Elston is a village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, England, to the south-west of

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

, and a mile from the A46

Fosse Way 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), Corini ...

. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 Census was 631. It lies between the rivers

Trent Trent may refer to: Places Italy * Trento in northern Italy, site of the Council of Trent United Kingdom * Trent, Dorset, England, United Kingdom Germany * Trent, Germany, a municipality on the island of Rügen United States * Trent, California, ...

and Devon, with the village "set amongst trees and farmland less than a mile from the A46.... Newark is five miles to the north, with... Lincoln and Nottingham some 18 miles north and south-west respectively."Elston Parish Council

Darwins

According to Cornelius Brown's 1896 ''History of Nottinghamshire'', the village lies

"very snugly and prettily ensconced in the midst of a pleasing landscape of North England. Nearly opposite each other are the Hall and vicarage, both occupying delightful situations, and built in elegant and stately style.
All Saints' Church, Elston All Saints' Church, Elston is a Grade II* listed parish church in the Church of England in Elston, Nottinghamshire, England. History The church dates from the 13th century. It was restored in 1837. The chancel was restored and the vestry rebuilt ...
has been handsomely restored, and is singularly rich in its memorials of the Darwins. This eminent family appear to have come to Elston from Lincolnshire towards the close of the seventeenth century, the manor being brought into the possession of
William Darwin William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
through his marriage with the heiress of Robert Waring of Wilford. William had two sons, and Elston was left to Robert, the younger, in whom the taste for scientific research began to develop."

Elston "currently has about 650 residents in 280 households. A number of new homes have been built within the last twenty years on once open spaces and there continues to be infill development on some of the large gardens."

History

Elston was "founded by the Angles in the 5th century. Its square shape is typically

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 ...

. The name derives from a leader named Elva and appears in the Domesday book as Elvastun. Historic old buildings in and adjacent to the parish include Elston Hall, All Saints Church, the Old Chapel of Ease on the site of a

mediaeval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

leper hospital, the Methodist Chapel, and Elston Towers, the

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

mansion of preacher Robert Middleton, now refurbished as a day spa and renamed Eden Hall."

Elston Hall

Elston Hall was "the home of the

Darwin family Darwin may refer to: Common meanings * Charles Darwin (1809–1882), English naturalist and writer, best known as the originator of the theory of biological evolution by natural selection * Darwin, Northern Territory, a territorial capital city i ...

from 1680 until just after the Second World War, when the estate was sold. Its premier resident was the savant

Erasmus Darwin Erasmus Robert Darwin (12 December 173118 April 1802) was an English physician. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosopher, physiologist, slave-trade abolitionist, inventor, and poet. His poems ...

, grandfather of Charles Darwin. Erasmus founded the Lunar Society, which included Josiah Wedgwood, Matthew Boulton,

James Watt James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fun ...

, Joseph Priestley and Benjamin Franklin." The present house was begun in 1756, then extended in 1837 and again later that century and in the 1950s. Originally H-shaped, it is now a linear sequence of two-storey ranges, the earliest being the central range built in blue lias stone.

Grade II listed 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 ...

in 1952, the buildings are now divided into ten residences.

Elston Chapel

Once a parish church, this was declared redundant in 1976, and under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. It is a Grade I listed building containing a fine

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 ...

south doorway with zigzag decoration. Inside are layers of wall paintings. It is thought it may have been the chapel of a medieval leper hospital dedicated to

St Leonard Leonard of Noblac (also Leonard of Limoges or Leonard of Noblet; also known as Lienard, Linhart, Leonhard, Léonard, Leonardo, Annard; died 559), is a Frankish saint closely associated with the town and abbey of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, in Hau ...

Elston Mill

Maps show windmills on the north side of Elston Lane () and south side of Mill Lane (). The latter was a tower mill built about 1844, the tower being bottle-shaped, with an increase in batter at the 3rd floor. Some renovation was done by Gash in 1919 and a new sail fitted by Wakes and Lamb of Newark for £74 in 1920. However, it was demolished in about 1940.

References

External links

The Elston Heritage ProjectBritish History Online: Parishes – Elston
{{authority control Villages in Nottinghamshire Newark and Sherwood