Willington 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 ...

located in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

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 ...

. It is west of

Moggerhanger Moggerhanger is a village in the English county of Bedfordshire. It is west of Sandy on the road to Bedford. Its population in 2001 was 636, but had reduced to 620 at the 2011 Census. In the twentieth century the village name was spelled vario ...

on the road from Sandy to

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 is 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 manus ...

as ''Welitone'' and as ''Wilitona'' in ''c.'' 1150, from

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 ...

''tun'' (homestead) among the willows, and is part of the ancient

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...

Wixamtree Wixamtree is an ancient hundred located in Bedfordshire, England. Wixamtree was one of the hundreds of Bedfordshire, with its council being the primary form of local government in its area from the Anglo-Saxon times to the nineteenth century. ...

. In the parish church of St Lawrence there is a grand 16th-century chapel.Betjeman, J. (ed.) (1968) ''Collins Pocket Guide to English Parish Churches: the South''. London: Collins; p. 106 Willington is home to 16th century

Willington Dovecote & Stables Willington Dovecote & Stables is a National Trust property located in Willington, near Bedford, Bedfordshire, England. Both buildings are Grade I listed. The property is a 16th-century stable and stone dovecote, which contains nesting boxes fo ...

, both now owned by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

. In addition, it is home to The Danish Camp, a restaurant set along the cycle route which holds an annual fireworks display on bonfire night (5 November). This is also the location of an ancient moated site. Willington used to have a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

on the Sandy to Bedford railway line, now part of the

NCR 51 National Cycle Route 51 is an English long distance cycle route running broadly east-west connecting Colchester and the port of Harwich to Oxford via Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds, Cambridge, Bedford, Milton Keynes, Bicester, and Kidlington. Links to ...

national cycle route. St Lawrence Willington - geograph

References

External links

Willington dovecote and stables
at the National Trust.
Willington station
disused station site record

"Danish Camp" riverside restaurant, & moated site
Willington pages
at the

Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service The Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service is a county record office, holding archival material associated with Bedfordshire and Luton. Established in 1913 by George Herbert Fowler (1861-1940) as the Bedfordshire Record Office, it wa ...

Villages in Bedfordshire Civil parishes in Bedfordshire Borough of Bedford {{Bedfordshire-geo-stub