Orston

Saint Mary's Church Orston

Orston is a small village in Nottinghamshire, England near Thoroton, Elton on the Hill and Bottesford, and 15 miles east of Nottingham. It has a population of around 450 people.

History

The name Orston is thought to originate from the Old English Ordricestune, which means 'the farmstead of Ordric". Ordric was the leader of the small settlement, some early references to it being Oschintone 1086 (the Domesday Book), Orskinton 1242, Orston 1284 and Horston 1428. More detail on the history of the village and its sources appear on the village website.[1] There is a short description of the village in 1870–72 in John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales.[2]

Orston farming was on an open-field system until an enclosure act was passed of 1793. It was unusual in having four fields instead of three. A detailed survey of Orston's present appearance and recent history as a conservation area was made in 2010.[3] Historically it belonged to Bingham Wapentake.

Gypsum and bricks

There are still gypsum quarries in the area. Indeed Orston was once primarily a mining village. In earlier centuries Orston was probably the most important source of gypsum in the East Midlands. According to the Nottinghamshire volume of the Victoria History of the Countries of England, the gypsum at Orston was the "...finest in the Kingdom". The remains of several brickworks have also been identified. Mining subsidence has been a problem in some parts of the village, affecting also the church. A full account of the quarrying and mining in the village has appeared.[4] The village had a brief 18th-century career as a medicinal spring for “hydrochondriac melancholy, scurvy, want of appetite, indigestion, stoppage of urine, obstruction of the bowels, ulcers in the lungs, and for spitting of blood,” but there does not appear to have been appreciable commercial development of the spring.[5]

Facilities

The village contains St Mary's Anglican Church[6] and Orston Methodist Church.[7] St Mary's, a Grade I Listed Building,[8] is part of the Cranmer group of parishes.[9] There are eight other Grade II listed buildings in the village.[10] The Methodist church is part of the Grantham and Vale of Belvoir Circuit. Services are held every second Sunday morning.[11]

Built in 1939, Orston Primary School has over 100 pupils aged between four and eleven years old. It has excellent comparative performance results.[12] The 2010 Ofsted report on the school rated it outstanding in all important respects.[13]

The village pub, the Durham Ox, doubles as a traditional restaurant.[14] There is also a delicatessen and café called The Limehaus.[15] There are various sports teams, clubs and institutes active in the village.[16] Many indoor events and meetings are held at the village hall.[17] There is a clay shooting ground in Bottesford Lane.[18]

Elton and Orston railway station on the outskirts of the village provides only a skeleton service of one train in each direction per day. The nearest station with regular services to Nottingham, Grantham and Skegness is Bottesford. New bus timetables since August 2014 provide an hourly daytime service to and from Nottingham six days a week, with occasional services to Bottesford and Lowdham.[19] The A52 trunk road between Nottingham and Grantham passes two miles south of the village. Orston also lies on National Cycle Route 15.

The River Smite, which flows through Orston, is 20 miles long. It has its source at Holwell, Leicestershire, and joins the River Devon at Shelton, Nottinghamshire.

Famous people

Coordinates: 52°57′N 0°52′W / 52.950°N 0.867°W

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Orston.

References

  1. ↑ Orston Village site. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  2. ↑ A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  3. ↑ Rushcliffe Borough Council. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  4. ↑ Bulletin of the Peak District Mines and Historical Society 11/4, Winter 1991: Retrieved 20 November 2014
  5. ↑ Our Nottinghamshire. The mineral springs and spas of Nottinghamshire Retrieved 20 November 2014. This includes a photograph of the remains of the well head.
  6. ↑ Orston Village site. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  7. ↑ Orston Village site. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  8. ↑ British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  9. ↑ With St Thomas's Church, Aslockton, Church of St. Mary and All Saints, Hawksworth, Church of St. John of Beverley, Scarrington, St. Helena's Church, Thoroton and Church of St. John of Beverley, Whatton.
  10. ↑ British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  11. ↑ Circuit website. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  12. ↑ School website. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  13. ↑ Ofsted. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  14. ↑ Orston Village site. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  15. ↑ The Limehaus. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  16. ↑ Orston Village site. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  17. ↑ Orston Village site. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  18. ↑ Orston Shooting Ground. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  19. ↑ Orston Village site. Retrieved 20 November 2014.