Higham Gobion is a village and former
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 ...
, now in the parish of
Shillington, in the
Central Bedfordshire
Central Bedfordshire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It was created in 2009.
Formation
Central Bedfordshire was created on 1 April 2009 as part of a structural reform of local government in Bedfor ...
district, in the ceremonial county of
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...
, England. It is located between the villages of Shillington and
Barton-le-Clay
Barton-le-Clay is a large village and a civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire Borough in Bedfordshire, England, bordering Hertfordshire. The village has existed since at least 1066 and is mentioned in the ''Domesday Book''.
History
Ancie ...
. In 1961 the parish had a population of 28. On 1 April 1984 the parish was abolished and merged with Shillington.
It was in the
hundred of Flitt
100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101.
In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...
.
This hilltop village, which consists of a church, farm and small industrial unit and one or two houses, gets the second part of its name from the Gobion family, who resided in this area after the
Norman invasion
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, Duchy of Brittany, Breton, County of Flanders, Flemish, and Kingdom of France, French troops, ...
of 1066. In the fields a mile north-east of the church are triangular earthworks and medieval fishponds, all that remain today of a substantial
deserted medieval village
In the United Kingdom, a deserted medieval village (DMV) is a former settlement which was abandoned during the Middle Ages, typically leaving no trace apart from earthworks or cropmarks. If there are fewer than three inhabited houses the convent ...
. Roman pottery has also been found in the field east of the former Rectory.
The
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
church, dedicated to St. Margaret, dates from c.1300, but was much restored during the Victorian period. It contains a monument to Dr.
Edmund Castell
Edmund Castell (1606–1686) was an English orientalist.
He was born at Tadlow, in Cambridgeshire. At the age of fifteen he entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge, gaining his BA in 1624-5 and his MA in 1628. Appointed Professor of Arabic in 1666, ...
, who died in 1674 and was a Professor of Arabic at Cambridge. He was a rector at Higham during the last years of his life and lived in the adjoining (and much restored), former rectory. The church is part of the
Diocese of St Albans
The Diocese of St Albans forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England and is part of the wider Church of England, in turn part of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
The diocese is home to more than 1.6 million people and comprises the hi ...
.
See also
*
Higham Gobion Castle
References
External links
*
St. Margaret Church
Villages in Bedfordshire
Former civil parishes in Bedfordshire
Central Bedfordshire District
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