Waresley
| Waresley | |
| Huntingdonshire | |
|---|---|
 Vicarage Road, Waresley | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TL253536 |
| Location: | 52°10’30"N, 0°10’23"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Sandy |
| Postcode: | SG19 |
| Dialling code: | 01767 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Huntingdonshire |
Waresley is a village in Huntingdonshire; a small 'estate' village set in pleasant undulating countryside hard by the county's southern boundary. It stands on the Potton Road beside the wooded grounds of Waresley Park a large country manor not of the grea age of the country house but built in 1934.
Waresley retains some charming old thatched cottages.
Five miles south-east of the town of St Neots and seven miles north-east of Sandy, Bedfordshire, Waresley and neighbouring Tetworth together were counted as holding just 283 souls.
Parish Church
The parish church, St James, was built only in 1865. It is the third church the village has had; the original church stood in the east of the village and was mentioned in the Domesday Book but was destroyed by a storm in 1724. In 1728 the church was rebuilt, but this Georgian church was pulled in the twentieth century and in 1856 the current church built on a new site, at the junction of the roads to Great Gransden and Eltisley.
The church was designed by William Butterfield, a celebrated Gothic Revival church architect, and it contains some fine examples of his work, including "Structural Polychromy" decoration in the chancel of contrasting red, green and yellow tiles. The Great Storm of 1987 destroyed the church's spire but it was rebuilt.
The church is connected by a well to the adjacent Duncombe Mausoleum.
History
Waresley was listed in the Domesday Book as Wederesle. The name probably means "Wær's woodland clearing" or "Wether's meadow".[1] In 1801, Waresley's population stood at 195 people and in 1901, it was 216.
Sights about the village
Waresley Wood, a Site of Special Scientific Interest,[2] is managed as a nature reserve by the local Wildlife Trust.[3] Waresley Park, a former deer park landscaped by the 18th Century designer Humphry Repton, is now used as a base for horse training.[4]
References
- ↑ Mills, A.D. (1998). A Dictionary of English Place-names. Second Edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford. p365. ISBN 0-19-280074-4
- ↑ Natural England: Waresley Wood
- ↑ Wildlife Trust: Waresley Wood
- ↑ Waresley Park