Lavendon
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox UK place Lavendon is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority area of the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England.<ref>Parishes in Milton Keynes Template:Webarchive - Milton Keynes Council.</ref> It is the northernmost village in the Milton Keynes UA and South East England,Template:Efn near Olney, about Template:Convert WNW of Bedford and Template:Convert NNE of Central Milton Keynes.
Nearby places are Warrington, and Cold Brayfield in the Milton Keynes UA, and Harrold and Carlton over the border in Bedfordshire.
History
The village name is derived from a personal name and a place-name element from the Old English language (Lafan + denu), and means 'Lafa's valley'.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the Domesday Book of 1086 the village was recorded as Lavendene and Lawendene.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
At Castle Farm are the earthworks of a motte-and-bailey castle created in the twelfth century by de Bidun family as the headquarters of their barony of Lavendon.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The castle was last recorded in 1232.
The village was once the location of a Premonstratensian abbey, founded between 1155 and 1158 by John de Bidun. The abbey was suppressed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It stood at what is now Grange Farm.
The Earl of Gainsborough was patron of the parish church.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
The village is on the route of the 1936 Jarrow March, there is a small plaque on the churchyard wall to commemorate this.
Modern Lavendon
The parish church is dedicated to St Michael: it dates from the 12th century and is a Grade I listed building.<ref>Template:NHLE</ref> There is also a Baptist Church that meets at the Union Chapel in the centre of the village.
The village has a combined school for children from reception (4 years) through to year 6 (11 years). It also has a village store and Post Office, an independent garage, village hall and two public houses, the Green Man and The Horseshoe. There is also a pre-school and a nursery.
The company Tusting has a small factory on Olney Road producing a wide range of luxury leather goods which are exported worldwide.
The Lavendon Narrow Gauge Railway is situated in the village and it open to the public a few Sundays a year. Template:Clear left
Note and references
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External links
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