Hardmead is a small village in the

unitary authority area A unitary authority is a local government, local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the ...

of the

City of Milton Keynes The City of Milton Keynes is a unitary authority area with both borough and city status, in Buckinghamshire. It is the northernmost district of the South East England Region. The borough abuts Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and the remainder o ...

, Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the north of the Borough, about west of

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

, north-east of Central Milton Keynes and north east of

Newport Pagnell Newport Pagnell is a town and civil parish in the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The Office for National Statistics records Newport Pagnell as part of the Milton Keynes urban area. It is separated from the rest of the urban ...

. The village is close to the A422 road, on a very small road linking that to nearby

Newton Blossomville Newton Blossomville is a village in the unitary authority area of the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It is a civil parish, sharing a joint parish council with Clifton Reynes. At the 2011 census, the population of the parish was ...

. Together with the neighbouring village of Astwood, it forms the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

of Astwood and Hardmead. The village name is

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

in origin, and means 'Heoruwulf's meadow'. In the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086 it was called ''Herulfmede''. The village is very small with a population of around 100 people. The nearest pub is located one mile away in Astwood and the nearest shop is about four miles distant. The former church of St Mary's Hardmead is Grade I listed and parts date from the 12th century. It has been redundant since the 1980s and is now in the care of the charity Friends of Friendless Churches. There are monuments in the church to the Catesby family and to the explorer Robert Shedden.

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External links

Villages in Buckinghamshire Areas of Milton Keynes Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire {{Buckinghamshire-geo-stub