Lavendon is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority area of the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England.[2] It is the northernmost village in the Milton Keynes UA and South East England,[a] near Olney, about 8 miles (13 km) WNW of Bedford and 9 miles (14 km) NNE of Central Milton Keynes.

Lavendon
Lavendon is located in Buckinghamshire
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
List of places
UK
England
Buckinghamshire

52°10′19″N 0°39′47″W / 52.172°N 0.663°W / 52.172; -0.663

Map

Nearby places are Warrington, and Cold Brayfield in the Milton Keynes UA, and Harrold and Carlton over the border in Bedfordshire.

History

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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][5] 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.[6] It stood at what is now Grange Farm.

The Earl of Gainsborough was patron of the parish church.[7]

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

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The parish church is dedicated to St Michael, and there is also a Baptist Church that meets at the Union Chapel in the centre of the village.

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.

The Lavendon Narrow Gauge Railway is situated in the village and it open to the public a few Sundays a year.

Note and references

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  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. ^ Watts, V. (2004). The Cambridge Dictionary of Place-Names. Cambridge University Press. p. 363.
  4. ^ Sanders, I. J. (1960). English Baronies: A Study of Their Origin and Descent, 1086-1327. Oxford: Clarendon. p. 128.
  5. ^ Stenton, F. (1961). The First Century of English Feudalism, 1066-1166 (2nd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 205n.
  6. ^ Knowles, D.; Hadcock, R. N. (1971). Medieval Religious Houses of England and Wales (2nd ed.). London: Longmans. pp. 184, 190.
  7. ^ Lewis, Samuel, ed. (1848). "Lavendon (St Mary)". A Topographical Dictionary of England. London – via British History Online.
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