Lower Stondon is a small village in the

Central Bedfordshire Central Bedfordshire is a Districts of England, local government district in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It is administered by Central Bedfordshire Council, a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority. It was created ...

district of

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. It is located close to the border with

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 ...

, around 2.5 miles (4 km) south-west of

Henlow Henlow is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of the county of Bedfordshire, England, about south-east of the county town of Bedford. The name Henlow is believed to derive from the old Eng ...

. It is part of the larger Stondon

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 ...

, which at the 2001 Census had a population of approximately 2,000 increasing to approximately 2,300 at the 2011 Census. The A600 road from

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district of Hertfordshire, England. The town dates from at least the 7th century. It lies in the valley of the River Hiz at the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hills ...

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 ...

runs close to the village, while the nearest railway station is

Arlesey Arlesey ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. It is near the border with Hertfordshire, about north-west of Letchworth Garden City, north of Hitchin and south of Biggleswade. Arlesey ra ...

on the

East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between its northern terminus at and southern terminus at . The key towns and cities of , , , , and are on the line. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Grea ...

History

Domesday Entry

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 ...

has two entries for Lower Stondon. In Folio 209 Bedfordshire, Section Roman VIII, The Land of St Benedict of Ramsey, Clifton Hundred it says:
In ower and UpperStondon the same abbot f St Benedictholds half a hide. There is land for half a plough, and there is alf a plough This land belongs and belonged to the Demesne of the church of St Benedict. It is worth 15s. In Folio 209 Bedfordshire, Section Roman LV, The Land of the Wife of Ralph Taillebois, Clifton Hundred it says:
In ower and UpperStondon Engeler holds 2½ hides of Azelina. There is land for 2½ ploughs. In Demesne re2 ploughs; and 3 bordars with half a plough. There are 2 slaves ndmeadow for 2½ ploughs. It is worth 60s; when received, 40s; TRE £4. Wulfmær, of Eaton Socon, a thegn of King Edward, held this land; and there were 5 soak men, men of the same Wulfmær, and they could give and sell heir landto whom they wished.

Media

Part of the village receives the ''Advertiser'', the ''Comet'' and the ''Bedfordshire on Sunday'' newspapers. The village had its own magazine, distributed each season about the village and surrounding area called ''Stondon Times''. This stopped in about 2008 and at present no single magazine has taken its place. The village also receives two magazines distributed to villages in the surrounding area, one called ''In and Around'' and the other called ''The Villager''.

Education

The village has a Lower School, which was originally built in 1861 and extended in the 1950s and 1960s. Children join when they are 4 and then transfer to a Middle School in the area aged 9 (Henlow Middle or Robert Bloomfield) and then onto Samuel Whitbread Academy aged 13. The schools all maintain websites which can be found at - Stondon Lower School

Robert Bloomfield Middle School

Henlow Middle School

Samuel Whitbread Academy

Stondon Transport Museum

The village hosted the largest private transport museum in the UK. The collection had over 400 exhibits, including cars, motorcycles, tanks, aircraft, and a full-size replica of Captain Cook's ship, the

HM Bark Endeavour HMS ''Endeavour'' was a British Royal Navy research vessel that Lieutenant James Cook commanded to Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia on his first voyage of discovery from 1768 to 1771. She was launched in 1764 as the collier ''Earl of Pemb ...

. The museum closed in April 2015.

Notes

#
http://www.mountpleasantgolfclub.co.uk/
# Domesday Book, A Complete Translation, Penguin Books, #
Central Bedfordshire Council
#
Stondon Parish Council

External links

Stondon Parish Council WebsiteOfficial Stondon WebsiteStondon Transport Museum (archived)

References

{{authority control Villages in Bedfordshire Central Bedfordshire District