Badminton
| Badminton | |
| Gloucestershire | |
|---|---|
 Badminton High Street | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | ST804826 |
| Location: | 51°32’34"N, 2°17’2"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 271 (2011) |
| Post town: | Badminton |
| Postcode: | GL9 |
| Dialling code: | 01454 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | South Gloucestershire |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Thornbury and Yate |
Badminton is a village in Gloucestershire, famous for Badminton House and for two innovations from that house: the game of Badminton and the Badminton Horse Trials. The village consists of two settlement: Great Badminton, which is the main village and usually just called 'Badminton', and Little Badminton, just under a mile to the north, separated by the Badminton Park, the parkland of Badminton House.
The village is called Madmintune in the Domesday Book of 1086, while a century earlier the name Badimyncgtun was recorded.[1]
It is a little village, with a small shop which also serves as a Post Office.
Churches
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The parish church is St Michael and All Angels, in Great Badminton and attached to the Duke of Beaufort's residence, Badminton House.[2]
The current church was built in 1785 and serves as the principal burial place of the Somerset family. Nearly all Dukes and Duchesses are interred here.
A smaller church, also dedicated to St Michael and All Angels, stands in neighbouring Little Badminton.[3]
Little Badminton
To the north of the main village is the small rural settlement of Little Badminton. Here can be found farm houses, cottages and estate lodges very much in the traditional Cotswold style of architecture. Remains of a mediæval 'sunken village' can be seen in Little Badminton, as well as an ornamental dovecote or croft, which is mentioned in the Domesday book.
History
Since 1275, the manors of Great and Little Badminton were held by the Boteler family. In 1612 however, Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester, bought the manors from Nicholas Boteler. His great grandson, Henry Somerset (1629–1700), was elevated to the title Duke of Beaufort in 1682, and the estate has been held by the Dukes of Beaufort ever since. Various generations built and transformed their family seat, Badminton House, which remains the principal seat of the Dukes, as it has been for them and their forebears since the late 17th century. Badminton House also gives its name to the sport of badminton.
Badminton Golf Club (now defunct) was founded in the late 1890s or early 1900s. The club closed in 1914.[4]
The village played host to the Dowager Queen Mary during the Second World War: she was evacuated from Marlborough House in London to take up residence at Badminton House for the duration of the war. She lived here with her niece Mary, Duchess of Beaufort, wife of the 10th Duke.
An air show was held in Badminton until the early 1990s, when new safety rules forced it to close.
Horse trials
The village is famous for the Badminton Horse Trials, which take place in early May each year in the grounds of Badminton House.
Transport links
The village is located close to the A46 and A433, the B4040 passes south of it. The next motorway junction is Tormarton Interchange between A46 and M4.
The former railway station in nearby Acton Turville closed in 1968,[5] but the line is still active. The nearest railway station is Yate on the Bristol to Gloucester line.
West of the village is Badminton Airfield.[6]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Badminton) |
- Badminton in the Domesday Book
References
- ↑ Mills
- ↑ St Michael and All Angels Church, Great Badminton
- ↑ St Michael and All Angels Church, Little Badminton, 19 July 2013
- ↑ "Badminton Golf Club", "Golf’s Missing Links".
- ↑ "Badminton Railway Station (Closure). HC Deb 28 May 1968 vol 765 cc1721-32". http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1968/may/28/badminton-railway-station-closure.
- ↑ "Badminton Airfield". UKGA. http://ukga.com/airfield/badminton.