Silsoe 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 authorit ...
in Bedfordshire, England. The village used to be on the main
A6 road This is a list of roads designated A6.
* A006 road (Argentina), a road connecting Las Cuevas with the Christ the Redeemer monument in the border between Argentina and Chile
* ''A6 highway (Australia)'' may refer to :
** A6 (Sydney), a road connec ...
but a bypass around the village was opened in 1981 at a cost of £1.6m.
History
Origin
The village name is derived from the
Danish word 'hoh', in "Sifels hoh", meaning "Sifel's hill". The
Danes were thought to have been the earliest settlers here. 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 ...
(1086 – Siuuilessou or Sewilessou) records two manors, the larger held by Hugh of Walter, brother of Saher, and this later became the manor of Wrest. A smaller manor, believed to be that of Newbury, was owned by a concubine of
Nigel d'Aubigny
Nigel d'Aubigny (''Neel d'Aubigny'' or ''Nigel de Albini'', died 1129), was a Norman Lord and English baron who was the son of Roger d'Aubigny and Amice or Avice de Mowbray. His paternal uncle William was lord of Aubigny, while his father was an ...
. The first market was held here weekly on Tuesdays and annual fair on 1 May from 1318.
A Latinized form of the village name may be seen as "Sevelesho", in a legal record of 1430, where the defendants William Butte, yeoman & William Clerk, husbandman lived.
By 1563 there were 21 families living in Silsoe. The village growth was largely influenced by the needs of the
Wrest Park
Wrest Park is a country estate located in Silsoe, Bedfordshire, England. It comprises Wrest Park, a Grade I listed country house, and Wrest Park Gardens, also Grade I listed, formal gardens surrounding the mansion.
History
Thomas Carew (1 ...
estate and most of the inhabitants were servants, gardeners, stable hands and blacksmiths who lived in thatched and terrace cottages some of which still exist today. There was also a baker, who supplied Wrest House, and in the roof of the old bakehouse off the High Street, the oven ventilation can still be seen. From 1715 an annual fair was held on 10 September and a weekly market on Wednesdays. By the mid-19th century a number of trades were present in the village. There was a butcher, a milkman, cobbler, draper, builder and a grocer.
The Wrest Estate
![WrestHouseSilso](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/WrestHouseSilso.jpg)
The
Wrest Estate, in turn, provided the village with a church – St James's, a school and a row of almshouses, so sited that a row of cottages was hidden from the gentry's view as they drove from the Park to the church in nearby
Flitton
Flitton (Flichtam, Fllite, Flute) is a small village in Bedfordshire, England, which forms part of the parish of Flitton and Greenfield. The village derives its name from the River Flit which flows close by it. It is notable primarily as the home ...
. Silsoe's position on a main road to London and halfway between
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 ...
and
Luton
Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable a ...
made it a favourite halt for drovers and travellers stopping at the ''George'' coaching inn (first mentioned in 1624) on the High Street.
Silsoe had many inns including ''The White Hart'', ''The Ragged Staff'', ''Duke of Kent's Arms'', ''The Bell'', ''The Battle of Alma'' (or known as ''The Mouse's Hole'' in West End Road), ''Lord Nelson'' (Newbury Lane) and ''The George'' (High Street). The latter was converted into apartments in 2018. Now only the ''Star and Garter'' in the High Street remains. During the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
Wrest House was used as a military hospital until 1916 when the house was damaged by fire. Lady Lucas, the last member of the de Grey dynasty, sold the House and estate before an auction that was to have been held at the Mart, Tokenhouse Yard, London EC2 on 17 July 1917.
Wrest Park's historic house and magnificent gardens are now part of
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
and have been restored and opened to the public from 4 August 2011.
Silsoe College
The village was, until 2007, the location of the Silsoe Research Institute, a BBSRC-funded body, in Wrest Park. The village also was home to
Cranfield University's Silsoe campus for agricultural engineering. The former campus grounds are being redeveloped for housing, community and business use. The college was founded as the
National College of Agricultural Engineering
The National College of Agricultural Engineering was opened in 1962. It was closed as a separate entity at the end of 2007 and the land sold for housing.
Foundation
In February 1959, the Minister of Education of the United Kingdom announced ...
.
Since 2007 three property developers,
Miller Homes
Miller Homes is a housebuilder based in the United Kingdom.
History
The company was established by Sir James Miller in 1934. Expansion led to James' brothers, John and Lawrence, joining him in the business. Miller soon became Edinburgh's lea ...
,
Bloor Homes and
Bellway
Bellway plc is a residential property developer and home construction, housebuilder based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
History
The company was fou ...
, have produced several hundred family homes. Stringent adherence to reflect the character of the village was followed, thus attracting new families and residents seeking village life. This area is often referred to as the "New Estate".
Church of St James and War Memorial
The church stands on the site of a much earlier free chapel of St. Leonard, first mentioned in the ''Liber Antiquus'' (1209–35), that became a chapel of ease in the 17th century. The chapel belonged to the abbey of Elstow. Eventually the chapel had a central tower. In the fourteenth century two chantries were founded in the chapel. In the early 19th century Thomas Philip Robinson, 2nd
Earl de Grey
Earl de Grey, of Wrest in the County of Bedford, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
History
The title was created on 25 October 1816 (as Countess de Grey) for Amabell Hume-Campbell, Dowager Lady Polwarth and ''suo jure'' 5th ...
(1781–1859), wished to construct a spire but the weight of the structure proved too much for the supporting walls and the whole building collapsed. The church was rebuilt between 1829–1831 and opened on 20 February 1831. It consists of chancel, nave, aisles and a tower containing three bells.
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...
admired it as 'an astonishing job for its day'. The architect was Smith of
Hereford who achieved 'an antiquarian accuracy here extremely rare ten years before
Pugin'. Other sources such as
Arthur Mee
Arthur Henry Mee (21 July 187527 May 1943) was an English writer, journalist and educator. He is best known for ''The Harmsworth Self-Educator'', '' The Children's Encyclopædia'', ''The Children's Newspaper'', and ''The King's England''. The ...
suggest that the architect was
Earl de Grey
Earl de Grey, of Wrest in the County of Bedford, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
History
The title was created on 25 October 1816 (as Countess de Grey) for Amabell Hume-Campbell, Dowager Lady Polwarth and ''suo jure'' 5th ...
, confirmed by
Charles Read. Built in local ironstone, all embattled. The altar rails are made from 17th century oak taken from the chapel of the original Wrest House. Most of its stained glass windows represent the families of Wrest House. On Sunday, 25 July 1909
King Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.
The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...
attended the church service here and made a donation towards the clock fund.
The War Memorial outside the church is of stone. The church also has an inscribed board with a further list of men.
The Lock-up
In Church Road, is an ironstone
lock-up erected 1796, octagonal, with a pointed head to the doorway. It was used as a temporary place for stray animals or drunks, and its central pole, now removed, was used to chain prisoners in transit between
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 ...
and
Luton
Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable a ...
.
Modern history
The village was struck by
an F1/T2 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day.
The Millennium Green is a 4.94-hectare amenity space located off the High Street.
Cranfield University landscape engineering students drew up designs in collaboration with residents of the village and won a grant of over £45,000 to form the Green, a tranquil centrepiece for the village. As an integral part of the village,
Cranfield University had also been invited to contribute to Silsoe Parish Council's Millennium Time Capsule which was placed there in March 2000.
Governance
The village has a Parish Council which has details of the Chair and meeting dates on its website. Silsoe is currently part of Central Bedfordshire Council, headed by Councillor Naan
for the ward of
Wrest
Wrest Park is a Rural, country Estate (house), estate located in Silsoe, Bedfordshire, England. It comprises Wrest Park, a Grade I listed building, listed English country house, country house, and Wrest Park Gardens, also Grade I listed, forma ...
.
Demography
The 2001 Census
showed 1,729 residents in the parish, 869 male and 860 female living in 620 dwellings. Over 130 of these are
listed
Listed may refer to:
* Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm
* Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic
* Endangered species in biology
* Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...
. This will have included a number of residents of Silsoe College, closed in 2007, the site of which has been redeveloped for housing and community use.
Facilities
The village has a small newsagent, hairdresser, one estate agents, one pub, lower school, nursery, drama society, dance school, sports centre and parish council.
See also
*
Wrest Park
Wrest Park is a country estate located in Silsoe, Bedfordshire, England. It comprises Wrest Park, a Grade I listed country house, and Wrest Park Gardens, also Grade I listed, formal gardens surrounding the mansion.
History
Thomas Carew (1 ...
*
de Grey Mausoleum
Further reading
* Bradshaw, Roger (2011), ''A History of Silsoe'', Clophill: Roger Bradshaw,
References
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{{authority control
Villages in Bedfordshire
Civil parishes in Bedfordshire
Central Bedfordshire District