Whatton-in-the-Vale
| Whatton-in-the-Vale | |
| Nottinghamshire | |
|---|---|
 The Vale of Belvoir Inn, Whatton-in-the-Vale | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SK746392 |
| Location: | 52°57’0"N, -0°53’24"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 843 (2011) |
| Post town: | Nottingham |
| Postcode: | NG13 |
| Dialling code: | 01949 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Rushcliffe |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Newark |
Whatton-in-the-Vale is a village in the south of Nottinghamshire, in the Vale of Belvoir, close to the border of Leicestershire. The River Smite is to the west and the River Whipling to the east.
The village is on the A52 road, twelve miles east of Nottingham. It had a population of 843 at the 2011 census.
Name
The place name seems to contain the Old English words hwæte for wheat, and tun for a farmstead, village or estate, so 'Wheat farm. The suffix "In the Vale" indicates the Vale of Belvoir.[1][2] The place appears as Watone in the Domesday Book of 1086.
Parish church
The Church of St John of Beverley dates from the 14th century, but was extensively restored and rebuilt in the 19th century. The church is a Grade II* listed building.[3]
The church is medieval, dating from the 14th century, but little of the original survived the restorations of 1846, 1866–1867 and 1870.[4] It consists now of a chancel rebuilt in 1846, a central tower and steeple rebuilt in 1870, and a nave with north and south aisles and north and south porches. The only remaining Romanesque work is the former south transept arch of the tower, which was moved to the north side during the 19th-century restoration. The nave is in Early English style.
There is also a chapel dedicated to the memory of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, who was born and raised in Aslockton, which was a chapelry of Whatton at that time. The two corbel heads in the chapel date from about 1300 and depict King David and an angel.[5]
The font dates from 1662. One of the 19th-century stained-glass windows, depicting SS. Peter and John with Jesus, was designed by the Pre-Raphaelite Edward Burne-Jones. There is a peal of eight bells, of which five bells were cast by Henry Oldfield of Nottingham in 1590 and 1618. An early clock was installed in 1683 by Richard Roe.[6] This was replaced in 1910.
The parish belongs to the Cranmer Group of parishes, with the churches at Aslockton, Hawksworth, Orston, Scarrington and Thoroton.
About the village
Whatton Mill was a five-storey brick tower windmill built in 1820. It had four patent sails (sails with shutters instead of cloth), two of which were double. Milling ceased in about 1916. The capless tower is now a listed building.[7]
Whatton Manor estate, to the south of the village, was inherited in 1840 by Thomas Dickinson Hall (1808–1879), who built a substantial manor house there in "Elizabethan style".[8] The family financed charitable and church-building work in the district.[9] The manor house and its grounds were sold in 1919 to Samuel Ernest Chesterman, who in turn sold them to William Goodacre Player, son of John Player of the cigarette manufacturers John Player & Sons). The manor building, by then in poor condition, was demolished in the mid-1960s, but the original stables can still be seen from Manor Lane.[10] They now house a stud farm.
The village pub, the Griffin's Head, was closed in the mid-1990s and replaced by private housing.[11]
HM Prison Whatton opened at the west end of the village in 1960 as a detention centre. Since 1990 it has been a Category C closed male prison for sex offenders.[12]
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Whatton-in-the-Vale) |
- Information on Whatton-in-the-Vale from GENUKI
- Whatton-in-the-Vale Parish Council
- Whatton-in-the-Vale Cranmer Local History Group
References
- ↑ Gover, J. E. B.; Mawer, A. & Stenton, F.M.: 'Place-Names of Nottinghamshire , Part' (English Place-Names Society, 1940), page 219
- ↑ Mills, Anthony David: 'A Dictionary of British Place-Names' (Oxford University Press, 2003) ISBN 978-0-19-852758-9
- ↑ National Heritage List 1243823: Church of St John of Beverley (Grade II* listing)
- ↑ Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Nottinghamshire, 1951; 1979 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09636-1page 377
- ↑ 'A Short Guide to the Parish Churches of the Bingham Rural Deanery', ed. J. Pickworth-Hutchinson (Bingham Deanery Chapter, 1963)
- ↑ Beeson, C.F.C. English Church Clocks 1280–1850. Brant Wright Associates Ltd. ISBN 0903512149.
- ↑ Shaw, T. (1995). Windmills of Nottinghamshire. Page 42. Nottingham: Nottinghamshire County Council. ISBN 0-900986-12-3
- ↑ Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, Volume 1 p. 526
- ↑ Whatton timeline: Cranmer Local History Group
- ↑ Local History Digest December 2005: Cranmer Local History Group
- ↑ Local History Digest April 2008: Cranmer Local History Group
- ↑ BBC report, 30 March 2015