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Totternhoe

Central Bedfordshire DistrictCivil parishes in BedfordshireUse British English from July 2016Villages in Bedfordshire
The Cross Keys, Totternhoe geograph.org.uk 193401
The Cross Keys, Totternhoe geograph.org.uk 193401

Totternhoe is a village and civil parish in the Manshead hundred of the county of Bedfordshire, England.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Totternhoe (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Totternhoe
Castle Hill Road,

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
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Wikipedia: TotternhoeContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 51.884 ° E -0.571 °
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Address

Castle Hill Road

Castle Hill Road
LU6 1QJ
England, United Kingdom
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The Cross Keys, Totternhoe geograph.org.uk 193401
The Cross Keys, Totternhoe geograph.org.uk 193401
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Nearby Places

Totternhoe Knolls
Totternhoe Knolls

Totternhoe Knolls is a 13.1-hectare (32-acre) Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Totternhoe in Bedfordshire. It is also a local nature reserve, and part of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The site is owned by Central Bedfordshire Council and leased to the National Trust. Most of the site is maintained jointly by the National Trust and the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire (WTBCN), and is part of the WTBCN Totternhoe nature reserve, which also includes Totternhoe Chalk Quarry and Totternhoe Stone Pit. The SSSI also includes Totternhoe Castle, the earthworks of a Norman motte-and-bailey castle which is a Scheduled monument. Part of the site was formerly a quarry where Totternhoe Stone, a strong type of chalk that was used in Westminster Abbey, was mined. This part is now grassland with a rich variety of plant species, including some that are now rare; these are characteristic species of chalk downland and include kidney vetch, horseshoe vetch, large thyme, squinancywort, autumn gentian, clustered bellflower, sainfoin and dwarf thistle. Orchids that grow here include common spotted orchid, Herminium monorchis Musk orchid, Orchis anthropophora Man orchid, bee orchid and twayblade . There are a wide variety of invertebrates, including butterflies such as the common blue, the chalkhill blue, and the scarce small blue and Duke of Burgundy fritillary.Totternhoe Castle was probably built in the late eleventh century. Only the earthworks survive, with a mound five metres tall and 40 metres wide. It is unusual in having three baileys.There is access from the National Trust car park off Castle Hill Road.

Sewell, Bedfordshire

Sewell is a hamlet located in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. Sewell is a small rural settlement, though it is located near to the town of Dunstable (and therefore the wider Luton/Dunstable/Houghton Regis Urban Area). The settlement forms part of the Houghton Regis civil parish. It is north of Dunstable Downs at the northern edge of the Chiltern Hills. The hamlet is beside London and North Western Railway's disused branch line that linked Dunstable with the main line at Leighton Buzzard. This is now a cycle route and consists of Sewell Cutting which heads towards Dunstable and a long embankment in the direction of Stanbridge. One hundred and fifty metres south of the former railway track are Maiden Bower, an Iron Age hill fort and Totternhoe Chalk Quarry. Sewell hosts a collection of listed homes and barns but one of the most prominent properties in the hamlet is Sewell Manor. This grade II list manor house dates back to around the 13th century and is full of character and history. It was purchased by Henry Brandreth 1652 from the Civil War Sequestrators. In recent years it has fallen into disrepair but has now recently been purchased by the Roche family to become their main residence and restoration work has begun to restore this manor back to former glory. Maiden Bower used to consist of a roughly circular bank topped with wooden posts. It had a diameter averaging around 225 metres. It now has a 3 metre high hedged bank, 100 metres of which has been undermined by the cliffs of the adjacent quarry. The enclosure contains the buried remains of a small Roman building. Previous excavation of the ditches has discovered ancient human remains.An early Bronze Age hoard was found in Sewell in 1968 and consists of a beaker, wrist-guard, toggle and pin, all now in the British Museum's collection.