Pertenhall 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 ...

located in

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 ...

, close to the borders of

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

and

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 ...

. Its parish council is a Quality Parish Council. It has recently published its Parish Plan which is available on the website The name derives from Peters Hill (allegedly) based on the Hill by St Peters Church. The parish of Pertenhall & Swineshead is part of the

Stodden Between Anglo-Saxon times and the nineteenth century Bedfordshire was divided for administrative purposes into 9 hundreds, plus the borough of Bedford. Each hundred had a separate council that met each month to rule on local judicial and taxati ...

Hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

(which comprises

Bolnhurst Bolnhurst is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Bolnhurst and Keysoe, in the Borough of Bedford, Bedfordshire, England. The village is about north-northeast of Bedford town centre and about west of St Neots. In 1931 ...

Clapham Clapham () is a district in south London, south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (including Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Ea ...

Dean and Shelton Dean and Shelton is a civil parish in the Bedford district, in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire t ...

Keysoe Keysoe is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Bolnhurst and Keysoe, in the Bedford district, in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. In 1931 the parish had a population of 432. On 1 April 1934 the parish was aboli ...

Knotting Knotting may refer to: *tying a knot A knot is an intentional complication in Rope, cordage which may be practical or decorative, or both. Practical knots are classified by function, including List of hitch knots, hitches, List of bend knots, b ...

Little Staughton Little Staughton is a small village and civil parish located in the north of Bedfordshire. The parish church, All Saints, is set apart from the present village – the previous village having been abandoned following an outbreak of the Bubonic ...

Melchbourne Melchbourne is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Melchbourne and Yielden, in the Bedford district, in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. In 1931 the parish had a population of 160. On 1 April 1934 the parish w ...

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 ...

, Oakley, Pertenhall, Riseley,

Shelton Shelton may refer to: Places United Kingdom *Shelton, North Bedfordshire, in the parish of Dean and Shelton, Bedfordshire * Lower Shelton, in the parish of Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire * Upper Shelton, in the parish of Marston Moretaine, Bedf ...

Tilbrook Tilbrook is a village and civil parish in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England, approximately west of Huntingdon and north-west of Cambridge. Though administered as part of Cambridgeshire, the village historically belonged ...

and

Yelden Yelden or Yielden is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Melchbourne and Yielden, in the Bedford district, in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England, near the borders with Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire. It lies ...

). The village is drawn out along the B660 beginning with Chapel Yard, derived from the

Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...

n Chapel located there and is characterised by a series of 'Ends', namely Wood End (a cul-de-sac, terminating at a footpath known locally as 'the Track', Chadwell End (a thoroughfare), derived from the

Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...

Well that exists nearby and leading to Green End at the south.

World War II

During the war the village had a propaganda school for the

Special Operations Executive Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a British organisation formed in 1940 to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in German-occupied Europe and to aid local Resistance during World War II, resistance movements during World War II. ...

(SOE).

Moravian Chapel

Little remains of the chapel itself but there are still gravestones in the graveyard.

St Peter's Church

The village's oldest building is the church, which dates from

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

times. There are also a number of interesting buildings such as the Manor House, Hoo Farm and Green End Farm House, all of which date back several hundred years.

Village Hall

The Village Hall was formerly the Village School which was in use from 1870 to 1946. The school was built on a site bequeathed by the Reverend John King Martyn M.A. and a plaque in the hall commemorates this. John King Martyn was the grandson of the botanist

John Martyn Iain David McGeachy (11 September 1948 – 29 January 2009), known professionally as John Martyn, was a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. Over a 40-year career, he released 23 studio albums and received frequent critical acclaim. ...

Education

The

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 ...

within

catchment A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, th ...

of Pertenhall is located in the village of Riseley, four miles away from Pertenhall, and is called Riseley Primary School. The

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

within catchment of Pertenhall is in the village of

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 ...

, eight miles away from Pertenhall, and is called

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 ...

References

External links

Pertenhall & Swineshead Parish Council
*
Stodden Hundred
{{authority control Borough of Bedford Civil parishes in Bedfordshire Military history of Bedfordshire Training establishments of the Special Operations Executive Villages in Bedfordshire