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Totternhoe

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TOTTERNHOE

[Transcribed and edited information from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868]

"TOTTERNHOE, (or Tattnall), a parish in the hundred of Manshead, county Bedford, 2 miles west of Dunstable, its post town, and 6 south east of Leighton Buzzard. The inhabitants are employed in the neighbouring stone quarries, and in the straw plait trade. On the north side of the village passes the old Roman road Icknield Street, and on the Downs are traces of an ancient camp. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Ely, value £120. The church, dedicated to St. Giles, is old. There is a Sunday-school, also a chapel for the Wesleyans. On the Downs, about half a mile west, are the remains of Tottenhoe Castle, overhanging the village of Stanbridge.

"CHURCH END, a village in the parish of Totternhoe, county of Bedfordshire, ¼ mile south east of Totternhoe."

"HONEYWICK, a small hamlet in the parishes of Eaton Bray and Totternhoe, county of Bedfordshire, 2 miles west of Dunstable."

"LOWER END, a hamlet in the parish of Totternhoe, county of Bedfordshire, 1 mile north west of Totternhoe."

"MIDDLE END, a hamlet in the parish of Totternhoe, county of Bedfordshire, ¼ mile north west of Totternhoe."

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868]
by Colin Hinson ©2013
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Census

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Churches

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Church History

  • Church of England
    • The church of St. Giles is an edifice in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, porch and a western embattled tower with turret at the south-east angle containing 5 bells: the roofs of the nave and aisles display well-carved figures and bosses: there is a brass, with effigy bearing chalice and host, to John Warwekhytt, vicar, 1524; and one to William Michell, a child, 1621. The register dates from the year 1558. [Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
    • Here are Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels. [Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
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Church Records

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Description & Travel

  • The straw plait business is carried on here; there are also lime stone and cement works owned by the Totternhoe Lime, Stone and Cement Co. Lim. but agriculture is the principal industry. About a mile and a half from Dunstable, and half a mile westward from Maiden Bower, on a projecting headland of the Chiltern range, are the celebrated earthworks called "Totterhoe Castle;" these consist of a lofty circular mount, with a slight vallum round its base, and a larger one, of an irregular form, at some distance from it; it is considered to have been a fortification of the ancient Britons, subsequently occupied by the Saxons, afterwards converted into a Roman camp; the form of the works indicating British and Roman military construction, and the name British and Saxon occupation. Earl Brownlow P.C. is lord of the manor and the principal landowner. The soil and subsoil are chalky; a hard band of the chalk or "clunch" near the village is known as Totternhoe stone, of which Woburn Abbey and many churches in the district have been constructed. The chief crops are wheat, barley, beans and turnips. The area is 2,321 acres; rateable value, £3,041; the population in 1891 was 612. [Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
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Gazetteers

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Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SP988215 (Lat/Lon: 51.883318, -0.565969), Totternhoe which are provided by:

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Military History

  • The BFHS Project in conjunction with Roll of Honour contains the Totternhoe War Memorial transcription with details of the men found on it.