Woodnesborough
{{Short description|Village in Kent, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2014}}
{{More citations needed|date=December 2009}}
{{Infobox UK place
|country = England
|static_image = St_Mary_Woodnesborough_1.jpg
|static_image_width = 220px
|static_image_caption= St Mary the Blessed Virgin Church, Woodnesborough
|official_name= Woodnesborough
|coordinates = {{coord|51.2636|1.3100|display=inline,title}}
|label_position= left
| population = 1,066
|shire_district= Dover
| shire_county = Kent
|region= South East England
|constituency_westminster= Herne Bay and Sandwich
|post_town= Sandwich
|postcode_district = CT13
|postcode_area= CT
|dial_code= 01304
|os_grid_reference= TR310568
}}
Woodnesborough ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|w|ɪ|n|z|b|r|ə|audio=Woodnesborough.oga}} {{respell|WINZ|brə}}) is a village in the Dover District of Kent, England, {{convert|2|miles|km}} west of Sandwich. The population taken at the 2011 census included Coombe as well as Marshborough, and totalled 1,066. There is a Grade II* listed[http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-178400-church-of-st-mary-the-virgin-woodnesboro British Listed Buildings] retrieved 20 July 2013 Anglican church dedicated to St Mary the Virgin.
History
Its name is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Golles-Wanesberge, with forms like Wodnesbeorge being attested a little later, around 1100, and as 'Wodnesbergh' in 1484.Plea Rolls of the Court of Common Pleas; CP 40/890; http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT3/R3/CP40no890/bCP40no890dorses/IMG_1138.htm; 5th entry, where William Merlowe lived The name is believed to have meant Woden's hill/mound (Old English Wōdnes burh) after Anglo-Saxon god Woden (the English cognate of the Norse Odin, known in Proto-Germanic as Wodanaz); though some of the spellings also suggest *wænnes beorg ('hill of the mound'),{{cn|date=February 2022}} from Old English wenn, wænn 'a tumour, blister, mound'. At the end of the eighteenth century there is a record of a burial mound beside the church, but the settlement also boasts a hill which could equally well have been described as a burh in Old English.Victor Watts (ed.), The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names Based on the Collections of the English Place-Name Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), s.v. WOODNESBOROUGH.
The village was once served by East Kent Light Railway and can now be reached by bus services from Sandwich.
There was also a post office, which closed at the end of January 2008.
Listed buildings
St Mary the Blessed Virgin Church: the village's 13th-century Anglican church is Grade II* listed, with 14th-century alterations and a Victorian restoration in 1884 by Ewan Christian. The building is made of flint and rubble and boasts an unusual ogee cupola, a design feature shared by nearby Sandwich's St Peter's Church.[http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-178400-church-of-st-mary-the-virgin-woodnesboro British Listed Buildings] retrieved 20 July 2013
Woodnesborough Village Hall: the building, a former school, dates from the 19th century.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1070075|desc=Woodnesborough Village Hall|grade=II|access-date=3 May 2020}}
Sundial north of the Church of St Mary the Virgin: dating from 1738 with the inscription "Woodnesborough W IB RG 1738".{{National Heritage List for England|num=1363310|desc=Sundial 15m north of Church of St Mary the Virgin|grade=II|access-date=3 May 2020}}
Tomb Chest to Harrison family: situated about 2 metres W of Church of St Mary, and dating from 1777.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1281504|desc=Tomb Chest to Harrison family about 2 metres W of Church of St Mary|grade=II|access-date=3 May 2020}}
Summerfield House: an early 18th-century house with red brick and plain tiled roof.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1281466|desc=Summerfield House|grade=II|access-date=3 May 2020}}
Barn about 20m E of Summerfield House: a 17th-century barn now converted to a garage.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1203921|desc=Barn about 20m E of Summerfield House|grade=II|access-date=3 May 2020}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category-inline|Woodnesborough}}
{{Dover}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Civil parishes in Kent
{{Kent-geo-stub}}