Woodnesborough comes from the Old English ‘Wōden’ meaning a ‘heathen Germanic god’
with ‘berg’ as a ‘hill, mound’; therefore, ‘hill of the god Woden’. The Domesday
Book chronicles Woodnesborough as Wanesberge.
Woodnesborough parish church is a Grade: II listed building, dedicated to Saint Mary
the Virgin. The Normans built it in the 12th century, with alterations 200 years
later. In 1800, Edward Hasted described the church as consisting of ‘a nave, and
two isles, having a square tower steeple at the west end, with a modern wooden turret
and vane at the top of it, in which are five bells, made in 1676. It had a high spire
on the tower, which was taken down some years ago’. The architect Ewan Christian
restored the church in 1884.
