Bygrave 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

North Hertfordshire North Hertfordshire is one of ten local government districts in the county of Hertfordshire, England. Its council is based in Letchworth Garden City and the largest town is Hitchin. The district also includes the towns of Baldock and Royston ...

district of

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

, England, about north-east of Baldock. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 289.

History

In the 10th century the parish was called Bigraffan and 11th to 16th centuries Bigrave. The village church is St Margaret's and is dedicated to St Margaret of Antioch, while the site on which it stands dates from at least Saxon times with two phases of Saxon construction from 8th-10th centuries. Some Romano-British pottery, pre-dating the present church by several centuries was found under the north nave wall indicating a much earlier settlement on this site. This church has carvings of the ancient game of Nine Men Morris on the frames of the chancel windows. There are wall paintings that date from the mid fifteenth century. A notable rector here was George Coke who went on to be the

bishop of Hereford The Bishop of Hereford is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Hereford in the Province of Canterbury. Until 1534, the Diocese of Hereford was in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church and two of its bishop ...

. The church is open at weekends only and the key is available from the churchwardens. The lane leading to the church was once the centre of a busy village and known as the Market Place and flourished between the 13th and 15th centuries. There was a 3-day annual fair beginning at the feast of St Margaret. The date was changed to Easter Monday and survived until Victorian times. The Manor Farm has contributed much to the life of this village, from when most people living there were actually employed on the farm, to the present day. Sheep are still grazed on the Common.

Geography

The village stands on a clay-capped hill, a defensive position where the original settlement was surrounded by moats built in 1386 which can still be seen today. From these defences, the whole parish bounded by Icknield Way, the Great North Road, the Cat Ditch and a ridge to the north would have been visible. A reservoir is situated behind the Old Rectory and used for irrigation of potato crops by Manor Farm. There is also a tiny airfield used for microlight aircraft.

Governance

There are three tiers of local government covering Bygrave, at

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

, and

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

level: Bygrave Parish Council, North Hertfordshire District Council, and

Hertfordshire County Council Hertfordshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Hertfordshire, in England. The council was created in 1889. It is responsible for a wide range of public services in the county, including social c ...

. The parish council generally meets at St Margaret's Church.

Sport and Leisure

Croquet

Bygrave Croquet Club
was based at The Moat House until 2017 when the owners of the property moved to Great Dunham, Norfolk.

Handbell Ringing

Th
Bygrave Handbell Ringers
were formed in 1999 with the idea of ringing in the millennium. The team has 13 members and meets every week at The Moat House. They give many public performances in the community each year including the Carol Service at St Margaret's Church on Christmas Eve. Their strangest concert was in the Baldock Bypass tunnel before it was opened to traffic in 2006.

References

External links

Bygrave Croquet Club Web SiteBygrave Handbell Ringers Web Site
{{authority control Villages in Hertfordshire Civil parishes in Hertfordshire