Place:Podington, Bedfordshire, England

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source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Podington is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, United Kingdom. The village is within the electoral ward of Harrold in the Borough of Bedford. Podington lies around northwest of Bedford and is about east of the county border with Northamptonshire. Nearby there is paintballing. Podington Garden Centre, founded by village residents Colin & Norma Read in 1976 can be found in the High Street.

Podington is a small picturesque rural village; many of its buildings are stone cottages dating from the 18th century, and some even earlier. Podington was included in the Domesday Book 1086, with a population of 29 households; prominent landowners included Walter of Flanders, Hugh of Flanders and William Peverer.

The community was recorded as "Podintone" and "Potintone" from the 13th century and later as "Puddington". Today it is sometimes spelt (or misspelt) "Poddington". Located around southeast of the village are RAF Podington and Santa Pod Raceway. Hinwick House is found at a crossroads under south of the village.

Church of St Mary is a Grade I listed church in Podington. It became a listed building on 13 July 1964. Some surviving architectural elements date back at least to the early 13th century. A 1912 report about the church indicated that it had a chancel, nave, north aisle, south aisle, south porch and west tower. The south arcade of the nave, the north arcade the chancel and tower were all dated to the 13th century.

Richard Orlebar, the High Sheriff for Bedfordshire and his wife, the culinary writer Diana Astry, were both buried at this church in the 1700s. They had been the owners of Hinwick House.^[1]

The church's pipe organ was restored by the 92nd Bomb Group Memorial Association. The 92nd group had been stationed at the RAF Podington airfield during WW II and flew nearly 300 operational missions from that base.

Civil Parish

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

The post-1974 civil parish covering Podington also encompasses Hinwick and Farndish; although in the past Farndish had its own civil parish, it experienced depopulation and it was absorbed into the Podington parish. In the past and present the civil parish is usually referred to as Podington and Hinwick but sometimes Podington with Hinwick or just "Podington". The parish is within the historic Hundred of Willey.

Podington was made a civil parish in 1866 and in 1894 it became part of the Bedford Rural District. Since 1974 it has been in the non-metropolitan Borough of Bedford.

Nearby Places

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Less than 1.5 km (0.93 mi) to the south is the hamlet of Hinwick; the closest nearby villages between 1.5 and 3 km (1 and 2 miles) away include Farndish to the northwest and Wymington to the northeast. Nearby larger settlements include Rushden to the north, Irchester to the northwest and Wollaston to the west, all around 5 km (3.1 mi) away. Wellingborough, which is 7 km (4.3 mi) northwest of Podington, is the village's post town.

Research Tips

• The website British History Online provides three chapters of the Victoria County History Series on Bedfordshire. The first covers the religious houses of the county; the second and third provides articles on the parishes of the county. The parishes are arranged within their "hundreds".
• GENUKI main page for Bedfordshire which provides information on various topics covering the whole of the county, and also a link to a list of parishes. Under each parish there is a list of the settlements within it and brief description of each. This is a list of pre-1834 ancient or ecclesiastical parishes but there are suggestions as to how to find parishes set up since then. GENUKI provides references to other organizations who hold genealogical information for the local area. There is no guarantee that the website has been kept up to date and therefore the reader should check additional sources if possible.
• Bedfordshire family history societies are listed in GENUKI.
• The FamilyTree Wiki has a series of pages similar to those provided by GENUKI which may have been prepared at a later date and from more recent data. The wiki has a link to English Jurisdictions 1851. There is a list of all the parishes in existence at that date with maps indicating their boundaries. The website is very useful for finding the ecclesiastical individual parishes within large cities and towns.
• A Vision of Britain through Time, Bedfordshire, section "Units and Statistics" leads to analyses of population and organization of the county from about 1800 through 1974. There are pages available for all civil parishes, municipal boroughs and other administrative divisions. Descriptions provided are usually based on a gazetteer of 1870-72 which often provides brief notes on the economic basis of the settlement and significant occurences through its history.
• These two maps indicate the boundaries between parishes, etc., but for a more detailed view of a specific area try a map from this selection. The oldest series are very clear at the third magnification offered. Comparing the map details with the GENUKI details for the same area is well worthwhile.

• Map of Bedfordshire illustrating urban and rural districts in 1900 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time. Parish boundaries and settlements within parishes are shown.
• Map of Bedfordshire urban and rural districts in 1944 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time. Parish boundaries and settlements within parishes are shown. This is not a repeat of the first map. There were some changes in urban and rural district structure in the 1930s.

• Wikimedia Commons map of the post-1974 districts of Bedfordshire. The numbers will be linked to the districts on the WeRelate district pages.
• A map of the ancient divisions named "hundreds" is provided on each of the pages for the hundreds in Bedfordshire.