Bolnhurst is a small village 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 authorit ...

of Bolnhurst and Keysoe, 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 borou ...

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 ...

. The village is about north-northeast 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 ...

and about west of St Neots. The name is derived 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 ...

''bula-hyrst'', meaning "wooded hill where bulls are kept".

History

Bolnhurst grew up around the main road between Bedford and

Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire Kimbolton is a town and civil parish in England. Kimbolton is about west of Huntingdon and north of Bedford. Kimbolton is administered as part of Cambridgeshire; however it is situated within Huntingdonshire, which is an historic county of Eng ...

. 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 lists it as ''Bulehestre'' or ''Bolehestre''. At that time the manor was held by

Thorney Abbey Thorney Abbey, now the Church of St Mary and St Botolph, was a medieval monastic house established on the island of Thorney in The Fens of Cambridgeshire, England. History The earliest documentary sources refer to a mid-7th century hermita ...

. The Abbey retained Bolnhurst until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century. After

inclosure Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...

of the parish in 1778, Arthur Young, despite never having visited the village, described Bolnhurst as: :a wet heavy bad country very disadvantageously circumstanced respecting roads, for every way around they are almost impassable... after inclosing fell into bad hands, they laid much of it down to grass in as bad order as possible, and it has continued so ever since in as rough and ill conditioned and unprofitable a state as can be well conceived... It should seem that corn has there been lessened without making amends for the loss by ample products of new grass.

Parish church

The Church of England parish church of St Dunstan is about southwest of the current village. The earliest part of the present building is the 13th-century

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

. The chancel arch and three of the nave windows are 14th-century, including a three-light

Decorated Gothic English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed ar ...

traceried one on the south side. But most of the nave is now Perpendicular Gothic, including two transomed and traceried windows on the north side. Inside the nave over the north door is the remains of a large medieval wall painting of St Christopher. In the northeast corner of the nave are

monuments A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...

to two members of the Francklin family: John (died 1707) and Dame Dorothy (died 1727). St Dunstan's is a

Grade II* 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 Ir ...

. The ecclesiastical parish is part of the Benefice of Keysoe with Bolnhurst and Little Staughton. The tower has a

ring Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

of four bells. John Dier of Hitchin, Hertfordshire cast the second and third bells in 1587. One of the Newcombe family of bellfounders from Leicester cast the tenor bell in 1618. Alfred Bowell of

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

, Suffolk cast the treble bell in 1907.

Culture and community

Bolnhurst has a pub, The Plough, which is a 17th-century Jacobean building. Since 1984 Bolnhurst has hosted the annual Bolnhurst Vintage and Country Fayre, which is a rally of historic tractors, cars and other vehicles.

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

Bolnhurst and Keysoe Parish Council
{{Authority control Villages in Bedfordshire Borough of Bedford