Tonwell is a small village in

Bengeo Rural Bengeo Rural is a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 601, increasing at the 2011 Census to 644. The parish includes the villages of Tonwell and Chapmore ...

parish,

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 ...

. The village is situated just off the

A602 The A602 is a road linking Hitchin in Hertfordshire, England, with A10 at Ware in Hertfordshire, via Stevenage. The course of the road has changed significantly since the 1960s with the construction of several bypasses and relief roads. ...

(formerly B1001), having been bypassed in 1987 - making the A10 and therefore

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

easily accessible by road. Tonwell has a population of about 300 persons, being included at the 2011 Census in the

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 ...

. The demographic is similar to that of Hertfordshire itself, with a number of family properties as well as those more suited to elderly people. Near the village are Paynes Hall (south of the village by half a mile, where the A602 crosses the

River Rib The River Rib originates near the East Hertfordshire village of Therfield and runs parallel with the A10 through Chipping, Wyddial, Buntingford, Westmill, Braughing, Puckeridge and Standon, before dividing the villages of Thundridge and Wa ...

); Bengeo Temple farm; and the parkland at Sacombe (listed in the landscape character assessment as a rare and significant example of Victorian parkland.) Tonwell has close ties to the neighbouring hamlet of

Chapmore End Chapmore End is a hamlet in Bengeo Rural parish, Hertfordshire. At the 2011 Census the population of the hamlet was included in the town of Ware. The village consists of a few houses and a pub, the Woodman, and is situated just off the B158 ap ...

; the only other settlement in the parish. The two settlements have held combined events such as the village fete, and events in the village hall in Tonwell. Village amenities include
school
(built in 1858), village hall, and the Robin Hood and Little John (free house) pub. Tonwell Water Tower

The village shop and

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

was closed by the owners in the 1980s and converted into a restaurant, now part of the pub. The nearest food stores or post office are situated in

Hertford Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a ford on the River Lea, ne ...

Watton-at-Stone Watton-at-Stone is a village in the English county of Hertfordshire, situated midway between the towns of Stevenage and Hertford in the valley of the River Beane. The 2011 census showed a population of 2,272 living in 946 households. Watton-at-St ...

Ware Ware may refer to: People * Ware (surname) * William of Ware (), English Franciscan theologian Places Canada *Fort Ware, British Columbia United Kingdom *Ware, Devon *Ware, Hertfordshire *Ware, Kent United States * Ware, Elmore County, Al ...

, some two to three miles away. There are footpaths from the village but in view of the distance, residents generally have to use their own cars, a taxi or the very infrequent bus service. The Church of St Mary's in Tonwell oEadjoins the village school, and contains a

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 ...

era

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

(relocated from St Nicholas' church in Hertford in about 1700). The church also contains wood panelling from the

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north bank ...

, which was installed in the church after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

following bomb damage. In the 1990s, the church fell into disrepair, and eventually in the 2000s services were suspended. In 2005 the church was officially closed and renovated with the village school being extended into the church to cope with rising pupil numbers.

Tonwell Water Tower

The skyline of the village is dominated by the futuristic 1960s

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

water tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system, distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towe ...

. In 2007 it was

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 ...

at Grade II. The water tower has a capacity of 50,000 gallons and was built in 1964. It was designed by Edmund C. Percey of Scherrer and Hicks. It is now disused and may be converted for residential use.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Hertfordshire Water towers in the United Kingdom