Coordinates: 51°25′32″N 1°42′1″W / 51.42556°N 1.70028°W
Mildenhall, pronounced /ˈmаɪnəl/ "my-nəl" by local residents,[1] is a small village about 2 miles east from the town of Marlborough on the road to Ramsbury, in the county of Wiltshire. The village is sometimes called Minal. In the Census 2001 the parish was recorded as having a population of 457.[2]
The village's name derives from the Old English, but the site has been occupied since the Roman occupation of Britain, when the fortress-town of Cunetio stood at a crucial road junction on approximately the same site. No remains of this fortress are now standing. The name of the river Kennet, which runs through Mildenhall, is thought to have been derived from the Roman name, which is also used on the village's coat-of-arms. Cunetio was deserted as a Romano-British site in c.450, but the site was reoccupied in the Anglo-Saxon period, and a West Saxon charter drawn up between 803 and 805 refers to this settlement in its first recognisably modern form as Mildanhald,[3] meaning "a nook of land of a woman called Milde or a man called Milda".[4] The village is again mentioned in Domesday Book in 1086 as Mildenhalle and the name has since undergone numerous subtle changes in spelling and pronunciation.
The village has one pub, The Horseshoe Inn, and until a few years ago also had a post office and shop. The village hall was constructed in 1988.
Mildenhall holds a fete every year with few exceptions, usually in mid-September on the village playing field (weather-permitting), as well as a Guy Fawkes Bonfire Night and a Duck Race (involving plastic rather than real ducks). For the past six years Mildenhall has produced a monthly newsletter entitled The Parish Pump, now a joint publication with the nearby village of Axford.
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Church of St. John
The church of St John the Baptist (pictured, right) originates from before the Norman Conquest[citation needed] – some parts of the tower are undoubtedly Saxon in date – although the present building dates from the thirteenth century. In 1816 the interior was refurbished by the villagers; of particular note are the box pews and the twin pulpit and reading desk.
The church is referenced by Sir John Betjeman ("a church of a Jane Austen novel") and is chosen in Simon Jenkins's England's Thousand Best Churches.
Notable people
Surname
Mildenhall is also a common surname in Wiltshire.
See also
References
- ^ G. M. Miller (editor) (1971). BBC pronouncing dictionary of British names. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-431125-2
- ^ Neighbourhood Statistics. Accessed 29 March, 2007.
- ^ Birch, W. de Gray (ed.), Cartularium Saxonicum
- ^ Mills, A.D., Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names (Oxford: OUP, 2003), 328.
External links
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