Odell Village
On the neighbouring hill stands the 15th century church with its Perpendicular tower. Records show that a church has stood here since 1200 at least and many worthy names appear on the list of incumbents, including one Sir Oswald Butler who was made to pay public penance for the sin of marrying! There was also John Bulkeley, a dissident priest unable to come to terms with the modern church and who found it politic to flee, together with family and friends, to the New World where the settlement they founded grew to become the modern town of Concord, Massachusetts. Concord still acknowledges its Bedfordshire roots and in 1983 the Concord Minutemen visited Odell when the occasion was marked with much marching, pageantry and feasting!
Odell is a tranquil place today and it is hard to imagine the pocket handkerchief village green being the site of a thriving market large enough to rival that at Olney. A horse fair was also held regularly and on these market days, by merely displaying a green bough by the door, the villagers claimed their right to sell beer without licence. This happy practice of 'Tapping' however, was stopped in 1858.
Odell has always lived off the land. A farming community which until the middle of the 18th century farmed on a communal basis, when each winter the enormous village plough would be brought out and yoked with teams of both men and horses! Women would eke out a meagre living sitting by their doors making pillow lace or planting rushes.
Above the village is Odell Great Wood, once part of a vast forest stretching to the Fens. Not so large today Odell Great Wood is still a haven for wild flowers which, in their season, carpet the ground in primroses and bluebells providing a beautiful walk for those prepared to climb the hill (and negotiate the often swampy ground, even in summer). This vantage point gives an excellent view of the river winding its way through the village, past the ancient mill with its waterwheel where in olden days the local lord demanded 100 eels a year for rental. Fishing is still popular in Odell, both from the river bank and the Country Park. Originating as gravel pits when the heart was torn out of the land to help build Milton Keynes, time and nature have healed the wounds and the Country Park is now a popular playground for the county. The lakes are also popular with waterfowl. There are so many geese today that conversation has to stop when they fly overhead on their way to and from their feeding grounds.
It is reputed that the Hartwell family discovered a cure for rabies and that people came from miles around to take the 'cure'. This was until recently a public house aptly named The Mad Dog and a haunting picture of a slavering, rabid dog leered down on those people brave enough to enter in. Sadly, this once popular pub is now a private house
Tradition holds that Odell is haunted by Sir Rowland Alston who sold his soul to the Devil. When the Devil came to collect his dues Sir Rowland fled in terror to the church and the Devil, seizing the church by the tower, shook the building in his rage and, it is said, left his fingermarks in the stonework of the southern jamb of the west-door. Recently, an over-zealous builder, carrying out maintenance work, removed these 'offending' marks. However, once in every hundred years the ghost of Sir Rowland repeats that last frantic ride to avoid the Devil, and his next desperate gallop through the village is due in 2044.
Size = 112k
This page last updated on the 16th of March 2005
