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 ...
situated between
Hitchin
Hitchin () is a market town and unparished area in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 35,842.
History
Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce peopl ...
and
Stevenage
Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...
North Hertfordshire
North Hertfordshire is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Hertfordshire, England. Its council is based in Letchworth.
The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the amalgamation of the Urban district (Great Britain and Ir ...
district, in the county of
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
, England. Paradoxically, it has a larger population than its near neighbour
Great Wymondley
Great Wymondley is a village and former civil parish situated near Hitchin, now in the parish of Wymondley,2011 Census the population of the built-up area of Little Wymondley was 995. In 1931 the parish had a population of 445.
Wymondley appears 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 ...
with a recorded population of 58 households. This figure does not distinguish between Great and Little Wymondley, but scholars have been able to derive data about the separate villages from the Domesday record. Little Wymondley was a separate
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 ...
until 1 April 1937, when it merged with neighbouring Great Wymondley to form a single parish called Wymondley.
Little Wymondley has several interesting houses, including the
moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...
ed Bury of the 16th and 17th centuries, the fine 17th century Hall, the late Georgian Wymondley House, and Wymondley Priory, an early 13th century foundation turned into a house in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Church of St Mary the Virgin, Little Wymondley, is a Grade II* listed building.
From 1799 until 1832/33, Wymondley House at Little Wymondley was the location of a
dissenting academy
The dissenting academies were schools, colleges and seminaries (often institutions with aspects of all three) run by English Dissenters, that is, those who did not conform to the Church of England. They formed a significant part of England's edu ...
for the education of future
nonconformist
Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to:
Culture and society
* Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior
*Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity
** ...
ministers. The academy went under various names, including
Wymondley College
Wymondley College was a dissenting academy at Wymondley House in Little Wymondley, Hertfordshire, England. Intended for the education of future nonconformist ministers of religion, it was in operation from 1799 to 1833, when it relocated to Byn ...