Wrestlingworth

Wrestlingworth is not mentioned in the Domesday Book. However, by the mid-12th century two manor houses – Kendale's and Hereford's – are recorded as the village which was being established along the banks of a tributary of the River Cam. Historic names were Wrastlingewurde in the 12th century and Wrestlingforth in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Church of St. Peter was established in about 1300. Graves from the Great Plague are still clearly visible in St. Peter's churchyard, together with low set ‘leper’ windows. There used to be a post office/shop and a local convenience store and there is still a public house, The Chequers.

In the 1840s, notoriety hit the village when the case of the murderer Sarah Dazley came to the fore. By the age of 25, Dazley had poisoned two husbands and a child. She was about to marry a third husband when villagers warned him of her past and subsequent investigations took place. These commenced with exhumation of the bodies and a Coroner's Inquest which was held in The Chequers Pub. Traces of arsenic were found and several local residents gave evidence against Dazley during her trial at Bedford Assizes. At the end of the case, Dazley was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged outside Bedford Gaol. She was the last woman to be publicly hanged in England and it is said that the entire…