Shillington, Bedfordshire

Gravenhurst is a civil parish located in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. The parish includes Lower Gravenhurst, Upper Gravenhurst, as well as the hamlet of Ion.Features of Gravenhurst include St. Mary's Church, which was built during the 14th century.

The Shillington Hoard is a Roman coin hoard found in Shillington, Bedfordshire in 1998. It consisted of 127 gold aurei, the latest of which was from 79 AD. The coins were issued by Tiberius, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian.Metal detectorists Shane Pyper and Simon Leete discovered 123 aurei in October 1998. They also found a much smaller hoard of seven silver denarii a few metres away. In September 1999, Pyper and Leete found a further four aurei and eleven denarii, making a total of 127 aurei and 18 denarii. Ten of the denarii are Republican, and one was of Hadrian from 128 AD, so the relationship between the gold and silver hoards is uncertain.The coins appear to have been deposited without intention of recovery, perhaps as a votive offering at a Romano-Celtic temple. They are now on display at the Wardown Park Museum in Luton.

St Mary's Church is a redundant Anglican church in the village of Lower Gravenhurst, Bedfordshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. Lower Gravenhurst is some 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Bedford, to the east of the A6 road. The church is surrounded by fields and stands on a small hill and open daily.

Upper Gravenhurst is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Gravenhurst, in the Central Bedfordshire district of the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. In 1881 the parish had a population of 354. On 24 March 1888 the parish was abolished and merged with Lower Gravenhurst to form "Gravenhurst".The Church of St Giles has been established in the village since the 12th Century. The first school in the village was built in 1870, today known as Gravenhurst Academy.

Higham Gobion Castle was once believed to be an 11th-century castle located in the village of Higham Gobion. Now it is part of the civil parish of Shillington, in the English county of Bedfordshire. It has since been determined that the site was in fact a fishery with a breeding island that was mistaken for a defendable moated building of some sort. The "castle" was located 3 miles from Pirton Castle, and 14 miles south of Bedford Castle. Only earthworks remain at the site. Roman Antiquities, such as coins, millstone and cinerary urns have been discovered near the site.

Knocking Hoe is a 7.7 hectare National Nature Reserve and biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Pegsdon in Bedfordshire. It is mentioned in A Nature Conservation Review. It is part of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and is managed by Natural England.The site is a flat bottomed valley with steep sides. The unimproved chalk grassland has several nationally rare plants, including moon carrot, spotted catsear, field fleawort, burnt tip orchid and pasque flower. There are also a variety of wild flowers such as the autumn lady’s tresses, which has been studied on the site for over fifty years. The ancient strip lynchet field system is of archaeological interest.There is access by a footpath from Hitchin Road in Pegsdon.

Pegsdon is a hamlet located in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. It is part of the Shillington civil parish, and is almost encircled by the county border with Hertfordshire. Pegsdon Hills are located south and east of Pegsdon. They form the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hills, and are managed as a nature reserve by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. They adjoin Deacon Hill, and Deacon Hill and half of Pegsdon Hills are designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Knocking Hoe is accessed by a footpath from Hitchin Road. It is a national nature reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Meppershall is a hilltop village in Bedfordshire near Shefford, Campton, Shillington, Stondon and surrounded by farmland. The village and the manor house are mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086 - with the entry reading: Malpertesselle/Maperteshale: Gilbert FitzSolomon. The Manor House belonged to the De Meppershall family for nearly 300 years following 1086. The present house is early 17th century. Until 1844 Meppershall was partially in Hertfordshire. The detached portion of Hertfordshire was transferred to Bedfordshire in 1844, following the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844. St. Mary's church dates back to the Normans. The Parish Records of St Mary, Meppershall, have been published on CD by the Parochial Church Council.Before the advent of greenhouses, Meppershall was a very poor community with large families living in two up, two down type thatched cottages built of brick with stone floors. However, so many greenhouses were built in the village that it was known as a "glass city," growing salad crops for local markets, which were shipped further afield via the railway. As well as farming, the village earned its income from coprolite digging. Coprolite is the fossilised dung of pre-historic creatures, which when ground and treated with sulphuric acid produces a superphosphate fertiliser. To extract it, a long trench was dug on one side of a field. The overlaying clay was then dug out until the nodule bed was reached. If the depth of clay to be removed was more than eight to nine feet, the trench was made in two or three steps, and as the nodules were taken out, so the trench was refilled with the earth already removed. The nodule bed was shovelled into barrows and taken to the washing mill. This consisted of a circular iron trough with a pivot in the centre to which a set of travelling rakes was attached, these being dragged round by horses, and a constant stream of water was kept running through the trough until the clay washed off. The dirty water then was drained off and the nodules carted away. The coprolite was worth about £3 a ton in 1890, yielding some 300 tons per acre. A good fossil digger could earn as much as £2 a week. This industry has also died out.

Higham Gobion is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Shillington, in the Central Bedfordshire district, in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It is located between the villages of Shillington and Barton-le-Clay. In 1961 the parish had a population of 28. On 1 April 1984 the parish was abolished and merged with Shillington. It was in the hundred of Flitt. This hilltop village, which consists of a church, farm and small industrial unit and one or two houses, gets the second part of its name from the Gobion family, who resided in this area after the Norman invasion of 1066. In the fields a mile north-east of the church are triangular earthworks and medieval fishponds, all that remain today of a substantial deserted medieval village. Roman pottery has also been found in the field east of the former Rectory. The Anglican church, dedicated to St. Margaret, dates from c.1300, but was much restored during the Victorian period. It contains a monument to Dr. Edmund Castell, who died in 1674 and was a Professor of Arabic at Cambridge. He was a rector at Higham during the last years of his life and lived in the adjoining (and much restored), former rectory. The church is part of the Diocese of St Albans.

Upper Stondon is a village in Bedfordshire, England, part of the wider Stondon civil parish. Upper Stondon is a very small settlement with few amenities. However, the village of Lower Stondon and nearby Henlow Camp have extensive local amenities and services.

Campton is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Campton and Chicksands, in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. It is about 9 miles (14 km) south of Bedford, and is about 9 miles (14 km) north-west from Letchworth and sits on a tributary of the River Ivel. It is just to the west of Shefford. The 13th century Church of All Saints is in the centre of the village. In 1961 the parish had a population of 358.

Pirton is a large village and civil parish three miles northwest of Hitchin in Hertfordshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,274.The church, rebuilt in 1877, but with the remains of its 12th-century tower, is built within the bailey of a former castle, Toot Hill. Pirton Grange, which was remodelled in the 18th century, is in the north of the parish, and is a particularly interesting, moated Elizabethan house with a timber-framed gatehouse. Hammonds Farm and Rectory Farm, with its tithe barn, are also Elizabethan. Pirton first appeared in official records in the Domesday Book in 1086 within the hundred of Hitchin. The village was then known as Peritone (meaning 'Homestead of Pears')The Icknield Way Path passes through the village on its 110-mile (180 km) journey from Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire to Knettishall Heath in Suffolk. The Icknield Way Trail, a multi-user route for walkers, horse riders and off-road cyclists also passes through the village. There are two churches in Pirton - one Methodist, one Anglican. There is a village school which teaches children from reception to Year 6. Many students continue on at Hitchin Priory. There are two local pubs - the Motte and Bailey on Great Green, and the Fox on High Street. Pirton has both football and cricket clubs.