Riseley, Bedfordshire
Encyclopedia
Riseley is a village and civil parish located in North Bedfordshire
. The village name has had alternative spellings in the past such as Rislau, Riseleg, Riselai and Risely, however all these spellings are considered archaic. It has a population of 1,284 according to the last census, and is near the villages of Bletsoe
, Sharnbrook
, Swineshead
, Pertenhall
, Keysoe
, Thurleigh
and Melchbourne
. The nearest town to Riseley is Rushden
in the neighbouring county of Northamptonshire
, approximately 8 miles away to the north west. The county town of Bedford
is approximately 9 miles to the South of Riseley. The village has one watercourse, which is a tributary of the river Ouse
, flowing through it known locally as the 'Brook' which in medieval times the village was built around.
of 1086 where the village's name is spelt Riselai. The village is listed as being in the Stodden Hundred
. The domesday survey also states that the village contains twenty five households which is considered large for a settlement of the time. The survey also states that in 1066 some of Riseley was overlorded by Godric the Sheriff
a man who is assumed to have died in the Battle of Hastings
.
they are involved in Riseley because the aforementioned Harvies Manor can be first separately identified back in 1279 when Walter son of Geoffrey de Riseley held 4 hides of land in Riseley of the Knights Templar. Seeing as how both the Knights Hospitaller and Knights Templar are involved in Riseley history back in 1279 it has been suggested that the two organisations have been confused for each other somewhere along the line.
There is evidence of Riseley being affected by the Black Death
back in 1351 when 300 acres of arable land became worthless due to them being uncultivated and no one occupying them. During the middle ages, 1346 to be exact, Riseley was also home to a murder when William Petersoil, a member of a family which owned a manor in Riseley named the manor of Petersoills or Petersoyles.
rich soil. During the nineteenth century the village was home to a brickworks and brickmaking became one of the village's main industries with 12 brickmakers recorded living in the village in the 1841 census and 15 brickmakers living there according to both the 1851 and 1861 censuses.
In October 1943 a B17 Flying Fortress aircraft returning from a bombing raid in Germany, crashed in a cottage garden at the north end of the High Street. The crew had bailed out before the crash as the plane had been seriously damaged by a German fighter aircraft on its return from Germany. During the war, a British fighter plane crashed when it ran out of fuel at the bottom end of the village. The crew bailed out safely and no-one was harmed in the incident.
Riseley High Street has been the scene of flooding over the years, when sudden downpours of rain have caused the Brook to 'come out' starting at a point opposite the blacksmiths. The water has been known the rise up to the height of a small car and stretch as far as the Gold Street bridge in the south and Brook House in the north. Recent regular clearing of reeds by Anglian Water has dramatically reduced the frequency of these events.
Riseley High Street contains a large proportion of the houses in the village and is approximately a mile long. There is no obvious centre to the village, with the church, shop, schools and village hall, all spread out over the village and some along the high street. For many areas along the high street the village is a single street with houses on either side. This makes Riseley an example of a linear village
.
and Keysoe
. In the last elections for the borough the election winner in the Riseley Ward was an independent candidate. The borough council is led by a directly elected mayor
who holds the title 'Mayor of Bedford', an office which was first held by Frank Branston
, until his death in 2009. The newly elected Mayor of Bedford is Dave Hodgson
from the Liberal Democrat
Party.
For Parliamentary elections Riseley is in the North East Bedfordshire constituency. The current MP for this constituency is Alistair Burt
who is also a member of the Conservative Friends of Israel
. This constituency was formed in 1997 and in all its history has only ever elected MPs from the Conservative Party
. However before 1983 Riseley was in the Bedford constituency
a constituency which between 1885–1983 alternated every election between electing MPs for either the Conservatives or whichever left wing party was currently the largest.
Riseley is also its own civil parish and has its own parish council.
staying in the village, on her way to Castle Ashby
. There is a stone placed underneath the main sign of Riseley, opposite "The Five Bells" public house, which rumour says she sat on in order to have a rest when the horses of her carriage stopped to drink.
Riseley is supposedly home to a number of different ghosts. The ghost of Tom Knocker is supposed to haunt a pond (conveniently named Tom Knocker's Pond) into which it is said he fell off his horse and drowned. A ghost of a nurse is also said to haunt the village's last remaining public house 'The Fox and Hounds' she is said to have been run over by a coach as she crossed the road and was taken into the pub. The haunting of the pub is said to involve lights turning off and on
, the sound of footsteps and the occasional ghostly cough. In the 1950s it was said that one of the farms in the village was haunted; supposedly lamps would light up of their own accord, a dark figure and a door would appear where a solid wall should be and doors which were locked would somehow manage to open in the night. The story also goes that six inch nails
were placed into the door to prevent it opening in the night but in the morning the door was somehow opened and the nails were still in place. Other ghost stories in the village involve a ghostly horse
which could only be heard and then dived into a hedgerow and in the 1970s it was reported that a family walking near the village church late at night saw it in ruins and could see straight through it to the altar.
, Bletsoe
and Swineshead
. Margaret Beaufort Middle School, opened in 1962, takes pupils aged 9–13 from the same surrounding villages as the lower school as well as students from other feeder lower schools such as the lower schools in Sharnbrook and Thurleigh. The school has approximately 400 students. The Middle School is named after Lady Margaret Beaufort who was born in Bletsoe
castle in nearby Bletsoe. The middle school has an unfortunate reputation because in the school year 2009-10 it had the most sexual offences (two) taking place there out of all the schools in the Bedford borough. As well as this it was also the school attended by Britain's youngest recorded father. Riseley is within the catchment area
of Sharnbrook Upper School and Community College
, located four miles away in Sharnbrook.
The White Horse situated in the High Street opposite the junction with Lowsden Lane closed in the early 1970s. The Royal Oak in the High Street near Maple Gardens is a very attractive thatched, old cottage style building and closed as a pub in the 1970s.
The George and Dragon was open for business where Waldocks Close is now. The Red Lion, situated on the corner of Church Lane and Gold Street is now, like the rest of the 'old' pubs a family home. The Five Bells situated on the High Street opposite the bottom end of Gold Street closed for business in December 2008 and now stands empty. Whilst closed by Greene King and sold to a developer, the village has a strong and well-supported campaign to see the Five Bells re-opened as a community pub. Between the Five Bells and the Fox and Hounds stood "The Boot", now a family home. There was also a tiny pub, The Swan, halfway along the High street, which closed in the 1960s. The last remaining pub in the village is the Fox and Hounds.
chapels were built in the village in 1810 and 1838, respectively. However these are all no longer used though there are two redundant Chapels in Riseley High Street. The Methodist Chapel opposite The Barns, this chapel was rebuilt in the 1990s and now serves as a very characterful private residence. The other chapel was a Moravian chapel which later became, for many years, the Chapel Art Gallery and is situated in the High Street close to Maple Gardens. The site of a third chapel, is now a grass ameniety area opposite Riseley's only shop on the Keysoe Road/High Street junction only has a few gravestones remaining as an indicator that a Baptist chapel was sited there.
. Riseley also has a shop and a garage both situated on the High Street. Riseley also has a village playing field, opened in 1952, where both the Cricket and Football teams play. Other facilities include a village hall, a Bed and Breakfast, a care home for the elderly, and on the outskirts of the village, a shooting range facility and Blackthorns Sun Club. The village also has numerous green spaces such as a nearby woods, ross meadow and numerous footpaths over fields.
There are many clubs and associations active in Riseley, including a Historical Association, Bowling Club, Cricket, football and badminton clubs, amateur dramatics club, Women's Institute, as well as a local branch of the Wea.
The British census of 2001 found that Riseley had 486 households with a population of 1,284 with 633 being male and 651 being female. The census also found that the Riseley ward, which includes not only Riseley but some of the smaller villages which surround it, had a very low population density (persons per hectare) of only 0.44% which is nine times smaller than the national average.
The 2001 census also found that there were no second homes in Riseley and that 3.7% of houses were unoccupied. As well as this 17% of houses were rented and 79% of houses were owned by their occupants.
The census also found that the average age of a Riseley villager was 40.36.
The census also found that the most common industry of employment for someone living in the Riseley ward was the Real estate, renting and business activities which accounted for 18%.
The census also revealed that Riseley was not very ethnically diverse with just over a percent of the population being non-white which is surprisingly low seen as how the entire local authority
in which Riseley is situated is much more ethnically diverse with over ten percent of the population being non-white.
Recent research into child poverty in Bedford Borough has revealed that the Riseley ward has some of the lowest instances of child poverty in the whole of Bedford Borough with only seven percent of children living in poverty
, which makes the ward the fifth most prosperous (in terms of how little child poverty there is) ward in the Bedford Borough.
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
. The village name has had alternative spellings in the past such as Rislau, Riseleg, Riselai and Risely, however all these spellings are considered archaic. It has a population of 1,284 according to the last census, and is near the villages of Bletsoe
Bletsoe
Bletsoe is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England. It is on the A6, and about eight miles north of Bedford. The village has a small park, the former site of Bletsoe Castle and a church. Nearby places are Sharnbrook, Milton Ernest, Riseley, Thurleigh, Odell, Souldrop, and Swineshead...
, Sharnbrook
Sharnbrook
Sharnbrook is a village and civil parish located in the Bedford Borough of Bedfordshire, England.The settlement was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as a parish within the Hundred of Willey but was probably first developed in Saxon times. The oldest surviving building, St Peter's Church, is...
, Swineshead
Swineshead, Bedfordshire
Swineshead is a civil parish in the borough of Bedford in the county of Bedfordshire, England.-History:The parish of Swineshead is recorded as Suineshefet , Swynesheved , Swineshead . It was an exclave of the county of Huntingdonshire, and surrounded by Bedfordshire, until 1888 or 1896, when it was...
, Pertenhall
Pertenhall
Pertenhall is a small village and civil parish located in Bedfordshire, close to the borders of Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. Its parish council is a . It has recently published its Parish Plan which is available on the website...
, Keysoe
Keysoe
Keysoe is a village located in the Bedford Borough of Bedfordshire, England.Historically part of the Stodden hundred in Bedfordshire, part of Keysoe was originally located in Huntingdonshire. Today the village forms part of the Bolnhurst and Keysoe civil parish. is based in Keysoe...
, Thurleigh
Thurleigh
Thurleigh is a village and civil parish in north Bedfordshire, England, about 6 miles north of Bedford. It is home to the Bedford Autodrome which also houses Thurleigh Museum, the Monster Events site which serves the community with Monster Truck, Four-wheel drive & Quad Bike events, and the...
and Melchbourne
Melchbourne
Melchbourne is a small village located in the Bedford Borough of Bedfordshire, England.The village is located west of Swineshead and east of Yielden...
. The nearest town to Riseley is Rushden
Rushden
Rushden is a town and civil parish in the county of Northamptonshire, England.The parish of Rushden covers an area of some and is part of the district of East Northamptonshire. The population of Rushden was estimated at around 28,368, making it the fifth largest town in the county...
in the neighbouring county of Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
, approximately 8 miles away to the north west. The county town of Bedford
Bedford
Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to the former Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town...
is approximately 9 miles to the South of Riseley. The village has one watercourse, which is a tributary of the river Ouse
River Great Ouse
The Great Ouse is a river in the east of England. At long, it is the fourth-longest river in the United Kingdom. The river has been important for navigation, and for draining the low-lying region through which it flows. Its course has been modified several times, with the first recorded being in...
, flowing through it known locally as the 'Brook' which in medieval times the village was built around.
History
Riseley appears in the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
of 1086 where the village's name is spelt Riselai. The village is listed as being in the Stodden Hundred
Hundreds of Bedfordshire
Between Anglo-Saxon times and the nineteenth century Bedfordshire was divided for administrative purposes into 9 hundreds, plus the borough of Bedford...
. The domesday survey also states that the village contains twenty five households which is considered large for a settlement of the time. The survey also states that in 1066 some of Riseley was overlorded by Godric the Sheriff
Godric the Sheriff
Godric was the Anglo Saxon sheriff of Buckinghamshire and Berkshire in the 11th century prior to the Norman Conquest.As a sheriff, he had the powers of arrest, he could raise armies, collect taxes and levies, and he presided over courts, dealt with traitors and generally supervised on the King’s...
a man who is assumed to have died in the Battle of Hastings
Battle of Hastings
The Battle of Hastings occurred on 14 October 1066 during the Norman conquest of England, between the Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy and the English army under King Harold II...
.
Riseley in the Middle Ages
Much of Riseley's Mediaeval history involves the Knights Hospitallers who in 1279 gained possession of land and manors in Riseley as well as possessions in surrounding areas. The knights owned both Harvies Manor and and the Manor of Lawrence (which was controlled by the Lawrence family). The Knights also had rights of free warren. Some of Riseley's history also involves the Knights TemplarKnights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
they are involved in Riseley because the aforementioned Harvies Manor can be first separately identified back in 1279 when Walter son of Geoffrey de Riseley held 4 hides of land in Riseley of the Knights Templar. Seeing as how both the Knights Hospitaller and Knights Templar are involved in Riseley history back in 1279 it has been suggested that the two organisations have been confused for each other somewhere along the line.
There is evidence of Riseley being affected by the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
back in 1351 when 300 acres of arable land became worthless due to them being uncultivated and no one occupying them. During the middle ages, 1346 to be exact, Riseley was also home to a murder when William Petersoil, a member of a family which owned a manor in Riseley named the manor of Petersoills or Petersoyles.
Brick making in Riseley
Riseley has a long tradition of brick and tile making, dating back to at least 1558, due in part to its clayClay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
rich soil. During the nineteenth century the village was home to a brickworks and brickmaking became one of the village's main industries with 12 brickmakers recorded living in the village in the 1841 census and 15 brickmakers living there according to both the 1851 and 1861 censuses.
Riseley in WW2
During World War 2 Riseley was used by the USAAF as a base to store and fill bombs which were then forwarded to local American air bases. A large camp was set up at the top of the Carriage Drive to Melchbourne House to house the troops. The camp included a cinema. The American airmen stationed in Riseley Camp occasionally held parties for local children and there are still residents living in Riseley who can recall attending the children's parties on the camp. A 'Forward Filling Station' was set up in the woods at the top of the carriage drive where bombs were filled with gas. The last remaining containers of gas were removed in the 1970s. However remnants of deadly mustard agent and its breakdown products still remain in part of Coppice Wood near Riseley in an area which is currently fenced off and surrounded by warning signs about toxic chemicals. This mustard gas was mean to have been removed in 1988 and then again in 1998 but some of it still remains in the wood. Bombs were also stored on the then closed Sharnbrook Road just past the junction with the Butts.In October 1943 a B17 Flying Fortress aircraft returning from a bombing raid in Germany, crashed in a cottage garden at the north end of the High Street. The crew had bailed out before the crash as the plane had been seriously damaged by a German fighter aircraft on its return from Germany. During the war, a British fighter plane crashed when it ran out of fuel at the bottom end of the village. The crew bailed out safely and no-one was harmed in the incident.
Riseley High Street
Riseley High Street runs more or less North South for a distance of one mile from end to end and was designated as a Turnpike in May 1802. A widened area in the grass verge at the southern end of the High Street where the High Street is joined by Sharnbrook Road marks where the tollbooth stood. This road junction is still known as Tollbar Corner. A Blue Plaque mounted on the end wall facing the High Street of the cottage adjoining 76 High Street commemorates the placing of the plaque 200 years after the toll road designation.Riseley High Street has been the scene of flooding over the years, when sudden downpours of rain have caused the Brook to 'come out' starting at a point opposite the blacksmiths. The water has been known the rise up to the height of a small car and stretch as far as the Gold Street bridge in the south and Brook House in the north. Recent regular clearing of reeds by Anglian Water has dramatically reduced the frequency of these events.
Riseley High Street contains a large proportion of the houses in the village and is approximately a mile long. There is no obvious centre to the village, with the church, shop, schools and village hall, all spread out over the village and some along the high street. For many areas along the high street the village is a single street with houses on either side. This makes Riseley an example of a linear village
Linear village
In geography, a linear village, or linear settlement, is a small to medium-sized settlement that is formed around a transport route, such as a road, river, or canal. Wraysbury, a village in Berkshire, is one of the longest villages in England....
.
Governance
Riseley lies within the Borough of Bedford and with a population over one thousand is one of the larger villages in the Borough. The village has a ward named after it which includes not only Riseley but some of the smaller villages surrounding it such as ThurleighThurleigh
Thurleigh is a village and civil parish in north Bedfordshire, England, about 6 miles north of Bedford. It is home to the Bedford Autodrome which also houses Thurleigh Museum, the Monster Events site which serves the community with Monster Truck, Four-wheel drive & Quad Bike events, and the...
and Keysoe
Keysoe
Keysoe is a village located in the Bedford Borough of Bedfordshire, England.Historically part of the Stodden hundred in Bedfordshire, part of Keysoe was originally located in Huntingdonshire. Today the village forms part of the Bolnhurst and Keysoe civil parish. is based in Keysoe...
. In the last elections for the borough the election winner in the Riseley Ward was an independent candidate. The borough council is led by a directly elected mayor
Elected mayors in the United Kingdom
Directly elected mayors are council leaders elected by the general electorate of a council area for local government, instead of being appointed by members of a local authority, which is common in the United Kingdom. The Elected Mayor is elected from a number of candidates who put themselves up for...
who holds the title 'Mayor of Bedford', an office which was first held by Frank Branston
Frank Branston
Frank Branston was a journalist, novelist and newspaper proprietor, and the first directly elected mayor of the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England.-Early life and career:...
, until his death in 2009. The newly elected Mayor of Bedford is Dave Hodgson
Dave Hodgson
Dave Hodgson is the directly elected mayor of the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England. Hodgson is the second elected mayor to represent the Liberal Democrats in the United Kingdom....
from the Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
Party.
For Parliamentary elections Riseley is in the North East Bedfordshire constituency. The current MP for this constituency is Alistair Burt
Alistair Burt
Alistair James Hendrie Burt is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament for North East Bedfordshire...
who is also a member of the Conservative Friends of Israel
Conservative Friends of Israel
Conservative Friends of Israel, abbreviated to CFI, is a British parliamentary group affiliated to the Conservative Party and dedicated to strengthening business, cultural and political ties between the United Kingdom and Israel. CFI is an unincorporated associationIt was founded by the late...
. This constituency was formed in 1997 and in all its history has only ever elected MPs from the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
. However before 1983 Riseley was in the Bedford constituency
Bedford (UK Parliament constituency)
Bedford is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The seat was established in its current form in 1997, restoring a centuries old name. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election...
a constituency which between 1885–1983 alternated every election between electing MPs for either the Conservatives or whichever left wing party was currently the largest.
Riseley is also its own civil parish and has its own parish council.
Folklore
Although Riseley is very small there are some historic rumours that circulate through the village. One of the most popular stories is that of Catherine of AragonCatherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon , also known as Katherine or Katharine, was Queen consort of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England and Princess of Wales as the wife to Arthur, Prince of Wales...
staying in the village, on her way to Castle Ashby
Castle Ashby
Castle Ashby is the name of a civil parish, an estate village and an English country house in rural Northamptonshire. Historically the village was set up to service the needs of Castle Ashby Manor, the seat of the Marquess of Northampton. The village has one small pub-hotel, The Falcon. At the time...
. There is a stone placed underneath the main sign of Riseley, opposite "The Five Bells" public house, which rumour says she sat on in order to have a rest when the horses of her carriage stopped to drink.
Riseley is supposedly home to a number of different ghosts. The ghost of Tom Knocker is supposed to haunt a pond (conveniently named Tom Knocker's Pond) into which it is said he fell off his horse and drowned. A ghost of a nurse is also said to haunt the village's last remaining public house 'The Fox and Hounds' she is said to have been run over by a coach as she crossed the road and was taken into the pub. The haunting of the pub is said to involve lights turning off and on
Power outage
A power outage is a short- or long-term loss of the electric power to an area.There are many causes of power failures in an electricity network...
, the sound of footsteps and the occasional ghostly cough. In the 1950s it was said that one of the farms in the village was haunted; supposedly lamps would light up of their own accord, a dark figure and a door would appear where a solid wall should be and doors which were locked would somehow manage to open in the night. The story also goes that six inch nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
were placed into the door to prevent it opening in the night but in the morning the door was somehow opened and the nails were still in place. Other ghost stories in the village involve a ghostly horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
which could only be heard and then dived into a hedgerow and in the 1970s it was reported that a family walking near the village church late at night saw it in ruins and could see straight through it to the altar.
Schools
The village has two schools, Riseley Lower School which is for 4–9 year olds. Riseley Lower is a small school, about 150 students, with a catchment area of Riseley, PertenhallPertenhall
Pertenhall is a small village and civil parish located in Bedfordshire, close to the borders of Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. Its parish council is a . It has recently published its Parish Plan which is available on the website...
, Bletsoe
Bletsoe
Bletsoe is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England. It is on the A6, and about eight miles north of Bedford. The village has a small park, the former site of Bletsoe Castle and a church. Nearby places are Sharnbrook, Milton Ernest, Riseley, Thurleigh, Odell, Souldrop, and Swineshead...
and Swineshead
Swineshead, Bedfordshire
Swineshead is a civil parish in the borough of Bedford in the county of Bedfordshire, England.-History:The parish of Swineshead is recorded as Suineshefet , Swynesheved , Swineshead . It was an exclave of the county of Huntingdonshire, and surrounded by Bedfordshire, until 1888 or 1896, when it was...
. Margaret Beaufort Middle School, opened in 1962, takes pupils aged 9–13 from the same surrounding villages as the lower school as well as students from other feeder lower schools such as the lower schools in Sharnbrook and Thurleigh. The school has approximately 400 students. The Middle School is named after Lady Margaret Beaufort who was born in Bletsoe
Bletsoe
Bletsoe is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England. It is on the A6, and about eight miles north of Bedford. The village has a small park, the former site of Bletsoe Castle and a church. Nearby places are Sharnbrook, Milton Ernest, Riseley, Thurleigh, Odell, Souldrop, and Swineshead...
castle in nearby Bletsoe. The middle school has an unfortunate reputation because in the school year 2009-10 it had the most sexual offences (two) taking place there out of all the schools in the Bedford borough. As well as this it was also the school attended by Britain's youngest recorded father. Riseley is within the catchment area
Catchment area (human geography)
In human geography, a catchment area is the area and population from which a city or individual service attracts visitors or customers. For example, a school catchment area is the geographic area from which students are eligible to attend a local school...
of Sharnbrook Upper School and Community College
Sharnbrook Upper School and Community College
Sharnbrook Upper School and Community College, commonly referred to as SUS or simply Sharnbrook, is a large, rural comprehensive upper school located in Sharnbrook, a village near Bedford in the English county of Bedfordshire...
, located four miles away in Sharnbrook.
Riseley Pubs
Although there is now only one pub remaining open for trade in Riseley, there have been as many as eight over the years.The White Horse situated in the High Street opposite the junction with Lowsden Lane closed in the early 1970s. The Royal Oak in the High Street near Maple Gardens is a very attractive thatched, old cottage style building and closed as a pub in the 1970s.
The George and Dragon was open for business where Waldocks Close is now. The Red Lion, situated on the corner of Church Lane and Gold Street is now, like the rest of the 'old' pubs a family home. The Five Bells situated on the High Street opposite the bottom end of Gold Street closed for business in December 2008 and now stands empty. Whilst closed by Greene King and sold to a developer, the village has a strong and well-supported campaign to see the Five Bells re-opened as a community pub. Between the Five Bells and the Fox and Hounds stood "The Boot", now a family home. There was also a tiny pub, The Swan, halfway along the High street, which closed in the 1960s. The last remaining pub in the village is the Fox and Hounds.
Churches
Riseley currently only has one church, All Saints Riseley. The oldest part of this church, the south wall of the south aisle dates as far back as the twelfth century. Riseley's church along with the rectory and some land in the village was once owned by the Knights Hospitallers. A Methodist Church was built in the village in 1807 at a cost of £130. Moravian and BaptistBaptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
chapels were built in the village in 1810 and 1838, respectively. However these are all no longer used though there are two redundant Chapels in Riseley High Street. The Methodist Chapel opposite The Barns, this chapel was rebuilt in the 1990s and now serves as a very characterful private residence. The other chapel was a Moravian chapel which later became, for many years, the Chapel Art Gallery and is situated in the High Street close to Maple Gardens. The site of a third chapel, is now a grass ameniety area opposite Riseley's only shop on the Keysoe Road/High Street junction only has a few gravestones remaining as an indicator that a Baptist chapel was sited there.
Other Facilities
Riseley has a small police stationPolice station
A police station or station house is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, along with locker rooms, temporary holding cells and interview/interrogation rooms.- Facilities...
. Riseley also has a shop and a garage both situated on the High Street. Riseley also has a village playing field, opened in 1952, where both the Cricket and Football teams play. Other facilities include a village hall, a Bed and Breakfast, a care home for the elderly, and on the outskirts of the village, a shooting range facility and Blackthorns Sun Club. The village also has numerous green spaces such as a nearby woods, ross meadow and numerous footpaths over fields.
There are many clubs and associations active in Riseley, including a Historical Association, Bowling Club, Cricket, football and badminton clubs, amateur dramatics club, Women's Institute, as well as a local branch of the Wea.
Demography
| 2001 UK census | Riseley(Ward) | Bedford(local authority) | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total population | 2,785 | 147,911 | 49,138,831 |
| Population Density | 0.44 | 3.1 | 3.8 |
| Unemployed | 1.8% | 3.1% | 3.4% |
| Long Term Illness | 13.7% | 15.6% | 17.9% |
| Good health | 76% | 71.4% | 68.8% |
| Average Age | 40.4 | 37.8 | 38.6 |
| Ethnic white | 98.8% | 86.9% | 90.9% |
| Christian | 78.9% | 68.8% | 71.8% |
| No religion | 14.9% | 14.9% | 14.6% |
| Religion not stated | 5.5% | 8.8% | 7.7% |
| Muslim | 0% | 3.3% | 3.1% |
| Sikh | 0% | 1.9% | 0.7% |
| Degree+ education | 30% | 21.8% | 19.9% |
The British census of 2001 found that Riseley had 486 households with a population of 1,284 with 633 being male and 651 being female. The census also found that the Riseley ward, which includes not only Riseley but some of the smaller villages which surround it, had a very low population density (persons per hectare) of only 0.44% which is nine times smaller than the national average.
The 2001 census also found that there were no second homes in Riseley and that 3.7% of houses were unoccupied. As well as this 17% of houses were rented and 79% of houses were owned by their occupants.
The census also found that the average age of a Riseley villager was 40.36.
The census also found that the most common industry of employment for someone living in the Riseley ward was the Real estate, renting and business activities which accounted for 18%.
The census also revealed that Riseley was not very ethnically diverse with just over a percent of the population being non-white which is surprisingly low seen as how the entire local authority
Bedford
Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to the former Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town...
in which Riseley is situated is much more ethnically diverse with over ten percent of the population being non-white.
Recent research into child poverty in Bedford Borough has revealed that the Riseley ward has some of the lowest instances of child poverty in the whole of Bedford Borough with only seven percent of children living in poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
, which makes the ward the fifth most prosperous (in terms of how little child poverty there is) ward in the Bedford Borough.
Notable People
- Julia JarmanJulia JarmanJulia Jarman is a British author of books for children of all reading ages and ability.- Background :Julia Jarman was born Julia Hudspeth in the city of Peterborough, and now lives in Riseley, Bedfordshire. She studied English and Drama at Manchester University and then qualified as a teacher...
, Children's Author - Friday Hatman You Tube sensation http://www.youtube.com/user/fridayhatman?feature=mhee
External links
- The Riseley Village Website
- Riseley Lower School Website
- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Riseley-Community/217481558317790