Elston is a village and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district, in Nottinghamshire, England, to the south-west of Newark, 0.5 mi (800 m) from the A46 Fosse Way. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 631,[1] increasing to 697 at the 2021 census.[2] It lies between the rivers Trent and Devon, with the village "set amongst trees and farmland less than a mile from the A46.... Newark is five miles to the north, with... Lincoln and Nottingham some 18 miles north and south-west respectively."[3]
Darwins
According to Cornelius Brown's 1896 History of Nottinghamshire, the village lies
"very snugly and prettily ensconced in the midst of a pleasing landscape of North England. Nearly opposite each other are the Hall and vicarage, both occupying delightful situations, and built in elegant and stately style. All Saints' Church, Elston has been handsomely restored, and is singularly rich in its memorials of the Darwins. This eminent family appear to have come to Elston from Lincolnshire towards the close of the seventeenth century, the manor being brought into the possession of William Darwin through his marriage with the heiress of Robert Waring of Wilford. William had two sons, and Elston was left to Robert, the younger, in whom the taste for scientific research began to develop."[4]
Elston "currently has about 650 residents in 280 households. A number of new homes have been built within the last twenty years on once open spaces and there continues to be infill development on some of the large gardens."[3]
History
Elston was "founded by the Angles in the 5th century. Its square shape is typically Anglo Saxon. The name derives from a leader named Elva and appears in the Domesday book as Elvastun. Historic old buildings in and adjacent to the parish include Elston Hall, All Saints Church, the Old Chapel of Ease on the site of a mediaeval leper hospital, the Methodist Chapel, and Elston Towers, the Victorian mansion of preacher Robert Middleton, now refurbished as a day spa and renamed Eden Hall."[3]
The present house was begun in 1756, then extended in 1837 and again later that century and in the 1950s. Originally H-shaped, it is now a linear sequence of two-storey ranges, the earliest being the central range built in blue lias stone. Grade II listed in 1952, the buildings are now divided into ten residences.[5]
Inside are layers of wall paintings.[7] It is thought it may have been the chapel of a medieval leper hospital dedicated to St Leonard.[3][8][9]
Elston Mill
Maps show windmills on the north side of Elston Lane (grid referenceSK756487) and south side of Mill Lane (grid referenceSK760477). The latter was a tower mill built about 1844, the tower being bottle-shaped, with an increase in batter at the 3rd floor. Some renovation was done by Gash in 1919 and a new sail fitted by Wakes and Lamb of Newark for £74 in 1920. However, it was demolished in about 1940.
^ ab"Elston Chapel, Elston", Heritage Gateway website, Heritage Gateway (English Heritage, Institute of Historic Building Conservation and ALGAO:England), 2006, retrieved 25 November 2010
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