Hardingstone is a village in
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by
two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...
, England. It is on the southern edge of
Northampton
Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...
, and now forms a
suburb
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
of the town. It is about from the town centre. The
Newport Pagnell
Newport Pagnell is a town and civil parish in the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The Office for National Statistics records Newport Pagnell as part of the Milton Keynes urban area.
It is separated from the rest of the urban ...
road (the
B526, formerly part of the
A50) separates the village from the nearby village of
Wootton, which has also been absorbed into the urban area.
The villages name means 'Hearding's
Thorn
Thorn(s) or The Thorn(s) may refer to:
Botany
* Thorns, spines, and prickles, sharp structures on plants
* ''Crataegus monogyna'', or common hawthorn, a plant species
Comics and literature
* Rose and Thorn, the two personalities of two DC Com ...
-tree'.
Governance
As a village distinct from the town it has its own
parish council,
unlike more recent 20th and 21st century suburbs of the town. The parish includes part of the Brackmills Industrial Estate, and borders
Delapré Abbey
Delapré Abbey is an English neo-classical mansion in Northamptonshire.
The mansion and outbuildings incorporate remains of a former monastery, the Abbey of St Mary de la Pré (the suffix meaning "in or of the Meadow"), near the River Nene s ...
.
Demographics
The 2001
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
showed there were 2,015 people living in the parish: 978 males and 1,037 females in 885 households. The 2011 census showed a very minor reduction to 2,014.
Brackmills
To the north-east of the village is the large Brackmills Industrial Estate. The estate was chosen as the site of a 400 ft wind turbine erected by the
Asda
Asda Stores Ltd. () (often styled as ASDA) is a British supermarket chain. It is headquartered in Leeds, England. The company was founded in 1949 when the Asquith family merged their retail business with the Associated Dairies company of York ...
supermarket chain at one of their warehouses, but this was rejected by the planners.
Facilities
The original village school was built around 1860-70 by General Bouverie; this building remained open until the 1960s or 70s when the primary school was transferred to a more modern building in Martin's Lane, and the old school was transferred to Northampton County Council (Social Services) who now let it to the Hardingstone Village Hall Association.
The village has two
pub
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
s: "The Crown" and "The Sun" along with a post office, supermarket and several hairdressers.
Queen Eleanor's Cross
On the edge of the village, on the road going into Northampton, can be found one of only three remaining
Eleanor crosses.
The cross commemorates the resting at nearby
Delapré Abbey
Delapré Abbey is an English neo-classical mansion in Northamptonshire.
The mansion and outbuildings incorporate remains of a former monastery, the Abbey of St Mary de la Pré (the suffix meaning "in or of the Meadow"), near the River Nene s ...
of the body of Queen
Eleanor of Castile;
King Edward I
Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal ...
stayed at nearby
Northampton Castle
Northampton Castle at Northampton, was one of the most famous Norman castles in England. The castle site was outside the western city gate, and defended on three sides by deep trenches. A branch of the River Nene provided a natural barrier on t ...
. The cross was begun in 1291 by John of Battle; he worked with William of Ireland to carve the statues; William was paid five
marks
Marks may refer to:
Business
* Mark's, a Canadian retail chain
* Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain
* Collective trade marks, trademarks owned by an organisation for the benefit of its members
* Marks & Co, the inspiration for the novel ...
(£3 6s. 8d. or £3.33) per figure.
![NorthamptonPlaque](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/NorthamptonPlaque.JPG)
The cross is octagonal and set on some steps, the present ones being replacements. The cross is built in three tiers and originally had a crowning terminal – possibly a cross. It is not known when this was lost, but it had been lost by the time of the second
Battle of Northampton in 1460. Its bottom tier features open books; these probably included painted inscriptions of Eleanor's biography and of prayers for her soul to be said by viewers, which are now lost.
The cross is referred to in
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...
's ''
A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain
''A Tour Thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain'' is an account of his travels by English author Daniel Defoe, first published in three volumes between 1724 and 1727. Other than ''Robinson Crusoe'', ''Tour'' was Defoe's most popular and financial ...
'', where he reports on the
Great Fire of Northampton
The Great Fire of Northampton occurred in September 1675 in Northampton in Northamptonshire, England. The blaze was caused by sparks from an open fire on St. Mary’s Street, near Northampton Castle. The fire devastated the town centre, destroying ...
in 1675:
... a townsman being at Queen's Cross upon a hill on the south side of the town, about two miles off, saw the fire at one end of the town then newly begun, and that before he could get to the town it was burning at the remotest end, opposite where he first saw it.
Restoration work was completed in 2019.
Church
![HardingstoneChurch](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/HardingstoneChurch.jpg)
The parish church of
St Edmund dates back to the 12th century and is mentioned in documents from 1107.
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...
considered that the body of the church had been over-restored.
Many members of the Bouverie family (owners of nearby
Delapré Abbey
Delapré Abbey is an English neo-classical mansion in Northamptonshire.
The mansion and outbuildings incorporate remains of a former monastery, the Abbey of St Mary de la Pré (the suffix meaning "in or of the Meadow"), near the River Nene s ...
) are buried in the vault. The family used this as their family church because the Abbey, after the
Dissolution of the Monasteries, lacked its own chapel.
During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
the stained glass windows were removed for safety but afterwards could not be found. Some people believe that they might be in the Bouverie family vault, but this is bricked up and the mystery remains.
Iron Ore Quarries
Iron ore quarrying began at Hardingstone in about 1852. It is likely that quarrying had ceased by 1860. The quarry was to the east of the old village area and to the north of the Bedford Road. Part of it has had houses built on it and Landimore Road now crosses the site as well as a footpath. Traces of the quarry are visible. The ore was taken away by a tramway leading to the Northampton to Peterborough railway line (now closed.) It is likely that the upper part of the tramway was worked by a stationary steam engine. Part of the route of the tramway has been built over and part (near to the railway) has been dug up by gravel workings or flood prevention works and flooded.
There were later workings in the Far Cotton part of the old Hardingstone Parish. Further details can be found on the
Far Cotton
Far Cotton is a district in the civil parish of Far Cotton and Delapre, in the town of Northampton, in the county of Northamptonshire, England and many years ago a village in its own right. The population is included in the Delapre and Briar Hil ...
page.
Alfred Rouse
Hardingstone Lane was the scene of the ''Blazing car murder'' of 1931 which attracted sensational national interest. The felon,
Alfred Rouse
Alfred Arthur Rouse (6 April 1894 – 10 March 1931) was a British murderer, known as the Blazing Car Murderer, who was convicted and subsequently hanged at Bedford Gaol for the November 1930 murder of an unknown man in Hardingstone, Northampto ...
, was tried at Northampton Assizes and subsequently
hanged
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging i ...
in
Bedford Gaol on 10 March 1931. The male victim has never been identified and was buried at Hardingstone church. In January 2014, it was revealed that DNA had been found in the Northamptonshire 'blazing car' murder case and the identity of the victim might at last be found.
["DNA found in Northamptonshire 'blazing car' murder case" BBC News 2014_01_14, Accessed 2014_01_14](_blank)
/ref>["Northamptonshire Police may look at 1930 'blazing car murder'" BBC News 2012_05_03, Accessed 2014_01_14](_blank)
/ref> However, the family who feared for more than 80 years that their relative was the victim were told by scientists the victim's DNA did not match theirs.BBC News 22 January 2013, Accessed 2014_01_22
/ref> In October 2014, scientists trying to identify the murder victim said they were down to nine strong leads.["Northamptonshire 1930 'blazing car murder': Nine families shortlisted" BBC News 18 October 2014, accessed 18 October 2014](_blank)
/ref> In December 2014, Dr John Bond, forensic science expert at the University of Leicester, said he would look into the possibility of a Mr Brick from Wales being the victim of Rouse.["Alfred Rouse 'blazing car murder': Victim could be missing man" BBC News 20 December 2014](_blank)
/ref>
Notable residents
* Robert Adams (sculptor and designer)
Robert Adams (5 October 1917 – 5 April 1984) was an English sculptor and designer. Whilst not widely known outside of artistic circles, he was nonetheless regarded as one of the foremost sculptors of his generation. In a critical review of a r ...
* Thomas Croxen Archer
Thomas Croxen Archer FRSE FSA FRSSA (1817 – 19 February 1885) was a British botanist, and from 1860 was Director of the Industrial Museum of Scotland, renamed the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art in 1864, a post he held until his death in ...
(1817-1885), botanist, and first Director of the National Museum of Scotland
The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, and the adjacent Royal Scottish Museum (opened in ...
References
External links
*Pevsner - The Buildings of England - Northamptonshire.
Northamptonshire County Council
Hardingstone Parish Council
Hardingstone Village Hall
{{authority control
Areas of Northampton
Villages in Northamptonshire
Civil parishes in Northamptonshire