Mildenhall

Mildenhall is a small village in the south-west of the Downs on the north bank of the River Kennet. Mildenhall is also known as Minal.

The village website has a good description of the village:

Houses in Minal are a collection of styles relating to the period in which they were built, rather than any specific village style, where the houses range from the early seventeenth century to the present.

An important part of the village is the area surrounding the Church, which has farmhouses belonging to the farms that surround all of Minal, and various houses many of which border the banks of the River Kennet.

The character of Minal is defined by the style of the original buildings which are often red and blue brick cottages with steep pitched thatched roofs, or slate roofs, and a few houses are timber framed.

The Roman fortress town of Cunetio stood at an important road junction on approximately the same site as Mildenhall. No remains of this fortress are now standing, but are clearly visible on aerial photographs on the other side of the river from the village. The Cunetio Hoard of Roman coins was discovered here in 1978. The name of the River Kennet, which runs through Mildenhall, is thought to have been derived from the Roman name, which is also used on the village's coat-of-arms.

The Church of Saint John the Baptist originates from before the Norman Conquest. Some parts of the tower are undoubtedly Saxon. However, much of the present building dates from the thirteenth century. In 1816 the interior of the church was refurbished by the villagers.

Mildenhall is in the Kennet Valley about a mile east of Marlborough.