Mildenhall, Wiltshire

This article is about Mildenhall in Wiltshire. For Mildenhall in Suffolk, see Mildenhall, Suffolk.

Coordinates: 51°25′26″N 1°41′56″W / 51.424°N 1.699°W / 51.424; -1.699

Mildenhall
St. John the Baptist parish church
Mildenhall  Mildenhall shown within Wiltshire
Population	457 (2001 census)[1]
OS grid reference	SU2169
Parish	Mildenhall
Unitary authority	Wiltshire
Ceremonial county	Wiltshire
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Marlborough
Postcode district	SN8
Dialling code	01672
Police	Wiltshire
Fire	Wiltshire
Ambulance	Great Western
EU Parliament	South West England
UK Parliament	Devizes
Website	Mildenhall, Wiltshire - Community Site
List of places: UK • England • Wiltshire

Mildenhall ( /ˈmaɪnəl/ my-nəl)^[2] is a village and civil parish in the Kennet Valley in Wiltshire about 1 mile (1.6 km) east of the market town of Marlborough.

History

The toponym is derived from the Old English but the site has been occupied since the Roman occupation of Britain, when the fortress town of Cunetio stood at an important road junction on approximately the same site.^[3] No remains of this fortress are now standing, but are clearly visible on aerial photographs. The Cunetio Hoard of Roman coins was discovered here in 1978. The name of the River Kennet, which runs through Mildenhall, is thought to have been derived from the Roman name, which is also used on the village's coat-of-arms.

Cunetio was deserted as a Romano-British site in about AD 450, but the site was reoccupied in the Anglo-Saxon era and a West Saxon charter drawn up between 803 and 805 refers to this settlement in its first recognisably modern form as Mildanhald,^[4] meaning "a nook of land of a woman called Milde or a man called Milda".^[5] The village is again mentioned in Domesday Book in 1086 as Mildenhalle and the name has since undergone numerous subtle changes in spelling and pronunciation.

Parish church

St John the Baptist parish church interior

The Church of England parish church of Saint John the Baptist originates from before the Norman Conquest:^{[citation needed]} some parts of the tower are undoubtedly Saxon in date. However, much of the present building dates from the thirteenth century. In 1816 the interior was refurbished by the villagers. Of particular note are the box pews and the twin pulpit and reading desk.

Sir John Betjeman refers to St. John's as "a church of a Jane Austen novel".^{[citation needed]} Simon Jenkins includes it in his England's Thousand Best Churches.^{[citation needed]}

St. John's parish is now a member of the Marlborough team ministry.^[6]

Amenities

The village has a public house, The Horseshoe Inn. Until a few years ago Mildenhall had a post office and village shop. The village hall was built in 1988.

Mildenhall usually holds a village fete, usually in mid-September on the village playing field (weather permitting), as well as a Guy Fawkes Bonfire Night and a Duck Race (using plastic ducks). Mildenhall publishes a monthly newsletter called The Parish Pump, now a joint publication with the neighbouring village of Axford.

Notable people

• Jack Ainslie
• Phil Harding
• Reg Prentice, Baron Prentice

References

1. ^ "Area selected: Mildenhall CP (Parish)". Neighbourhood Statistics: Full Dataset View. Office for National Statistics. http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=800566&c=SN8+2LZ&d=16&e=15&g=497557&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&enc=1&dsFamilyId=779. Retrieved 29 March 2007. 
2. ^ Miller, 1971, page not cited
3. ^ "Cvnetio Romano-British Town Mildenhall, Wiltshire". www.Roman-Britain.org. 28 September 2010. http://www.roman-britain.org/places/cunetio.htm. Retrieved May 2010. 
4. ^ Birch, page not cited
5. ^ Mills & Room, 2003, page 328
6. ^ Studdert-Kennedy, Rev. Andrew (20 October 2009). "St. John The Baptist Church, Mildenhall (Minal), Wiltshire". St. Mary's Anglican Church, Marlborough, Wiltshire teamed with St. George's and St. John The Baptist. Marlborough Anglican Churches. http://www.marlboroughanglicanteam.org.uk/st-john-the-baptist-church.html. Retrieved 31 January 2011. 

Sources and further reading

• Birch, Walter de Grey, ed (2010) [1885]. Cartularium Saxonicum. volume not stated. Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger Publishing. p. not stated. ISBN 1165280655. 
• Crowley, D.A. (ed.); Baggs, A.P.; Freeman, Jane; Stevenson, Janet H. (1983). A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 12: Ramsbury and Selkey hundreds; the Borough of Marlborough. Victoria County History. pp. 125–138. 
• Miller, G.M., ed (1971). BBC pronouncing dictionary of British names. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. not stated. ISBN 0-19-431125-2. 
• Mills, A.D.; Room, A. (2003). A Dictionary of British Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 328. ISBN 0198527586. 
• Pevsner, Nikolaus; Cherry, Bridget (revision) (1975) [1963]. Wiltshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 348–352. ISBN 0 14 0710.26 4. 

External links

• The Minal History in printable PDF form