Mildenhall, Wiltshire
Coordinates: 51°25′26″N 1°41′56″W / 51.424°N 1.699°W
| Mildenhall | |
 St. John the Baptist parish church |
|
 Mildenhall
Mildenhall shown within Wiltshire |
|
| Population | 457 (2001 census)[1] |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | SU2169 |
| Civil parish | Mildenhall |
| Unitary authority | Wiltshire |
| Ceremonial county | Wiltshire |
| Region | South West |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Marlborough |
| Postcode district | SN8 |
| Dialling code | 01672 |
| Police | Wiltshire |
| Fire | Wiltshire |
| Ambulance | Great Western |
| EU Parliament | South West England |
| UK Parliament | Devizes |
| Website | Mildenhall, Wiltshire - Community Site |
| List of places: UK • England • Wiltshire | |
Mildenhall (
/ˈmaɪnəl/ MY-nəl)[2] is a village and civil parish in the Kennet Valley in Wiltshire about 1 mile (1.6 km) east of the market town of Marlborough.
Contents |
[edit] History
The toponym is derived from the Old English but the site has been occupied since the Roman occupation of Britain, when the fortress town of Cunetio stood at an important road junction on approximately the same site.[3] No remains of this fortress are now standing, but are clearly visible on aerial photographs. The Cunetio Hoard of Roman coins was discovered here in 1978. The name of the River 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 a Romano-British site in about AD 450, but the site was reoccupied in the Anglo-Saxon era and a West Saxon charter drawn up between 803 and 805 refers to this settlement in its first recognisably modern form as Mildanhald,[4] meaning "a nook of land of a woman called Milde or a man called Milda".[5] The village is again mentioned in Domesday Book in 1086 as Mildenhalle and the name has since undergone numerous subtle changes in spelling and pronunciation.
[edit] Parish church
The Church of England parish church of Saint John the Baptist originates from before the Norman Conquest:[citation needed] some parts of the tower are undoubtedly Saxon in date. However, much of the present building dates from the thirteenth century. In 1816 the interior was refurbished by the villagers. Of particular note are the box pews and the twin pulpit and reading desk.
Sir John Betjeman refers to St. John's as "a church of a Jane Austen novel".[6] Simon Jenkins includes it in his England's Thousand Best Churches.[7] St. John's parish is now a member of the Marlborough team ministry.[8]
[edit] Amenities
The village has a public house, The Horseshoe Inn. Until a few years ago Mildenhall had a post office and village shop. The village hall was built in 1988.
Mildenhall usually holds a village fete, usually in mid-September on the village playing field (weather permitting), as well as a Guy Fawkes Bonfire Night and a Duck Race (using plastic ducks). Mildenhall publishes a monthly newsletter called The Parish Pump, now a joint publication with the neighbouring village of Axford.
[edit] Notable people
[edit] References
- ^ "Area selected: Mildenhall CP (Parish)". Neighbourhood Statistics: Full Dataset View. Office for National Statistics. http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=800566&c=SN8+2LZ&d=16&e=15&g=497557&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&enc=1&dsFamilyId=779. Retrieved 29 March 2007.
- ^ Miller, 1971, page not cited
- ^ "Cvnetio Romano-British Town Mildenhall, Wiltshire". www.Roman-Britain.org. 28 September 2010. http://www.roman-britain.org/places/cunetio.htm. Retrieved May 2010.
- ^ Birch, page not cited
- ^ Mills & Room, 2003, page 328
- ^ Betjeman, John (1952). First and Last Loves. Murray. p. 183.
- ^ Jenkins, Simon (1999). England's Thousand Best Churches. Allen Lane. p. 734. ISBN 0713992816.
- ^ Studdert-Kennedy, Rev. Andrew (20 October 2009). "St. John The Baptist Church, Mildenhall (Minal), Wiltshire". St. Mary's Anglican Church, Marlborough, Wiltshire teamed with St. George's and St. John The Baptist. Marlborough Anglican Churches. http://www.marlboroughanglicanteam.org.uk/st-john-the-baptist-church.html. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
[edit] Sources and further reading
- Birch, Walter de Grey, ed. (2010) [1885]. Cartularium Saxonicum. volume not stated. Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger Publishing. p. not stated. ISBN 1165280655.
- Crowley, D.A. (ed.); Baggs, A.P.; Freeman, Jane; Stevenson, Janet H. (1983). A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 12: Ramsbury and Selkey hundreds; the Borough of Marlborough. Victoria County History. pp. 125–138.
- Miller, G.M., ed. (1971). BBC pronouncing dictionary of British names. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. not stated. ISBN 0-19-431125-2.
- Mills, A.D.; Room, A. (2003). A Dictionary of British Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 328. ISBN 0198527586.
- Pevsner, Nikolaus; Cherry, Bridget (revision) (1975) [1963]. Wiltshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 348–352. ISBN 0 14 0710.26 4.
[edit] External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mildenhall, Wiltshire |
