Lavendon
Lavendon is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Milton Keynes and ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire, England.[2] It is the northernmost village in the Borough, near Olney, eight miles WNW of Bedford, eight miles NNE of Newport Pagnell.
Lavendon | |
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Lavendon Location within Buckinghamshire | |
Population | 1,303 (2011 Census including Warrington)[1] |
OS grid reference | SP915535 |
Civil parish |
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Unitary authority |
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Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | OLNEY |
Postcode district | MK46 |
Dialling code | 01234 |
Police | Thames Valley |
Fire | Buckinghamshire |
Ambulance | South Central |
UK Parliament | |
Nearby places are Warrington, and Cold Brayfield in Milton Keynes Borough, and Harrold and Carlton over the border in Bedfordshire.
History
The village name is derived from a personal name and a place-name element from the Old English language (Lafan + denu), and means 'Lafa's valley'. In the Domesday Book of 1086 the village was recorded as Lavendene and Lawendene.[3]
At Castle Farm are the earthworks of a motte-and-bailey castle created in the twelfth century by de Bidun family as the headquarters of their barony of Lavendon.[4] The castle was last recorded in 1232.
The village was once the location of a Premonstratensian abbey, founded between 1155 and 1158 by John de Bidun. The abbey was suppressed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536.[5] It stood at what is now Grange Farm.
The Earl of Gainsborough was patron of the parish church. [6]
The village is on the route of the 1936 Jarrow March, there is a small plaque on the churchyard wall to commemorate this.
Modern Lavendon
The parish church is dedicated to St Michael, and there is a small but active Baptist Chapel.
The village has a combined school for children from reception (4 years) through to year 6 (11 years). It also has a village store and Post Office, an independent garage, village hall and two public houses, the Green Man and The Horseshoe. There is also a pre-school and a nursery.
The company Tusting has a small factory on Olney Road producing a wide range of luxury leather goods which are exported worldwide.
References
- UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Lavendon (E04012187)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
- Parishes in Milton Keynes Archived 2009-06-08 at the Wayback Machine - Milton Keynes Council.
- V. Watts, The Cambridge Dictionary of Place-Names (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 2004), p. 363
- I. J. Sanders, English Baronies: A Study of Their Origin and Descent, 1086-1327 (Clarendon: Oxford, 1960), p. 128; F. Stenton, The First Century of English Feudalism, 1066-1166, 2nd edition (Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1961), p. 205n
- D. Knowles and R. N. Hadcock, Medieval Religious Houses of England and Wales, 2nd edition (Longmans: London, 1971), pp. 184, 190
- "Laughton - Laverstoke Pages 33-37 A Topographical Dictionary of England. Originally published by S Lewis, London, 1848". British History Online.