Whipsnade

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For the nearby zoo, see Whipsnade Zoo.

Whipsnade
St.Mary Magdelen, Whipsnade - geograph.org.uk - 222462.jpg
Church of St Mary Magdelen
Whipsnade is located in Bedfordshire
Whipsnade
Whipsnade
Location within Bedfordshire
Population457 (2001 census)
420 (2011 Census)[1]
OS grid referenceTL010179
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townDUNSTABLE
Postcode districtLU6
Dialling code01582
PoliceBedfordshire
FireBedfordshire and Luton
AmbulanceEast of England
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Bedfordshire
51°51′03″N 0°32′06″W / 51.8509°N 0.5349°W / 51.8509; -0.5349Coordinates: 51°51′03″N 0°32′06″W / 51.8509°N 0.5349°W / 51.8509; -0.5349

Whipsnade is a small village and civil parish in the county of Bedfordshire. It lies on the eastward tail spurs of the Chiltern Hills, about 2.6 miles south-south-west of Dunstable on the top of the Dunstable Downs which drop away steeply to the south of the village.[2]

Etymology[]

Whipsnade is a compound of the Anglo-Saxon personal name, Wibba, with the word "snæd" an area of woodland, so the name means "Wibba’s wood".[2] A variation may be seen as "Wystnade" in a legal record of 1460, where named people in Dunstable were accused of trespassing. [3]

History[]

The village is first mentioned in a coroners roll of 1274 when Whipsnade Wood was described as being within the parish of Houghton Regis.[2] The Old Hunters Lodge at the Crossroads in the village is a Grade II Listed Building and was built in the early 17th Century. It is now a hotel and is the only licensed premises in the village outside of the ZSL grounds.[4]

Edward John Eyre, explorer of Australia, was born in Whipsnade in 1815.[5]

The parish of Whipsnade used to have a detached part at Ballingdon Bottom, which formed an exclave of Bedfordshire, surrounded by Hertfordshire. The county boundary was changed in 1844, transferring Ballingdon Bottom to Hertfordshire, but for parish purposes it remained a detached part of Whipsnade. When district councils were established in 1894, the main part of Whipsnade parish was included in the Luton Rural District in Bedfordshire whilst Ballingdon Bottom became part of the Markyate Rural District in Hertfordshire. The parish boundaries were rationalised in 1897, when Ballingdon Bottom was transferred to the parish of Flamstead.[6][7][8]

In the census of 2011 the population of Whipsnade was 420, a decline from 458 in 2001.[2]

Landmarks[]

Whipsnade is home to Whipsnade Tree Cathedral and ZSL Whipsnade Zoo. A chalk image of a lion can be found on Bison Hill and is owned by the zoo. During the Second World War, the lion was covered with a black sheet in order not to attract attention from the German bomber planes.[9] is also in the vicinity, though it is actually in neighbouring Dagnall.[10]

The local Wildlife Trust manages a small nature reserve north of the village called Sallowsprings (

 WikiMiniAtlas
51°51′21″N 0°32′21″W / 51.8559°N 0.5391°W / 51.8559; -0.5391 (Sallowsprings)).[11]

References[]

  1. ^ "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d "The Parish of Whipsnade in General". Bedford Borough Council. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  3. ^ first entry in http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT1/H6/CP40no799/aCP40no799fronts/IMG_0332.htm
  4. ^ "Old Hunters Lodge Hotel: The Cross Roads, Whipsnade". Bedford Borough Council. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  5. ^ "Eyre, Edward John (1815–1901)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  6. ^ "Whipsnade Tithe Apportionment 1842–1844". Bedfordshire Archives Catalogue. Bedford Borough Council. Retrieved 28 September 2021. Parish, including detached portion called Ballingdon Bottom.
  7. ^ Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844 (7 & 8 Vict. c. 61)
  8. ^ Local and Personal Acts. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 1897. p. 561. Retrieved 26 September 2021. The Counties of Bedford and Hertford (Caddington, &c.) Order 1897
  9. ^ "Iconic chalk lion restored at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo". Zoological Society of London. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  10. ^ "Whipsande Park Golf Club". Whipsnade Park Golf Club. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  11. ^ "Sallowsprings". Bedfordshire Cambridgeshire Northamptonshire Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 17 March 2020.

External links[]

Media related to Whipsnade at Wikimedia Commons

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