Kimpton, Hertfordshire
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Kimpton is a village, situated between the Mimram and Lea Valleys, about six miles south of Hitchin in Hertfordshire, England. It is approximately four miles from Harpenden and Luton.
The population of the Parish is approximately 2,000, most of whom live in the village itself.
The village lies along the valley of a dried-up river bed and is about one mile long. Some of the houses on the High Street date back to the 16th century, but most are 19th and early 20th century.
It has a spacious flint-built parish church in the unusual transitional style between Norman and Early English. The Dacre Chapel has a fine perpendicular screen, and the remains of early wall paintings in the chancel show St Christopher and the Seven Corporal Works of Mercy. The parish contains several hamlets and isolated farmhouses reached by narrow, high-banked, winding roads.
Behind the High Street are two large housing estates built in the 1970s.
The village has a reputation for its strong community spirit with over 50 clubs and organisations meeting regularly and helping to support the village as a whole. Every year at the beginning of May, many of these groups set up a stall on the Recreation Ground as part of the annual May Festival - an event run over three days featuring an art exhibition, craft market, stalls, arena entertainments, six mile sponsored run, walk with clues to solve, village concert, quiz, cream teas with jazz band.
Due to the level of isolation in the village, rumours of inbreeding have been circulating for many years, but these accusations have yet to be proven in any way.
The village school is a thriving primary and nursery school with over 150 children.
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