Lavendon

Lavendon is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England.[2] It is the northernmost village in the Borough and South East England,[lower-alpha 1]near Olney, about 8 miles (13 km) WNW of Bedford and the same distance NNE of Newport Pagnell.

Lavendon
Lavendon
Location within Buckinghamshire
Population1,303 (2011 Census including Warrington)[1]
OS grid referenceSP915535
Civil parish
  • Lavendon
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townOLNEY
Postcode districtMK46
Dialling code01234
PoliceThames Valley
FireBuckinghamshire
AmbulanceSouth 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.

Note and references
  1. Nearby Warrington is more northerly but is formally a hamlet.
  1. UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Lavendon (E04012187)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  2. Parishes in Milton Keynes Archived 2009-06-08 at the Wayback Machine - Milton Keynes Council.
  3. V. Watts, The Cambridge Dictionary of Place-Names (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 2004), p. 363
  4. 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
  5. D. Knowles and R. N. Hadcock, Medieval Religious Houses of England and Wales, 2nd edition (Longmans: London, 1971), pp. 184, 190
  6. "Laughton - Laverstoke Pages 33-37 A Topographical Dictionary of England. Originally published by S Lewis, London, 1848". British History Online.

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