Westoning | |
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St Mary Magdalene Church |
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Westoning shown within Bedfordshire | |
Population | 2,001 (2001) 2,147 (2011 Census) |
OS grid reference | TL035325 |
Civil parish |
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Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | BEDFORD |
Postcode district | MK45 |
Dialling code | 01525 |
Police | Bedfordshire |
Fire | Bedfordshire and Luton |
Ambulance | East of England |
EU Parliament | East of England |
UK Parliament | |
Westoning /ˈwɛstənɪŋ/ is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England. It is located around 0.5 miles (0.8 km) south of the town of Flitwick. The River Flit flows behind the Westoning stud farm.
The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086; men in the village (as heads of household or serfs) numbered 16 villagers (villeins), 3 smallholders and 4 slaves (serfs). Cultivated land amounted to 14 ploughlands (land for) two lord's plough teams, five men's plough teams. Other resources were 2.0 ploughs of lord's lands (private parkland), seven ploughs of meadow and woodland worth 400 pigs (annual turnover of swine livestock). The head manor was Hitchin, which was owned by the King.
Alternative names of the village in this period were Weston (11th century), Weston Tregoz (early 14th century) and Weston Inge (14th century); these are documented in such documents as Patent Rolls of the King's letters patent. The spelling Weston Hyng may be a further alternative, used in 1396.
The manor first left complete royal demesne, with the unfettered right to appoint mesne lords, in 1173 when the King granted the estate worth £15 per year to Roger de Sanford who three years later owed 5 marks for default (of the annual knight's fee) to the King. His executors negotiated a notified Release of it to William de Buckland who paid £100 to effectively be seized of the whole village, save the churchlands; in 1216 his son-in-law, Robert de Ferrar, inherited. His son-in-law was to receive it by a family settlement yet unfortunately this man named William d'Avrenches died before 1230 and his son before 1235, thus the lands descended to Hamon de Crevecœur via a daughter, followed by his son William and his widow Mabel who later married John Tregoz (before her death in 1297).