Long Marston, Hertfordshire
Encyclopedia
Long Marston is a small village to the north of Tring
in Hertfordshire
, in the Tring Rural
parish council area. It is located roughly 5 miles east of Aylesbury
and 11 miles north-west of Hemel Hempstead
.
The name of the village is likely to derive from 'Mershton', literally Marsh Farm, a reference to its propensity for flooding http://www.hertfordshire-genealogy.co.uk/data/books/books-0/book0053-placenames.htm . By 1751 this had developed into the name Long Marcon http://www.stcross.nildram.co.uk/witch.html.
Long Marston is also host to a primary school, Long Marston JMI. The school was built after the original school, built during the Victorian era, was bombed during World War Two. The current school, built in 1951, has gradually grown and extended with the village and its population.
Due to transport links improving and more people owning cars, the number of services in Long Marston has slowly diminished. One public house remains, the Queens Head. Historically there were Four. The White Hart and the Rose and Crown shut many years ago, but the Boot was a recent loss and quite a severe one for village life as the local shop and Post Office had been relocated there.
Now the nearest stores are Wilstone, Wingrave or Tring.
Long Marston however is home to Long Marston Cricket Club, one of the most affluent village cricket
clubs in the Hertfordshire
and Buckinghamshire
region. The club attracts players of all ages from across the two counties, with many junior teams as well three senior teams which play on Saturdays throughout the summer.
"Straggling crossroads place stuck in the dullish, well-watered flatlands north of Tring. The ruined, ivy-covered flint tower is all that remains of a deserted medieval church - a must for the modern-day follower of the Tour of Dr Syntax (Rowlandson). A new church, uninspired in itself, incorporates fragments of the old - chancel arch and windows - and also the Perpendicular aisle piers from Tring parish church. In the main street are plain cottages, a bit of timber-framing and weather-boarding in good harmony. Some thoughtless new development.
"In 1751 the village pond was the scene of England's last witch-lynching, when Ruth Osborn, the 'witch', was captured and drowned. One of her tormentors ended up gibbeted at Gubblecote Cross (1/2 m. E.), close to the moated site of a deserted medieval village
."
[From Hertfordshire (a Shell Guide),R. M. Healey , Faber & Faber, London, 1982]
Tring
Tring is a small market town and also a civil parish in the Chiltern Hills in Hertfordshire, England. Situated north-west of London and linked to London by the old Roman road of Akeman Street, by the modern A41, by the Grand Union Canal and by rail lines to Euston Station, Tring is now largely a...
in Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
, in the Tring Rural
Tring Rural
Tring Rural is a civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. It is composed of the villages of Long Marston, Wilstone, Puttenham, and the hamlets of Gubblecote and Astrope. It is largely situated the north of the town of Tring...
parish council area. It is located roughly 5 miles east of Aylesbury
Aylesbury
Aylesbury is the county town of Buckinghamshire in South East England. However the town also falls into a geographical region known as the South Midlands an area that ecompasses the north of the South East, and the southern extremities of the East Midlands...
and 11 miles north-west of Hemel Hempstead
Hemel Hempstead
Hemel Hempstead is a town in Hertfordshire in the East of England, to the north west of London and part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2001 Census was 81,143 ....
.
The name of the village is likely to derive from 'Mershton', literally Marsh Farm, a reference to its propensity for flooding http://www.hertfordshire-genealogy.co.uk/data/books/books-0/book0053-placenames.htm . By 1751 this had developed into the name Long Marcon http://www.stcross.nildram.co.uk/witch.html.
Long Marston is also host to a primary school, Long Marston JMI. The school was built after the original school, built during the Victorian era, was bombed during World War Two. The current school, built in 1951, has gradually grown and extended with the village and its population.
Due to transport links improving and more people owning cars, the number of services in Long Marston has slowly diminished. One public house remains, the Queens Head. Historically there were Four. The White Hart and the Rose and Crown shut many years ago, but the Boot was a recent loss and quite a severe one for village life as the local shop and Post Office had been relocated there.
Now the nearest stores are Wilstone, Wingrave or Tring.
Long Marston however is home to Long Marston Cricket Club, one of the most affluent village cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
clubs in the Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
and Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
region. The club attracts players of all ages from across the two counties, with many junior teams as well three senior teams which play on Saturdays throughout the summer.
"Straggling crossroads place stuck in the dullish, well-watered flatlands north of Tring. The ruined, ivy-covered flint tower is all that remains of a deserted medieval church - a must for the modern-day follower of the Tour of Dr Syntax (Rowlandson). A new church, uninspired in itself, incorporates fragments of the old - chancel arch and windows - and also the Perpendicular aisle piers from Tring parish church. In the main street are plain cottages, a bit of timber-framing and weather-boarding in good harmony. Some thoughtless new development.
"In 1751 the village pond was the scene of England's last witch-lynching, when Ruth Osborn, the 'witch', was captured and drowned. One of her tormentors ended up gibbeted at Gubblecote Cross (1/2 m. E.), close to the moated site of a deserted medieval village
Deserted medieval village
In the United Kingdom, a deserted medieval village is a former settlement which was abandoned during the Middle Ages, typically leaving no trace apart from earthworks or cropmarks. If there are fewer than three inhabited houses the convention is to regard the site as deserted; if there are more...
."
[From Hertfordshire (a Shell Guide),R. M. Healey , Faber & Faber, London, 1982]