Lower Stondon

Lower Stondon is a small village in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. It is located close to the border with Hertfordshire, around 2.5 miles (4 km) south-west of Henlow. It is part of the larger Stondon civil parish, which at the 2001 Census had a population of approximately 2,000 increasing to approximately 2,300 at the 2011 Census.

The A600 road from Hitchin to Bedford runs close to the village, while the nearest railway station is Arlesey on the East Coast Main Line.

History

Domesday Entry

The Domesday Book has two entries for Lower Stondon.

In Folio 209 Bedfordshire, Section Roman VIII, The Land of St Benedict of Ramsey, Clifton Hundred it says:

In ower and UpperStondon the same abbot f St Benedictholds half a hide. There is land for half a plough, and there is alf a plough This land belongs and belonged to the Demesne of the church of St Benedict. It is worth 15s.

In Folio 209 Bedfordshire, Section Roman LV, The Land of the Wife of Ralph Taillebois, Clifton Hundred it says:

In ower and UpperStondon Engeler holds 2½ hides of Azelina. There is land for 2½ ploughs. In Demesne re2 ploughs; and 3 bordars with half a plough. There are 2 slaves ndmeadow for 2½ ploughs. It is worth 60s; when received, 40s; TRE £4. Wulfmær, of Eaton Socon, a thegn of King Edward, held this land; and there were 5 soak men, men of the same Wulfmær, and they could give and sell heir landto whom they wished.

Amenities

Lower Stondon does not have a large number of amenities; at the western end of the village there is a grocery store and post office, hairdressers and a Chinese restaurant in Fakeswell Lane. Hillside Road leads to the Village Hall, Stondon Lower School, Garden Centre and Recreation Field. Another facility at the Western end of the village is the Mount Pleasant Golf Club.

The Eastern end of Station Road has a BMX Track built with funds from charitable donations. Further east along Station Road is RAF Henlow and Henlow Camp, there are a number of amenities within close reach on the A600 roundabout, these consist of a grocery store, hairdressers & Turkish barbers, an ironing service, a sandwich shop, funeral directors, several takeaway restaurants a small pub and a large family pub and hotel.

Media

Part of the village receives the ''Advertiser'', the ''Comet'' and the ''Bedfordshire on Sunday'' newspapers. The village had its own magazine, distributed each season about the village and surrounding area called ''Stondon Times''. This stopped in about 2008 and at present no single magazine has taken its place.
The village also receives two magazines distributed to villages in the surrounding area, one called ''In and Around'' and the other called ''The Villager''.

Education

The village has a Lower School, which was originally built in 1861 and extended in the 1950s and 1960s. Children join when they are 5 and then transfer to a Middle School in the area aged 9 (Henlow Middle or Robert Bloomfield) and then onto Samuel Whitbread Academy aged 13.

The schools all maintain websites which can be found at -

Stondon Lower School

Robert Bloomfield Middle School

Henlow Middle School

Samuel Whitbread Academy

Stondon Transport Museum

The village hosted the largest private transport museum in the UK. The collection had over 400 exhibits, including cars, motorcycles, tanks, aircraft, and a full-size replica of Captain Cook's ship, the HM Bark Endeavour. The museum closed in April 2015.

Notes

#
http://www.mountpleasantgolfclub.co.uk/
# Domesday Book, A Complete Translation, Penguin Books,
#
Central Bedfordshire Council
#
Stondon Parish Council

External links

Stondon Parish Council WebsiteOfficial Stondon WebsiteStondon Transport Museum (archived)

References

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Villages in Bedfordshire
Central Bedfordshire District