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Ashwell Having recently marked an official 1,100 years, Ashwell has a remarkable story which actually goes back even further. But along with its past, the village is also host to a modern settlement and has a natural beauty which marks it out as a key part of the local tourist trail. The year 917 was given as the date when land was reclaimed by Alfred the Great and Ashwell, among a host of other towns and villages was created. However, in 2002, some 26 silver and gold plaques and jewellery were found at a field in Ashwell End. These were offerings to a previously unknown goddess, meaning there were inhabitants before Ashwell’s ‘official’ settlement date. After the Romans, incoming Anglo-Saxons settled and built houses scattered around the countryside, populations grew and estates were formed. Ashwell, with its freshwater springs, which today provide a major tourist attraction, was the centre of such an estate. The impressive parish church dates back to 1218, and while it was a initially a focus of celebration, it has also had a darker side and has an inscription marking the Black Death which reached the area in 1349 and is thought to have killed as many as half the inhabitants of the village in the ensuing plague. There are a number of other outstanding buildings in Ashwell, which still has three pubs, The Rose and Crown and The Three Tuns, both on the High Street, and The Bushel and Strike – opposite St Mary’s Church. Long before the Bushel, in 1633 a wine tavern called The Wheatsheaf was kept on Mill Street. Later it was owned by the village’s own brewery, Fordhams. The Wheatsheaf was eventually pulled down and the Bushel in the adjoining house was started as a small beer house more than 60 years ago. Ashwell Village Museum was founded in 1930 but its origins go back a decade earlier, when pupils of the Ashwell Merchant Taylors School chanced on archaeological curios – coins, clay pipes and a beer mug – which they displayed in a garden shed.
Ashwell Village Museum was founded in 1930 but its origins go back a decade earlier
The collection was shown at a church fete and proved so interesting that a committee was formed to find a permanent home for it and other finds from the village. A half-timbered Tudor house was bought for the purpose. The village also holds a number of events throughout the year, with Ashwell at Home being held on the second Sunday in May since the 1980s while Ashwell Show takes place on August Bank Holiday Monday.
NH Now Summer 2019
