Hexton
Hexton | ||
---|---|---|
Shire county | ||
Region | ||
Country | England | |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom | |
Post town | HITCHIN | |
Postcode district | SG5 | |
Dialling code | 01582 | |
Police | Hertfordshire | |
Fire | Hertfordshire | |
Ambulance | East of England | |
UK Parliament | ||
Hexton is a small village and
This parish is a salient of Hertfordshire jutting northwards into Bedfordshire. The southern half of the parish is part of the chalky downs of the Chiltern Hills, which are covered with short turf and plantations of fir trees. The hills end abruptly and close to their foot lies the village of Hexton. It stands among grass fields and orchards at the beginning of a low plain, which, sloping gradually to the north, becomes merged in the large plain of southern Bedfordshire. The southern boundary of the parish is the grassy Icknield Way.
Hexton formerly belonged to the half-hundred of Hitchin, but when it came into the possession of the abbots of
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/Hexton_Manor.jpg/220px-Hexton_Manor.jpg)
Much of the parish was owned by George Hodgson, owner of Hexton Manor, a large modernized house standing in an extensive park. There is no regular village street, but most of the houses are near cross roads, which lead north, south, east and west and connect Hexton with the neighbouring small villages.[2]
Hexton stands in well-wooded and hilly country adjacent to the Bedfordshire border. The church, dedicated to St Faith, is mediaeval with heavy 19th-century restoration. The Manor House in its extensive park dates from at least the 15th century, although it was substantially altered in 1901.
The village was owned by the de Lautour family who lived at the Manor and were descendants of the French Dukes of Bouillon, however the manor and estate was then passed on to Major Sir Patrick Ashley Cooper and is still owned by his descendants.[3]
Ravensburgh Castle
Far older is the
It has been suggested that Ravensburgh might have been the headquarters of the Celtic chieftain
References
- ^ "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
- ^ 'Parishes: Hexton', A History of the County of Hertford: volume 2 (1908), pp. 352-354. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=43293 Date accessed: 12 June 2013.
- ^ "Hexton Manor". Historic England. Historic England. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
- ^ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1003541)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
- ^ See J.Dyer in D. W. Harding Hillforts: Later Prehistoric Earthworks (Academic Press) 1976, p. 153ff
- ^ see Dyer, ditto
External links
Media related to Hexton at Wikimedia Commons