| Ashwell | |
|---|---|
 Tower ofSt Mary's Church from Swan Street | |
  Ashwell Location withinHertfordshire | |
| Population | 1,980 (Parish, 2021)[1] |
| OS grid reference | TL265398 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BALDOCK |
| Postcode district | SG7 |
| Dialling code | 01462 |
| Police | Hertfordshire |
| Fire | Hertfordshire |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| UK Parliament | |
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Ashwell is a village andcivil parish in theNorth Hertfordshire district ofHertfordshire, England. It lies 4 miles (6 km) north-east ofBaldock.[2]
To the southwest of the village isArbury Banks, the remains of anIron Agehill fort which have been largely removed by agricultural activity.
In 2002, localmetal detectorists found a silver Roman figurine of a goddess,Dea Senuna. A subsequent archaeological dig over four summers revealed 26 more gold and silver objects situated in a major open-air ritual site.[3]
TheBuckinghamshire family of Nernewt (Nernuyt) held land here in the 14th century, which was originally part of theAbbot of Westminster'smanor. This land became the manor of Westbury Nernewtes.[4][5]
The village has a wealth of architecture spanning several centuries. There was also a great fire of Ashwell on Saturday 2 February 1850, without fatalities.[6]
The village itself is mostly in a fine state of preservation, from the medieval cottage to the fine town house, plastered or timbered, thatched or tiled, inTudor, Carolean orGeorgian brick.Listed buildings include the St. John's Guildhall of 1681, the carefully restored Foresters Cottages, the Chantry House with its 15th-century window, the 16th-century town house (now Ashwell Museum), the Maltings (now converted into flats), and a small brick house which was first built in 1681 as a school by theMerchant Taylors.Ashwell Bury, a largeVictorian house, was remodelled byEdwin Lutyens in the 1920s. Lutyens also designed the Grade 2 listedAshwell War Memorial, unveiled in 1922. Ashwell also has avillage lock-up that was used to detain drunks and suspected criminals. The village used to be home to a number of local breweries and, accordingly, a variety ofpublic houses in its past, but currently has just three pubs: The Rose and Crown, the Three Tuns and the Bushel and Strike.
Since 1850 the village has been served byAshwell and Morden railway station which is about a mile and a half from the centre of the village in thehamlet ofOdsey in Cambridgeshire.
Theparish church of St Mary the Virgin dates almost entirely from the 14th century and is renowned for its ornate church tower which stands at 176 feet (54 m), and is crowned by an octagonallantern with a leaded 'spike'.[2] The church contains medieval graffiti carved on its walls which highlight the plight of survivors of the bubonic plague pandemic known as theBlack Death. There is also a graffito depiction ofOld St Paul’s Cathedral.
In 2013, the village church became the centre of a nationally reported row over the quarter-hourly chiming of the clock. Complaints about the chimes during the night were initially received in the summer of that year, which North Hertfordshire District Council (NHDC) was legally obliged to investigate. In December, the council ruled that the chimes are "prejudicial to health" and have to be silenced between 11 pm and 6 am. Complying with the ruling has meant turning off the chimes altogether, although the parish council has asked theDiocese of St Albans if it can install a timing mechanism that will restrict the chimes to the legally appointed hours, and has launched an appeal to raise the £1,900 cost. The chiming clock was initially installed in 1898, but was turned off for 18 months in 2011 and 2012 while repairs were carried out. A public meeting on 19 January 2014 discussed the future of the chimes.[7][8][9][10] In May 2015, a timer had been installed to reduce the volume of the church bells overnight.[11]
Ashwell Springs, a biologicalSite of Special Scientific Interest, is aperennial source of theRiver Cam. The cool water of thechalk springs contain a rare species ofstenothermic flatworm (Platyhelminthes;Tricladida) associated with cold surface waters or subterranean groundwater that is only known from this location withinEast Anglia. The springs now depend upon artificial flow augmentation during drier periods, due to the impact of localgroundwater abstraction from the chalkaquifer for public water supply.
The village is a "green oasis" with many trees and this contrasts with the surrounding landscape dominated by intense agricultural production, principally of wheat, with rather limited aesthetic orbiodiversity interest.
There are three tiers of local government covering Ashwell, atparish,district, andcounty level: Ashwell Parish Council,North Hertfordshire District Council, andHertfordshire County Council. The parish council has an office at 6A Back Street and meets at the Parish Room at 9 Swan Street.[12][13] There is also a village hall at 20 West End, which began as the maltings for Page's Brewery, before being converted into a village hall in 1922.[14]
Ashwell is anancient parish, and it was part of thehundred ofOdsey. Ashwell was included in theRoystonPoor Law Union from 1835.[15] TheLocal Government Act 1894 created elected parish and district councils with effect from December 1894. The part of the Royston Poor Law Union within Hertfordshire becameAshwell Rural District; although named after Ashwell, the rural district council was always based in Royston.[16] Ashwell Rural District was abolished in 1935, becoming part ofHitchin Rural District, which in turn was abolished in 1974, becoming part of North Hertfordshire.[17]
At the2021 census, the population of the parish was 1,980.[1] The population had been 1,870 in 2011.[18]
Ashwell has several successful sports teams from under-12s to veterans. The adult first football team have won several trophies and are currently in the Hall's of Cambridge Sunday league premier division. The cricket team won the Cambridgeshire Junior Cup in 2003 and currently play in Division 1 of the Cambridgeshire league. There are many other clubs and societies catering for all interests. Ashwell has a junior soccer side called the Academicals, which are from age 5 to 18.
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