevsner's work, writes "inGothickstyle, the very model of Late Georgian arrangements... Unusually for rural England everything matches and is to a very high standard ".[17]Components includebox pews,children's benches, twin pulpits (one a reading desk) with tall backs and decoratedtesters,and the stone font with wooden cover; and in the chancel, ornate pews, panelling and thereredoswith its painted texts. Other work included stone flooring in black and white, and new oak doors.[19]The west gallery, with curved panelled front to accommodate the organ, was completed in 1821.[18]The refitting cost altogether around £2,000 and was instigated by Charles Francis (rector from 1788 until his death in 1821, alsorural dean) and paid for by himself and twelve local property-owners, named on six shields displayed in the church.[20]
In the heads of the chancel windows are fragments of 15th-century stained glass.[17]The north-west window depicting theRaising of Lazarus,1882, is byMayer & Co.of Munich.[17]There are six bells, five of them cast in 1801 after melting down the four that had been installed in 1596.[3][21]The church has several marble memorials, including two by Joseph Harris of Bath for Thomas Baskerville (1818) and Rev. Charles Francis (1821).[18]In 1966 the church was designated asGrade I listed.[18]
SirJohn Betjemanrefers to St. John's as "a church of aJane Austennovel ".[22]Simon Jenkinsincludes it in hisEngland's Thousand Best Churches.[23]
St. John's parish is now a member of theMarlborough team ministry,alongsideSt Mary's at Marlboroughand St George's,Preshute.[24]
Notable buildings
editAcross the lane to the west of the churchyard are the 18th-century boundary brick wall, gate piers (with cornice and ball) and wrought iron gates of the former rectory.[25]A large new rectory was built in 1862, in brick in a classical style, set back from the Marlborough road about a quarter of a mile west of the village;[17]this house in turn was sold in 1965.[3]
At Poulton, further along the Marlborough road, Poulton House stands in grounds by the River Og;[26]20th-century expansion has brought the town almost to the opposite bank. Orbach describes theGrade II* listedhouse – dated 1706 and extended in the 19th century – as a perfect example ofQueen Anne style.[17]
Amenities
editThe village has apublic house,theHorseshoe Inn.Until the early 21st century Mildenhall had a post office andvillage shop.Thevillage hallwas built in 1988.
Mildenhall usually holds a village fête, typically in mid-September on the village playing field, as well as aGuy Fawkes Bonfire Nightand a Duck Race using plastic ducks. Mildenhall publishes a monthly newsletter calledThe Parish Pump,a joint publication with the neighbouring village ofAxford.
There was a school, the Protestant Free School, in the village from 1824 to 1969.[27]Designed in the shape of a cross byRobert Abraham,the former school is now a house.[28]
The Rabley Drawing Centre a short way outside the village includes acontemporary artgalleryspecialising inoriginal printsand works on paper, and a studio which runs art courses and workshops. It represents international artists includingRoyal Academicians.[29]
Notable people
edit- Edward Pococke (1648–1726) was rector from 1692 until his death; there is a marble monument in the church.[18]He was a son of the eminent Oriental scholar and clergymanEdward Pococke(1604–1691).[30][31][32]
- George Lavington,laterBishop of Exeter,was born in 1684 at Mildenhall where his father Joseph was the rector.[33]
- Tobias Young(d. 1824), painter, was probably born at Mildenhall[34]
- Jack Ainslie(1921–2007), farmer and politician, lived and died in Mildenhall
- Reg Prentice, Baron Prentice(1923–2001), politician, died in Mildenhall[35]
See also
edit- Littlecote Roman Villa,a few miles east along the Kennet valley
References
edit- ^"Mildenhall: Population".Wiltshire Community History.Wiltshire Council.Retrieved4 October2022.
- ^Miller, 1971, page not cited
- ^abcdeBaggs, A. P.; Freeman, Jane; Stevenson, Janet H. (1983). "Parishes: Mildenhall". In Crowley, D. A. (ed.).A History of the County of Wiltshire, Volume 12.Victoria County History.University of London. pp. 125–138.Retrieved14 December2022– via British History Online.
- ^"The History of St John the Baptist Minal".Mildenhall Parish Council.Retrieved14 December2022.
- ^"Cvnetio Romano-British Town Mildenhall, Wiltshire".Roman-Britain.org.28 September 2010.Retrieved8 October2016.
- ^Nigel Kerton,C4's Time Team dig in at Mildenhall,atgazetteandherald.co.uk,Friday 4 September 2009
- ^Birch, page not cited
- ^Mills & Room, 2003, page 328
- ^Mildenhallin theDomesday Book
- ^"Wiltshire Community History: Mildenhall".Wiltshire Council.Retrieved28 February2014.
- ^"Election Maps: Great Britain".Ordnance Survey.Retrieved20 December2022.
- ^abPevsner, Nikolaus;Cherry, Bridget (revision) (1975) [1963].Wiltshire.The Buildings of England(2nd ed.). Harmondsworth:Penguin Books.p. 336.ISBN0-14-0710-26-4.
- ^Oakley, Mike (2004).Wiltshire Railway Stations.Wimborne: The Dovecote Press. p. 97.ISBN1904349331.
- ^"Church of St. John the Baptist, Mildenhall".Wiltshire Community History.Wiltshire Council.Retrieved17 December2022.
- ^Stanton, Maurice."History of Minal, Chapter 3".Mildenhall Community Site.Archived fromthe originalon 14 March 2010 – via Internet Archive.
- ^"St John the Baptist, Mildenhall, Wiltshire".The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland.King's College London.Retrieved17 December2022.
- ^abcdefOrbach, Julian;Pevsner, Nikolaus;Cherry, Bridget(2021).Wiltshire.The Buildings Of England. New Haven, US and London:Yale University Press.pp. 476–478.ISBN978-0-300-25120-3.OCLC1201298091.
- ^abcdeHistoric England."Church of St. John the Baptist (1365445)".National Heritage List for England.Retrieved4 January2016.
- ^Tanner, G. F. (1920)."Notes on the Rural Deaneries of Marlborough and Cricklade (from Charles Francis' Rural Dean's Book of 1812–1816)".Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine.41(133): 129, 134 – viaBiodiversity Heritage Library.
- ^"Church Refurbishment".Mildenhall Parish Council.Retrieved18 December2022.
- ^"Mildenhall, Wiltshire, S John Bapt".Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers.Retrieved18 December2022.
- ^Betjeman, John (1952).First and Last Loves.Murray. p. 183.
- ^Jenkins, Simon (1999).England's Thousand Best Churches.Allen Lane. p. 734.ISBN0-7139-9281-6.
- ^"St John the Baptist Minal".Marlborough Anglican Team.Retrieved19 December2022.
- ^Historic England."Walls, Gatepiers and Gates to Former Rectory (1183456)".National Heritage List for England.Retrieved19 December2022.
- ^Historic England."Poulton House (1034116)".National Heritage List for England.Retrieved12 December2022.
- ^"Protestant Free School, Mildenhall".Wiltshire Community History.Wiltshire Council.Retrieved4 January2016.
- ^Historic England."School House (1183528)".National Heritage List for England.Retrieved4 January2016.
- ^"About".Rabley Gallery.11 August 2013.Retrieved15 December2021.
- ^Lane-Poole, Stanley (1896)..InLee, Sidney(ed.).Dictionary of National Biography.Vol. 46. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^Foster, Joseph(1888–1892)..Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1500–1714.Oxford: Parker and Co – viaWikisource.
- ^Foster, Joseph(1888–1892)..Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1500–1714.Oxford: Parker and Co – viaWikisource.
- ^Courtney, William Prideaux (1892)..InLee, Sidney(ed.).Dictionary of National Biography.Vol. 32. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^"Winchester from the South".Winchester Museums. Archived fromthe originalon 9 January 2019.
- ^"Prentice, Reginald Ernest [Reg], Baron Prentice".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/75257.Retrieved11 December2022.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
- Birch, Walter de Grey, ed. (2010) [1885].Cartularium Saxonicum.Vol. not stated. Whitefish, Montana:Kessinger Publishing.p. not stated.ISBN978-1-165-28065-0.
- Miller, G.M., ed. (1971).BBC pronouncing dictionary of British names.Oxford:Oxford University Press.p. not stated.ISBN0-19-431125-2.
- Mills, A.D.; Room, A. (2003).A Dictionary of British Place-Names.Oxford:Oxford University Press.p. 328.ISBN0-19-852758-6.
External links
edit
- Mildenhall Parish Council
- The Minal History (PDF),archived in 2005
- Leaflet: a short history of the church,reprinted 2016