Sharnbrook is a village and

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 ...

located in the

Borough of Bedford The Borough of Bedford is a unitary authority area with borough status in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. Its council is based in Bedford, its namesake and principal settlement, which is the county town of Bedfordshire. The bor ...

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. The settlement was recorded 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 as a parish within the

Hundred of Willey The Hundred of Willey is a historical land division, a hundred in the northwest corner of Bedfordshire, England. Its northwestern boundary is the county border with Northamptonshire, and its southwestern boundary the border with Buckinghamshire. So ...

but was probably first developed in

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

times. The oldest surviving building, St Peter's Church, is

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

. The name is believed to be derived from the

Anglo Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

word ''sharn'' meaning dung. Many of the older buildings in the village are constructed of the local oolitic

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

, also used in other traditional north Bedfordshire settlements. Situated just north of a loop in the

River Great Ouse The River Great Ouse () is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the Wa ...

and almost due north 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 ...

, the village has developed as a ribbon-settlement running south-east to north-west, with the core of the community clustered at the north-western end.

Education

The village has two schools, the larger of which

Sharnbrook Academy Sharnbrook Academy, formerly Sharnbrook Upper School until 2017, is a large, rural Academy (English school), academy school located in Sharnbrook, a village in the English county of Bedfordshire. Built in 1975, the school now has over 1900 s ...

has a campus on the west of the village, serves a wide area and was attended by the marathon world record holder

Paula Radcliffe Paula Jane Radcliffe MBE (born 17 December 1973) is a former British long-distance runner. She is a three-time winner of the London Marathon (2002, 2003, 2005), three-time New York Marathon champion (2004, 2007, 2008), and 2002 Chicago Maratho ...

, who opened th
Paula Radcliffe Sharnbrook Community Sports Centre
named after her in April 2005. This Community Sports Centre is not only for students but also serves the wider local community of North Bedfordshire with sporting facilities. Students are aged from 11 to 18 and take both GCSE and A Level exams. The village's other school is Sharnbrook Primary which caters for young children aged from 3–11 years old who live in the immediate area.

Industry

Another major presence is the multinational company

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...

which has the Lipton Institute of Tea research centre on the north-western edge of the village. This uses the grounds of

Colworth House Colworth House is an 18th-century mansion set in an area of parkland on the edge of the village of Sharnbrook in Bedfordshire. It is a Grade II* listed building. History The surrounding site has been occupied since prehistoric times. The current ...

, originally built in the early 17th century and rebuilt in its present form by 1774 as a private house. The house itself is used as office space, with modern laboratory buildings beside and behind it. The site is being turned into a science park for use by a number of companies.

Sport

Sharnbrook is home to the village's boys' and men's football teams, which predate by many years the women's team that was established in 2002.

Transport

Sharnbrook railway station opened in 1857, but was closed in 1960. Sharnbrook is served by bus service 50 which is operated by

Stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...

and operates between

Kettering Kettering is a market and industrial town in North Northamptonshire, England. It is located north of London and north-east of Northampton, west of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene. The name means "the place (or territory) of Ket ...

and Bedford. The service is hourly Monday to Saturday and two hourly on Sundays and Bank Holidays.

Literature

Sharnbrook is the village where the prototype of Uncle Silas, Joseph Betts, the protagonist of H.E. Bates's ''

My Uncle Silas ''My Uncle Silas'' is a book of short stories about a bucolic elderly Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of B ...

'' lived.

Wildlife

Sharnbrook is home to a colony of

red kite The red kite (''Milvus milvus'') is a medium-large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as eagles, buzzards, and harriers. The species currently breeds in the Western Palearctic region o ...

Britain's youngest father

In 1998, Sharnbrook resident Sean Stewart become the youngest father in Britain at only twelve years of age. He lived next door to the mother of his child, Emma Webster, who was four years older than he. The child was conceived when the pair were only 11 and 15. The girl said Stewart had told her he was her age when they started going out. Some also consider Stewart to be the youngest father ever recorded.

Gallery

File:St-Peter's-Church-Sharnbrook.jpg, File:SUS-aerial.jpg, File:John-Gibbard-Lower-School-Sharnbrook.jpg, File:Sharnbrook-High-Street.jpg, File:Old-Police-Station-Sharnbrook.jpg, File:Sharnbrook Mill.jpg, File:32 High Street.jpg,

References

External links

Colworth Park

The Sharnbrook Village Website

Sharnbrook Upper School Website

The Sharnbrook Upper School Alumni Website

The Paula Radcliffe Sharnbrook Community Sports Centre Website

Sharnbrook Evangelical Church

Sharnbrook Women's Football Club
*Britishlistedbuildings.co.uk {{authority control Villages in Bedfordshire Civil parishes in Bedfordshire Borough of Bedford