Willian

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Willian
Hertfordshire
All Saints, Willian.jpg
All Saints church, Willian
Location
Grid reference: TL225308
Location: 51°57’38"N, 0°13’17"W
Data
Post town: Letchworth Garden City
Postcode: SG6
Dialling code: 01462
Local Government
Council: North Hertfordshire
Parliamentary
constituency:
North East Hertfordshire

Willian is a small and delightfully pretty village in Hertfordshire, tucked away off all the main routes with a population of approximately 326. Along with Norton and Old Letchworth, it is one of the original villages around which the planned town of Letchworth Garden City grew up. Despite this, it remains separate and retains a distinctive character.

The village was referred to in the Domesday Book as Wilie, and the name probably derives from a word meaning "willows".[1]

The village has two pubs, the Fox, which used to boast a bar with 16th century beams and low ceilings, now replaced by modern decor, and the Three Horseshoes, a Village Stores and Post Office and a large pond.

Church

The original parish church, All Saints', has a tower with clocks on three sides; the fourth side is blank, supposedly so that farm labourers would not be able to tell when to leave work. This has been supplanted as the main church of the parish by St Paul's, Letchworth.

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References

  1. Eilert Ekwall (1960). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names. Oxford: OUP.