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General
Pavenham is a lovely stone-built village on the banks of the River Ouse with a population of 670.
The parish church of St. Peter is filled with elaborately carved Jacobean woodwork. This was only installed in the nineteenth century by Thomas Abbot Green when he came to live at The Bury. This was a large house which stood where the Bury estate now stands.
According to local legend in 1665 a family called Hipwell brought mat making using rushes to the village and it became an important local industry. The Hipwells used to supply the matting for the House of Commons. The craft of mat making is still practised by the villagers to this day.
The name means either ‘Papa’s homestead or village’ or ‘Papa’s hemmed-in land’ from an Old English personal name and the words ham or hamm. In the Domesday Book of 1086 it is recorded as Pabeneham.
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Church Lane
Church Lane is supposed to be haunted by the ghost of a Cavalier. The man had been stopped whilst leaving the village by a group of Roundheads and he had tried to escape by jumping his horse over a gate at the top of the lane. Unfortunately his horse clipped the gate and threw him. He was captured, executed and his body thrown into a nearby well. It is said that no gate, built in the aforementioned gateway, can remain intact for long.
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High Street
A lady cyclist was riding from Pavenham towards Stevington and had just started to accelerate on a downhill stretch when she suddenly saw a large white dog. She was travelling so fast that she could not avoid hitting it. Imagine her surprise when instead of an accident she rode straight through the dog.
To view a map of the area click on the button below
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