Wrestlingworth

Geography

Wrestlingworth lies 2.5 mi east south-east of Potton and 13.5 mi south-west of Cambridge. The eastern parish boundary borders Cambridgeshire.

Elevation

The village centre is 41 m above sea level. The land falls to 28 m in the south-east corner of the parish. The highest point is in Cockayne Hatley Wood at 91 m.

Landscape

Natural England has designated the area as part of The Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire Claylands (NCA 88). Central Bedfordshire Council has classified the landscape as Dunton Clay Vale. Not technically a 'vale', it is used here to mean a transitional landscape between a valley and a plateau. Medium to large fields of cereal crops dominate. The limited woodland cover and incomplete or unhedged roads reveal an open, undulating landscape. Former hedgerow lines are marked in places by trees.

Geology, soil type and land use

The majority of the parish is arable farmland but there are also a number of paddocks for horses, cattle and sheep grazing. Most of the parish lies on boulder clay but there is a small strip of gault running through Wrestlingworth village centre. The whole parish has highly fertile lime-rich loamy and clayey soils with slightly impeded drainage.

Lousy Bush, a small 0.6 ha nature reserve is at a former gravel pit to the south-west of the village. It is registered as common land and owned by the Parish Council.

The night sky and light pollution

Light pollution is the level of radiance (night lights) shining up into the night sky. The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) divides the level of night sky brightness into 9 bands with band 1 being the darkest i.e. with the lowest level of light pollution and band 9 the brightest and most polluted. Wrestlingworth is in bands 3 and 4 with darker sky surrounding, particularly looking north-east.

Public footpaths and bridleways

A public footpath from Water End links with bridleways to Biggleswade via Lousy Bush, The Lodge, Dunton Fen, Sunderland Hall Farm and West Sunderland Farm.

History

Wrestlingworth is not mentioned in the Domesday Book. However, by the mid-12th century two manor houses – Kendale's and Hereford's - are recorded as the village which was being established along the banks of a tributary of the River Cam. Historic names were Wrastlingewurde in the 12th century and Wrestlingforth in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The Church of St. Peter was established in about 1300. Graves from the Great Plague are still clearly visible in St. Peter's churchyard, together with low set ‘leper’ windows.

|1801|330 |1841|487 |1881|638 |1901|456 |1921|433 |1951|391 |1961|393 |1981|601 |2001#|736 |2011#|744 There used to be a post office/shop and a local convenience store but now there is just a hairdressers, the offices of a financial advisor, and a public house, The Chequers.

The last woman to be publicly hanged in England

In the 1840s, notoriety hit the village when the case of the murderer Sarah Dazley came to the fore. By the age of 25, Dazley had poisoned two husbands and a child. She was about to marry a third husband when villagers warned him of her past and subsequent investigations took place. These commenced with exhumation of the bodies and a Coroner's Inquest which was held in The Chequers Pub. Traces of arsenic were found and several local residents gave evidence against Dazley during her trial at Bedford Assizes.

At the end of the case, Dazley was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged outside Bedford Gaol. She was the last woman to be publicly hanged in England and it is said that the entire Wrestlingworth community walked or rode over to Bedford to see the event.

Governance

There are two tiers of local government covering Wrestlingworth, at parish and unitary authority level: Wrestlingworth and Cockayne Hatley Parish Council and Central Bedfordshire Council. The parish council meets at the Memorial Hall in Wrestlingworth.

Wrestlingworth was an ancient parish in the Biggleswade hundred of Bedfordshire.

The parish was merged with the neighbouring parish of Cockayne Hatley in 1985 to form a new civil parish called Wrestlingworth and Cockayne Hatley.

Public services

Wrestlingworth is in the Potton Public Water Supply Zone (RW50). The water supplied by Anglian Water comes from groundwater boreholes and is chloraminated and classed as hard.

The Eastern Power Area of UK Power Networks is the distribution network operator for electricity. There is no mains gas supply and most properties use heating oil.

The nearest general hospitals are Bedford (Bedford Hospital NHS Trust), Lister Hospital, Stevenage (East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust) and Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge (Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust). Ambulance services are provided by the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust. Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service and Bedfordshire Police cover the village.

The closest public library is at Potton.

Public transport

Centrebus (South) runs bus route no. 188 south to Biggleswade and Hitchin (journey time 50 minutes) and to Potton and Sandy. The service is normally two hourly, daytime only, Monday to Saturday. Ivel Sprinter runs bus route no. 3 to Cambridge each Wednesday.

The nearest railway stations are Biggleswade and Sandy.

Notable people

• Sydney Beaumont, a former professional football player and manager, runner and cricketer was born in Wrestlingworth.

References

References

1. "Population estimates - small area (2021 based) by single year of age - England and Wales". Office for National Statistics.
2. "Home".
3. Bedfordshire. (2020-02-13). "Wrestlingworth".
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7. "5G. Dunton Clay Vale".
8. "Sheet 204. Geological Survey of England & Wales".
9. "Soilscapes Viewer". Cranfield University.
10. "Nature Reserve".
11. "Night Blight 2016: Mapping England's Light Pollution and Dark Skies". CPRE.
12. "SG18 postcode". CPRE.
13. (1908). "A History of the County of Bedford Vol. 2".
14. "BEDFORDSHIRE POPULATION FIGURES 1801 – 2011".
15. "Wrestlingworth and Cockayne Hatley Neighbourhood Plan 2016-2031".
16. Mountney, Dan. (22 July 2018). "The evil killings of the Potton poisoner, whose trial began today in 1843".
17. "Council meeting schedule".
18. "Wrestlingworth Parish". GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth.
19. "The Mid Bedfordshire (Parishes) Order 1984". The National Archives.
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21. "Drinking Water Quality Information".
22. "Check if you're in our area".
23. "The non-gas map".
24. "188 - Hitchin - Biggleswade - Wrestlingworth - Potton - Sandy".