Podington 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...

, England, United Kingdom. The village is within the

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

of Harrold in the

Borough of Bedford Bedford, or the Borough of Bedford, is a Districts of England, local government district with borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It is administered by Bedford Borough Council, ...

. Podington lies around northwest of

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

and is about east of the county border with

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

. Podington is a small picturesque rural village; many of its buildings are stone cottages dating from the 18th century, and some even earlier. Podington was included 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

1086, with a population of 29 households; prominent landowners included Walter of Flanders, Hugh of Flanders and William Peverer. The community was recorded as "''Podintone''" and "''Potintone''" from the 13th century and later as "''Puddington''". Today it is sometimes spelt (or misspelt) "Poddington". Located around southeast of the village are RAF Podington and

Santa Pod Raceway Santa Pod Raceway is Europe's first permanent drag racing venue for and racing. Located in Podington, Bedfordshire, England, the drag strip was built on a disused World War II, Second World War Royal Air Force (RAF) airbase, known as RAF Pod ...

. Hinwick House is found at a crossroads under south of the village. Church of St Mary is a

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

church in Podington. It became a listed building on 13 July 1964. Some surviving architectural elements date back at least to the early 13th century. A 1912 report about the church indicated that it had a chancel, nave, north aisle, south aisle, south porch and west tower. The south arcade of the nave, the north arcade the chancel and tower were all dated to the 13th century.

Mary I of England Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She made vigorous ...

gave the manor to one of her servants George Brediman in 1557. Richard Orlebar, the High Sheriff for Bedfordshire and his wife, the culinary writer Diana Astry, were both buried at this church in the 1700s. They had been the owners of Hinwick House. The church's pipe organ was restored by the 92nd Bomb Group Memorial Association. The 92nd group had been stationed at the RAF Podington airfield during WW II and flew nearly 300 operational missions from that base.

Civil parish

The civil parish covering Podington also encompasses

Hinwick Hinwick ( ) is a hamlet in northwest Bedfordshire, England, United Kingdom; it is around nine miles north west of Bedford and is about east of the county border with Northamptonshire which is also the postal county. The hamlet is in the paris ...

and Farndish; although in the past Farndish had its own civil parish, it experienced depopulation and it was absorbed into the Podington parish. In the past and present the civil parish is usually referred to as "Podington and Hinwick" but sometimes "Podington with Hinwick" or just "Podington". The parish is within the historic

Hundred of Willey The Hundred of Willey is a historical land division, a hundred in the northwest corner of Bedfordshire, England. Its northwestern boundary is the county border with Northamptonshire, and its southwestern boundary the border with Buckinghamshire. ...

Nearby places

Less than to the south is the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

of Hinwick; the closest nearby villages between 1.5 and 3 km (1 and 2 miles) away include Farndish to the northwest and Wymington to the northeast. Nearby larger settlements include

Rushden Rushden is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Northamptonshire district, in the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England, around east of Northampton. The parish is on the border with Bedfordshire, north of B ...

to the north,

Irchester Irchester is a village and civil parish in North Northamptonshire, two miles (3 km) south-east of Wellingborough and two miles south-west of Rushden. The population of the village at the 2011 Census was 5,706 and estimated in 2019 at 5,767 ...

to the northwest and Wollaston to the west, all around away.

Wellingborough Wellingborough ( ) is a market town in the North Northamptonshire, Unitary Authority area, England, from London and from Northampton, north of the River Nene. Originally named "Wendelingburgh" (the stronghold of Wændel's people), the Anglo ...

, which is northwest of Podington, is the village's

post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in t ...

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Bedfordshire Civil parishes in Bedfordshire Borough of Bedford

Civil parish

Nearby places

See also

References

External links