Avon Dassett 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 ...

in the Stratford district of

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, nestling among the Burton Dassett Hills about four miles east of

Kineton Kineton is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Dene in south-east Warwickshire, England. The village is part of Stratford-on-Avon (district), Stratford-on-Avon district, and in the United Kingdom Census 2001, 20 ...

and seven miles north of

Banbury Banbury is an historic market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. The parish had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

. According to the 2001 and the

2011 censuses Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number) * One of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''Eleven'', a 1970 collection of short stories by Patricia Highsmith *''Eleven'' ...

it had a population of 210.

Etymology

The name ''Dassett'' is first attested for this location 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 ...

of 1086 as ''Derceto'' and in 1173 as ''Derchet''. This name comes from the

Common Brittonic Common Brittonic (; ; ), also known as British, Common Brythonic, or Proto-Brittonic, is a Celtic language historically spoken in Britain and Brittany from which evolved the later and modern Brittonic languages. It is a form of Insular Cel ...

words that survive in modern Welsh as ("oaks") and ("woodland"), referring to the adjacent wolds. This Brittonic name, thought to be found also in

Dosthill Dosthill is an area of Tamworth, Staffordshire, 2.5 miles south of the town centre, and close to the River Tame. The area is mostly residential, centering on Dosthill High Street, with local employment on the adjoining Tame Valley Industrial E ...

and Burton Dasset, was then extended to specify that the settlement in question was in the part of Dassett on the River Avon. This extended name is first attested in 1185, as ''Afnederceth''..

Famous people

Israel Tonge Israel Tonge (11 November 1621 – 1680), aka Ezerel or Ezreel Tongue, was an English divine. He was an informer in and probably one of the inventors of the "Popish" plot. Career Tonge was born at Tickhill, near Doncaster, the son of Henry To ...

was at one stage appointed rector of Avon Dassett, although according to Tonge "illegall practices" prevented him taking up the position. Avon Carrow is located in Avon Dassett, the former residence of

John Profumo John Dennis Profumo ( ; 30 January 1915 – 9 March 2006) was a British politician whose career ended in 1963 after a sexual relationship with the 19-year-old model Christine Keeler in 1961. The scandal, which became known as the Profumo affai ...

, the local MP in the 1960s. He was central to the

Profumo affair The Profumo affair was a major scandal in British politics during the early 1960s. John Profumo, the 46-year-old Secretary of State for War in Harold Macmillan's Conservative government, had an extramarital affair with the 19-year-old model ...

, a sex and spy scandal in that era.

References

*''Warwickshire Towns & Villages'', by Geoff Allen (2000)

External links

Avon Dassett Parish Council
Villages in Warwickshire {{Warwickshire-geo-stub

Etymology

Famous people

See also

References

External links