Elston

According to Cornelius Brown's 1896 History of Nottinghamshire, the village lies

"very snugly and prettily ensconced in the midst of a pleasing landscape of North England. Nearly opposite each other are the Hall and vicarage, both occupying delightful situations, and built in elegant and stately style. All Saints' Church, Elston has been handsomely restored, and is singularly rich in its memorials of the Darwins. This eminent family appear to have come to Elston from Lincolnshire towards the close of the seventeenth century, the manor being brought into the possession of William Darwin through his marriage with the heiress of Robert Waring of Wilford. William had two sons, and Elston was left to Robert, the younger, in whom the taste for scientific research began to develop."[3]

Elston "currently has about 650 residents in 280 households. A number of new homes have been built within the last twenty years on once open spaces and there continues to be infill development on some of the large gardens."[2]

Elston itself was "founded by the Angles in the 5th Century, and the square shape of the Village is typically Anglo Saxon. The name is derived from a leader named Elva, and is cited in the Domesday book as Elvastun. Historic old buildings in and adjacent to the Parish include Elston Hall, All Saints Church, the Old Chapel of Ease on the site of a mediaeval leper hospital, the Methodist Chapel, and Elston Towers, the Victorian mansion of preacher Robert Middleton, now refurbished as a day spa and renamed Eden Hall."[2]

Elston Hall in 1991

Elston Hall was "the home of the Darwin family from 1680 until just after the Second World War, when the estate was sold. Its most famous resident was the savant Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of Charles Darwin. Erasmus was the founder of the Lunar Society, which included Josiah Wedgwood, Matthew Boulton, James Watt, Joseph Priestley and Benjamin Franklin."[2]

The present house was begun in 1756 and extended in 1837, and again later that century and in the 1950s. Originally H-shaped, it is now a linear sequence of two-storey ranges, of which the earliest is the central range, built in blue lias stone. Designated as Grade II listed in 1952, the buildings are now divided into ten residences.[4]

Elston Chapel

Once a parish church, this became redundant in 1976,[5] and under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.[6]

It is a Grade I listed building, containing a fine Norman south doorway with zigzag decoration.[5][6] Inside are layers of wall paintings.[6] There is speculation that it was once the chapel of a medieval leper hospital dedicated to St Leonard.[2][7][8]

Maps show windmills located on the north side of Elston Lane (grid reference SK756487) and the south side of Mill Lane (grid reference SK760477). The latter was a tower windmill, built about 1844, the tower being bottle-shaped, with an increase in batter at the 3rd floor. Some renovation was carried out by Gash in 1919, with a new sail fitted by Wakes and Lamb of Newark for £74 in 1920. The mill was demolished c. 1940.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Elston.

• The Elston Heritage Project
• British History Online: Parishes – Elston
• The Guys of Bottesford, Leicestershire and Associated Families: Transcripts of Parish Records: Nottingham Parish Records (Elston, 1584–1814)