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Sharnbrook is a village in Bedfordshire, England. It was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as a parish within the Hundred of Willey[1] but was probably first developed in Saxon times. The oldest surviving building, St Peter's Church, is Norman. Many of the older buildings in the village are constructed of the local oolitic limestone, also used in other traditional north Bedfordshire settlements.
Situated just north of a loop in the River Great Ouse and almost due north of Bedford, the village has developed as a ribbon-settlement running south-east to north-west, with the core of the community clustered at the north-western end.
The village has two schools. Sharnbrook Upper School and Community College has a campus on the west of the village, serves a wide area and was attended by the London Marathon-winning Paula Radcliffe, who opened the aptly named Paula Radcliffe Sharnbrook Community Sports Centre in April 2005. This Community Sports Centre is not only for School users but also serves the wider local community of North Bedfordshire with sporting facilities. Students are aged from 13 to 18 and take both GCSE and A Level exams. John Gibbard Lower School takes younger pupils from the immediate area.
Another major presence is the multinational company Unilever which has a research centre on the north-western edge of the village. This uses the grounds of Colworth House, originally built in the early 17th century and rebuilt in its present form by 1774 as a private house. The house itself is used as office space, with modern laboratory buildings beside and behind it. The site is being turned into a science park for use by a number of companies.
Sharnbrook railway station opened in 1857, but was closed in 1960.
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John Gibbard Lower School
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Sharnbrook-High Street.jpg
The High Street/center>
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[edit] External links
[edit] References
- , British History Online - Parishes and dates [1]
Coordinates: 52°13'N, 0°32'W
(Source: Wikipedia) |