Quenington is a
nucleated village A nucleated village, or clustered settlement, is one of the main types of settlement pattern. It is one of the terms used by geographers and landscape historians to classify settlements. It is most accurate with regard to planned settlements: its c ...
and larger rural
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 authorit ...
in the
Cotswold district
Cotswold is a local government district in Gloucestershire, England. It is named after the wider Cotswolds region. Its main town is Cirencester. Other notable towns include Tetbury, Moreton-in-Marsh, Stow-on-the-Wold and Chipping Campden. ...
of
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
, England, on the
River Coln
The River Coln is a river in Gloucestershire, England. It rises to the north of Brockhampton, a village to the east of Cheltenham, and flows in a south/south-easterly direction through the Cotswold Hills via Andoversford, Withington, Fosseb ...
east of
Cirencester
Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of ...
and north of
Fairford
Fairford is a town in Gloucestershire, England. The town lies in the Cotswold hills on the River Coln, east of Cirencester, west of Lechlade and north of Swindon. Nearby are RAF Fairford and the Cotswold Water Park.
History
Evidence of ...
. It has a recorded population of 603 people as at the 2011 census.
Important historic buildings include a medieval large dovecote above a gatehouse, and St Swithin's
Church of England parish church, built mainly in the late 11th century and (despite partial
Victorian restoration
The Victorian restoration was the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria. It was not the same proc ...
) listed in the highest category of
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
, Grade I. The village has a village hall, a pub and a village green. Its economy has been transformed to render agriculture a minor but physically evident employer across most of the area: this area of the Cotswolds has been almost wholly been turned over from forest to agriculture, landscape parks and private or semi-private gardens. The working population divides includes mainly short-distance commuters and
remote workers. A significant minority work in the district's leisure, food and hospitality sector. The
Cotswold Water Park
The Cotswold Water Park is the United Kingdom's largest marl lake system, straddling the Wiltshire–Gloucestershire border, northwest of Cricklade and south of Cirencester. There are 180 lakes, spread over .
The park is a mix of nature co ...
lies to the south and the Cotswold scarp is away to the north and west.
History
The place-name 'Quenington' is first attested 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 manus ...
of 1086, where it appears as ''Qvenintone''. This is from the
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 settlers in the mid-5th c ...
'Cwenenatun' meaning 'the women's town or settlement' (the word 'queen' has the same derivation).
It had previously been suggested that the name Quenington could have meant "settlement on the Coln", the river which flows through the village, though the name 'Coln' is of unknown origin. Quenington is mentioned in the Domesday Book in relation to two mills at either end of the village, a water mill and a fulling mill, both now private residences.
John Marius Wilson's ''Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales'' of 1870 describes Quenington as:
:"QUENINGTON, a village and a parish in Cirencester district, Gloucester. The village stands on the
Fosseway
The Fosse Way was a Roman road built in Britain during the first and second centuries AD that linked Isca Dumnoniorum ( Exeter) in the southwest and Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) to the northeast, via Lindinis (Ilchester), Aquae Sulis ( Bath), Cor ...
and the
river Coln
The River Coln is a river in Gloucestershire, England. It rises to the north of Brockhampton, a village to the east of Cheltenham, and flows in a south/south-easterly direction through the Cotswold Hills via Andoversford, Withington, Fosseb ...
, 2 miles N. of Fairford, and 8 E. by N. of Cirencester"
Economy
The main economy of 1881 was based around agriculture, though the occupation of a large proportion of the population was unknown: they may have been involved in various miscellaneous workings or were simply unemployed at the time. There was a high proportion of females working in the domestic or office sector. As of 2011 the majority of people work in business, manufacturing and retail. Agriculture now employs 17 people of a population of 603, compared to 61 from a population of 380 in 1881. The change in occupation can be credited to advances in the internet and automotive travel. In 2001, the bulk of the working population of 203 split into 43% who worked from home and 46% who travelled 2 to 20 kilometres to work.
Population
The population of Quenington in 1801 was 1,326 and steadily grew to 1,859 by 1851, but the next records in 1881 show a population drop of 1,479 to 380. This could be due to various conflicts that ensued in the three decades between the censuses, such as the Crimean War and First Boer War, or more likely a change to the parish borders. In 1911 the total population was 388 and then a decade later in 1921 there was a decrease in population to 322, which could clearly be attributed to World War I.
Transport
The B349 runs from the village transporting school children to Fairford and is not available to the general public. The service only operates during term time and is run by Denwell Minicoaches. The B865 runs from Lechlade to Cirencester stopping at Quenington and 17 other stops. It is operated by APL Travel and runs one journey on a Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
St Swithin's Church
The church is considered by the body statutorily appointed to safeguard old English and Welsh buildings from demolition to have been built around 1100, tying it in with records supporting its dedication to St Mary under the locally wealthy De Laci family. The
Knights Templar took over the running of the church in 1193 from St Peter's Abbey, Gloucester, to whom the church had been granted (or by whom appropriated) 55 years earlier in 1138. The church currently has Grade I listed status.
When first built the church was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It was then rededicated to
St Swithin following the 16th-century
Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
. Its most notable features are two richly-decorated Norman doorways: the
tympanum above the north doorway features the
Harrowing of Hell
In Christian theology, the Harrowing of Hell ( la, Descensus Christi ad Inferos, "the descent of Christ into Hell" or Hades) is an Old English and Middle English term referring to the period of time between the Crucifixion of Jesus and his re ...
, and that above the south doorway the
Coronation of the Virgin,
said to be the oldest representation in Europe that is still in situ.
The church was extensively
restored in the 1880s by
Frederick Waller.
Village hall
In 1906 the Quenington Institute was donated to the village by Thomas Bazley, a local landowner, to be used as a village meeting place. In January 2013, the village hall moved to new premises: the Gate on the Green had been used as a chapel since 1926 until services ended in 2010. The name was officially changed to Quenington Village Hall and the facility opened on 11 May 2013.
In film, literature and the media
The village pub, The Keepers Arms, featured in the ''Four In A Bed'' reality series made by Channel 4 in the summer of 2014 and were crowned winners of the competition. The episode aired in early 2015. The pub also featured in Channel 5's ''
Fifth Gear
''Fifth Gear'' is a British motoring television magazine series on Discovery+. It is a continuation of the ''Fifth Gear'' format originally broadcast on Channel 5 from 2002 to 2011, afterwards moving to Discovery Channel in 2012, and then in ...
'', where
Dom Joly
Dominic John Romulus Joly (; born 15 November 1967) is an English comedian and writer. He is best known as the star of '' Trigger Happy TV'' (2000–2003), a hidden camera prank show that was broadcast in over 70 countries worldwide.
Early lif ...
pointed a tank at it. It stood in as the List and Newt pub in the fictional village of Crinkley Bottom in the 1990s TV series ''
Noel's House Party
''Noel's House Party'' is a BBC light entertainment series that was hosted by Noel Edmonds. Set in a large house in the fictional village of Crinkley Bottom, leading to much innuendo, it ran from 23 November 1991 to 26 March 2000 on BBC One, a ...
''.
Notable residents
*
Kenton Cool
Kenton Edward Cool (born 30 July 1973) is an English mountaineer and mountain guide. He is one of Britain's leading alpine and high altitude climbers and has reached the summit of Mount Everest sixteen times, including leading Sir Ranulph Fie ...
(born 30 July 1973) English
mountaineer
Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...
,
alpinist and
IFMGA
The ''Union Internationale des Associations de Guides de Montagnes'' is the International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations, known alternatively by its French, German and English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* Eng ...
mountain guide. He is one of Britain's leading alpine climbers and he has successfully climbed Mount Everest eleven times, including leading Sir
Ranulph Fiennes
Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet (born 7 March 1944), commonly known as Sir Ranulph Fiennes () and sometimes as Ran Fiennes, is a British explorer, writer and poet, who holds several endurance records.
Fiennes served in the ...
' 2008 and 2009 Expeditions. He has completed 21 successful expeditions in the Greater Ranges. In 2013, he and his climbing partner became the first people to traverse
Nuptse
Nuptse or Nubtse ( Sherpa: नुबचे, Wylie: Nub rtse, ) is a mountain in the Khumbu region of the Mahalangur Himal, in the Nepalese Himalayas. It lies two kilometres WSW of Mount Everest. Nubtse is Tibetan for "west peak", as it is the ...
,
Everest
Mount Everest (; Tibetic languages, Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is List of highest mountains on Earth, Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border ru ...
and
Lhotse
Lhotse ( ne, ल्होत्से ; , ''lho tse'', ) is the fourth highest mountain in the world at , after Mount Everest, K2, and Kangchenjunga. The main summit is on the border between Tibet Autonomous Region of China and the Khumbu ...
in a single expedition without returning to base camp.
*The botanist Prof
Charles Chesters
Charles Geddes Coull Chesters OBE FRSE FLS (1904–1993) was a British botanist specialising in fungi and lichens.
Life
He was born in Glasgow on 9 March 1904, the son of Charles Geddes Chesters, a commercial traveller, and Margaret Geddes. He ...
FRSE (1904–1993) retired here in 1969 and died here.
References
External links
{{authority control
Villages in Gloucestershire
Cotswold District
Civil parishes in Gloucestershire