Felmersham is a small 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

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, ...

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, on the

River Great Ouse The River Great Ouse ( ) is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the ...

, about north west 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 ...

. As a civil parish, it includes the hamlet of Radwell, and is sometimes known as Felmersham with Radwell, and has a population of about 800, and is circumscribed by the Great Ouse on the north, east and south. Other nearby places are

Sharnbrook Sharnbrook is a village and civil parish located in the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England, situated around north-west of Bedford town centre. The settlement was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as a parish within the Hundred o ...

, Odell,

Pavenham Pavenham is a small village and civil parish on the River Great Ouse in the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England, about north-west of Bedford. Village amenities consist of St Peter's Church, a pub, Village hall, tennis Club, Cricket Clu ...

and

Milton Ernest Milton Ernest is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, about north of Bedford itself. It had a population of 754 in 2001. This had risen to 761 according to the 2011 census.//www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/Lea ...

. Felmersham with Radwell was recorded 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 a parish within the

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. ...

.British History Online – Parishes and dates
/ref>

John de Burnham John de Burnham, or John Brunham (died 1363) was an English-born cleric, judge and Crown official who spent much of his career in Ireland. He held office as Lord High Treasurer of Ireland and Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer. He spent many ye ...

, later

Lord High Treasurer of Ireland The Lord High Treasurer of Ireland was the head of the Exchequer of Ireland, and chief financial officer of the Kingdom of Ireland. The designation ''High'' was added in 1695. After the Acts of Union 1800 created the United Kingdom of Great Brit ...

, was parish priest here in the 1330s. The Church of St Mary is located in the village. The village gave its name to

HMS Felmersham HMS ''Felmersham'' was one of 93 ships of the of inshore minesweepers. Their names were all chosen from villages ending in ''-ham''. The minesweeper was named after Felmersham in Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ce ...

, a

Ham class minesweeper The Ham class was a class of inshore minesweepers (IMS), known as the Type 1, of the British Royal Navy. The class was designed to operate in the shallow water of rivers and estuaries. All of the ships in the class are named for British place na ...

. Felmersham has no shop or

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

but does have one

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

, The Sun. Two previous pubs closed in the 1990s; The Plough in 1991 and The Six Ringers in 1995. Felmersham supports a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

. In 2017, Pinchmill Lower School changed to Pinchmill Primary School when the local education system changed from three tier to two tier. The school caters for children aged 5–11 (previous to 2017 it was 5–9). After leaving, most children move on to

Sharnbrook Academy Sharnbrook Academy, formerly Sharnbrook Upper School until 2017, is a large, rural academy school located in Sharnbrook, a village in the English county of Bedfordshire. Built in 1975, the school now has over 1700 students and around 300 sta ...

. The school building was opened in 1974 and took its name from the Pinchmill Islands in

Felmersham Gravel Pits Felmersham Gravel Pits is a Site of Special Scientific Interest between the villages of Felmersham and Sharnbrook in Bedfordshire. It was notified under Section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in 1986 and the local planning authority ...

nature reserve is North of the village, just over the

. It is understood that the pits were created by extracting sand and gravel to build local airfields in

World War Two World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilisi ...

Notable residents

Sheila K McCullagh Sheila Kathleen McCullagh MBE (3 December 1920 – 7 July 2014) was a British author of children's literature. Biography McCullagh was born in Surrey, and during her 'teens the family moved to Woodside House, just outside Felmersham on the ...

(author

Puddle Lane ''Puddle Lane'' (or ''Tales from Puddle Lane'') is a 1980s English pre-school children's television programme written by Rick Vanes with animated stories written by Sheila K. McCullagh, author of ''Tim and the Hidden People''. A long series o ...

children's books) *

Geoff Millman Geoffrey Millman (2 October 1934 – 6 April 2005) was an English cricketer who played in six Tests for England from 1961 to 1962. Life and career Millman was born in Bedford, Bedfordshire, England and educated at Bedford Modern School. He wa ...

(English

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

cricketer Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

) *

Oliver Gavin Oliver Benjamin Gavin (born 29 September 1972) is a British racing driver who joined Corvette Racing in 2002. He has won five American Le Mans Series class championships, five 24 Hours of Le Mans class wins, six 12 Hours of Sebring class wi ...

(Racing driver) * Malcolm McDonald (English international footballer) *

Nick Tandy Nicholas Tandy (born 5 November 1984) is a professional British racing driver currently racing for Porsche Motorsport as a factory driver in the IMSA SportsCar Championship. Tandy is the only person to have completed the Grand Slam of overal ...

(Racing driver)

References

External links

Felmersham and RadwellPinchmill Lower School website
Villages in Bedfordshire Civil parishes in Bedfordshire Borough of Bedford {{Bedfordshire-geo-stub