Hail Weston

Hail Weston
250px Hail Weston church
Hail Weston is located in Cambridgeshire Hail Weston  Hail Weston shown within Cambridgeshire
Population	610
OS grid reference	TL172609
– London	50 miles (80 km)
District	Huntingdonshire
Shire county	Cambridgeshire
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	St Neots
Postcode district	PE19
Dialling code	01480
Police	Cambridgeshire
Fire	Cambridgeshire
Ambulance	East of England
EU Parliament	East of England
UK Parliament	Huntingdon County
List of places UK England Cambridgeshire

Hail Weston is a village and civil parish 0.8 miles (1.3 km) north-west of St Neots and 7 miles (11 km) south of Huntingdon. Hail Weston is in Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire, as well as a historic county of England.

History

Hail Weston (or Westune) in the Toseland hundred of Huntingdonshire was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. At that time it had 12 households (considered a medium settlement for that time) and had a taxable value of 2 geld units. In 1086 the land in Hail Weston was owned by Robert, son of Fafiton, and by Eustace the sheriff. A bridge over the river Kym existed in 1377. Two fresh water springs in the parish were used for medicinal purposes in the 16th and 17th centuries but later fell into disuse. The civil parish of "Southoe with Hail Weston" was abolished in 1935 and the two new parishes of "Southoe and Midloe", and Hail Weston were created.

Government

Hail Weston was in the historic county of Huntingdonshire until 1965. From 1965, the village was part of the county of Huntingdon and Peterborough. In 1974, following the Local Government Act 1972, Hail Weston became a part of Cambridgeshire.

Hail Weston is represented on Huntingdonshire District Council by one councillor for the Kimbolton and Staughton ward and on Cambridgeshire County Council by one councillor for the Brampton and Kimbolton electoral division. Little Paxton is in the parliamentary constituency of Huntingdon County, represented at the House of Commons by Jonathan Djanogly. For the European Parliament Hail Weston is in the East of England (European Parliament constituency).

Geography

The village of Hail Weston lies on the southern side of the River Kym (previously known as the River Hail or River Hale) which meanders through the parish towards the river Great Ouse; the parish lies between 62 feet (19 m) and 154 feet (47 m) above ordnance datum and the parish covers an area of 1,977 acres (800 hectares). The River Kym marks the eastern boundary of the parish and there is a ford on the road between Hail Weston and Little Paxton.

The village and parish lies on a bedrock of Oxford clay and in regions there are superficial Glaciofluvial and River Terrace deposits of sand and gravel from the Quaternary period, together with alluvium (clay and silt) from the same period. Generally, the soil in the parish is classified as a lime-rich loamy soil with impeded drainage. The main agricultural land use within the parish of Hail Weston is arable farming, with grassland adjacent to the river Kym and a wooded area to the south-west of the parish.

Demography

The usual resident population of Hail Weston in the 2011 census was 610 of whom 50.8% were male and 49.2% female; the population density was 197.5 persons per square mile (76.3 per km²). There were 240 households; 17.5% of these households consisted of one person, 80.0% contained one family group and there were 2.5% of other household types. The census also showed that 30.4% of households had one or more dependent children under the age of 18, and 19.6% of households consisted of people who were all over the age of 65. The mean average number of people per household was 2.5 people.

Of the usual resident population, 23.0% were under the age of 18 years, 60.7% were between 18 and 65 years old, and 16.4% were over the age of 65 years. In 2011, 74% of the residents of Hail Weston were between the ages of 16 years and 74 years old and considered to be potentially economically active; of these, 68% were involved in part-time, full-time or self-employment. The five major industry sectors of the economically active residents of Hail Weston are shown in the table below:

Industry Sector	Percentage
Manufacturing	15.0%
Wholesale and Retail (including repair of motor vehicles)	14.3%
Education	11.1%
Construction	9.1%
Human Health and Social Work	8.5%

Hail Weston is in the Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA) called "Huntingdonshire 015C", which in 2015, was ranked 24,141 out of 32,844 LSOAs in England against the index of multiple deprivation. This indicates that Hail Weston is amongst the 30% least deprived neighbourhoods in England.

The 2011 census showed that 92.6% of the residents of Hail Weston were born in the United Kingdom, with 3.1% of residents coming from other European Union countries, and 4.3% coming from the rest of the world. At the same time, 97.7% of people in Hail Weston described themselves as ethnic white, 1.5% as having mixed or multiple ethnic groups, and 0.7% as being Asian or British Asian, with the remainder in another ethnic group. In that same census, 68.2% described themselves as Christian, 23.3% said they had no religious beliefs, 7.9% did not specify a religion, and 0.7% described themselves as belonging to another religion.

Historical Population

The population of Hail Weston that was recorded at the UK censuses between 1801 and 1901 ranged between 258 and 423.

Village	1911	1921	1931	1951	1961	1971	1991	2001	2011
Hail Weston	258	265	236	282	315	302	584	591	610

Census: Hail Weston 1801–1971 Census Population: Hail Weston 1951, 1971, 1991 Census Population: Hail Weston 2001–2011

Culture and Community

In the 19th century, the village had three public houses: the Royal Oak Pub, the Crown (which closed 2001), and another whose name is not currently recorded. Situated in the centre of the village, the Royal Oak Pub is a grade II listed, thatched-roof pub, dating to at least the 17th century but the public house was closed in January 2012. A community action group was formed to attempt to buy the Royal Oak and run it as a co-operative community pub. In January 2013 the Royal Oak was registered as an Asset of Community Value under the Localism Act 2011.

The Church school in Hail Weston closed in 1966 and the building is now used as a village hall. The 1881 UK census listed a number of shops, a bakery and a post office in the village but these have all closed.

The poem "The Holy Wells of Hailweston" written by Michael Drayton in 1622 celebrates the healing powers of the spring water from Hail Weston.

Transport

The B645 road passes by the southern edge of the village, linking it with Eaton Socon and the A1 trunk road to the east and Kimbolton to the west. The B645 was downgraded from the A45 when the new A14 A1-M1 link road was opened to traffic in the mid-1990s. Route 12 of the National Cycle Network is a 121 miles (195 km) route from Enfield Lock to Spalding and passes through the village of Hail Weston. It is 1.7 miles (2.7 km) from Hail Weston to the nearest railway station at St Neots which is on the East Coast Main Line where regular services run south to London and run north to Huntingdon, Peterborough and beyond.

Religious Sites

The church at Hail Weston is a Grade II* listed building that is dedicated to St Nicholas and consists of a chancel, nave, west tower and south porch. The church was originally built in the 13th century, with some rebuilding in the 15th century; the tower was built in the 16th century. The church was completely restored in 1884, when the south porch was added. The tower contains three bells which have been there since 1709. Hail Weston is part of the same ecclesiastical parish as neighbouring Southoe and is in the deanery of St Neots within the diocese of Ely.

In 1691 a non-conformist church was formed at Hail Weston and at first they met in a barn until a chapel was built in 1759; the chapel was registered in 1904.

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons