Whatton-in-the-Vale is a village and civil parish in the Rushcliffe district, in the county of Nottinghamshire, England. It lies in the Vale of Belvoir, with the River Smite to the west and a subsidiary, the River Whipling to the east,Notts Villages. Retrieved 28 January 2019. mainly north of the trunk A52 road, east of Nottingham. The parish had a population of 843 at the 2011 census, increasing to 874 at the 2021 census.
Etymology The place name seems to contain the Old English word hwǣte for wheat, + tūn (Old English) meaning an enclosure, a farmstead, a village, an estate, etc., so "Farm where wheat is grown." "In the Vale," i. e. the Vale of Belvoir.J. Gover, A. Mawer & F. M. Stenton (eds.), Place Names of Nottinghamshire (Cambridge, 1940), p. 219.; A. D. Mills, Dictionary of English Place-Names (Oxford, 2002), p. 375.; E. Ekwall, Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names (Oxford, 1960), p. 16.; V. Watts, Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-names (Cambridge, 2002), p. 511. The place appears as Watone in the Domesday Book of 1086.J. Morris, (ed.) Domesday Book: Nottinghamshire (Chichester, 1977), 17:16.
Heritage Whatton Mill was a five-storey brick tower windmill built in 1820. It had four patent sails (sails with shutters instead of cloth), two of which were double. Milling ceased in about 1916. The capless tower is now a listed building.Shaw, T. (1995). Windmills of Nottinghamshire. Page 42. Nottingham: Nottinghamshire County Council.
The Anglican Church of St. John of Beverley is a Grade II* listed building dating from the 14th century, but extensively restored and rebuilt in the 19th century. It belongs to the Cranmer Group of parishes, with the churches at Aslockton, Hawksworth, Orston, Scarrington and Thoroton. A service is held in Whatton once a month.
The population of Whatton was 306 in 1801, 399 in 1821, and 388 in 1831.William White: History, Gazetteer and Directory of Nottinghamshire... (Sheffield, 1832), p. 479. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
Whatton Manor estate, to the south of the village, was inherited in 1840 by Thomas Dickinson Hall (1808–1879), who built a substantial manor house there in "Elizabethan style".p. 526. Retrieved 5 January 2020. The family financed charitable and church-building work in the district.Whatton timeline Retrieved 3 June 2016.Family site. Retrieved 5 January 2020. The manor house and its grounds were sold in 1919 to Samuel Ernest Chesterman, who in turn sold them to William Goodacre Player, son of John Player of the cigarette manufacturers John Player & Sons). The manor building, by then in poor condition, was demolished in the mid-1960s, but the original stables can still be seen from Manor Lane.Cranmer Local History Group Retrieved 3 June 2016. They now house a stud farm.; [www.whattonmanorstud.com].
The village pub, the Griffin's Head, was closed and demolished in the mid-1990s and replaced by housing.Cranmer History Group Retrieved 3 June 2016.
Whatton was once a named telephone exchange for many of the surrounding villages, but the name gave way to a dialling code (01949).
Governance Whatton has its own parish council. The village falls under the governance of Rushcliffe Borough Council. The member of Parliament is Robert Jenrick (Conservative), MP for Newark.
Transport Whatton is served by Aslockton railway station, less than a mile to the north of the village, with services to Grantham, Skegness and Nottingham. Limited bus services run to Bingham and to Grantham via Bottesford.Retrieved 28 January 2019.
Prison HM Prison Whatton opened at the west end of the village in 1960 as a detention centre. Since 1990 it has been a Category C closed male prison for sex offenders.BBC report, 30 March 2015 Retrieved 3 June 2016.
See also Listed buildings in Whatton-in-the-Vale
References
External links
Details of the conservation area GENUKI(tm) page Whatton-in-the-Vale Parish Council Whatton-in-the-Vale Local History