Gilston

The name derives from Gedel or Gydel, an Old English personal name, and tun, meaning farm or settlement. A variation in spelling may be seen as "Gedeleston", in a legal record in 1424. ^[3]

The Parish Church of St Mary dates from the 13th century, and is Grade I listed. The churchyard includes a listed memorial to the Johnston family, and there is a 17th century tomb of the Gore family of Netherhall and an 18th century tomb of the Turvin family of Terlings Park in the church chancel. The Gore family included a Lord Mayor of London and the Gore and Turvin families both included a High Sheriff of Hertfordshire.^[4]

The Plume of Feathers Inn dates from the 18th century.^[5]

Gilston Park is a 19th century country house, which is Grade II* listed. It was designed by Philip Charles Hardwick in 1852 and extended by Arthur Blomfield in 1887, with later work by Blomfield's son, A C Blomfield.^[6] It was later home to the Salvin Bowlby family, who founded the Gilston and Eastwick Working Men's Club, now the village hall, in 1908.^[4]

In 2017, the government designated the "Harlow and Gilston Garden Town" as an initiative to provide new housing in the area around Harlow, including on land north of the River Stort around Gilston. Planning permission for 10,000 homes and supporting infrastructure in the Gilston area was granted in 2025.^[7]

• The Hundred Parishes