civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
in
West Northamptonshire
West Northamptonshire is a unitary authority area covering part of the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England, created in 2021. By far the largest settlement in West Northamptonshire is the county town of Northampton. Its other signif ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, about north-east of
Banbury
Banbury is a historic market town on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. It had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census.
Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding area of north Oxfordshire ...
off the
A361 road
The A361 is an A class road in southern England, which at is the longest three-digit A road in the UK.
History
When first designated in 1922, the A361 ran from Taunton (Somerset) to Banbury (Oxfordshire). It was later extended west through ...
.
The parish includes the villages of
Upper Boddington
Upper Boddington is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Boddington, in the West Northamptonshire district, in the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England. In 1931 the parish had a population of 198. On 1 April 1935 th ...
and
Lower Boddington
Lower Boddington is a village about southwest of Daventry in Northamptonshire. Lower Boddington is the smaller of the two villages in Boddington civil parish, most of whose facilities are located in Upper Boddington.
The villages name means ...
. Upper Boddington is the larger of the two, on a hill close to the boundary between Northamptonshire,
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
and
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...
, with Lower Boddington on the southern slope of the hill. Nearby Boddington Reservoir is used for sailing and
recreational fishing
Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is professional fishing for profit; or subsistence fishing, which is fishing ...
.
Demographics
According to the 2001 census it had a population of 700, 240 male, 252 female in 196 households (2010 estimate 722, 280 in Lower Boddington and 442 in upper Boddington).
History
Boddington was almost certainly founded in Anglo-Saxon times. The spelling of Boddington has changed over the centuries. In the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
it is given as ''Botendon''.Mills, A.D. (1998), A Dictionary of English Place-names. Second Edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford, p, 44, A survey of Northamptonshire from the 12th century gives the name as ''Bottelendon'', while The Calendar of Close Rolls from 1244 states the name as ''Budinton''. Documents from 1358, 1396 and 1428 give the names as ''Botyngdon'', ''Botyndoun'' and ''Botyngdon'' respectively. Some 19th-century maps name the parish ''Bodington'', with only one "d". Ideas concerning the origin of the name vary greatly; the ''Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names'' says that it is derived from ''"The hill of a man called Bota"''.
The two villages of Upper and Lower Boddington may have been separate in their early history, but were officially merged into a single parish by an
Act of Parliament
Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...
in 1758. The population of the village can be traced back through the national censuses as far back as 1801. In the 19th century, the population appears to have fluctuated considerably, rising from 476 in 1801 to 926 in 1851, then declining to 487 by 1901. The 2001 census gives the population of the parish as 700.
In 1870, following the passing of the first
Education Act
Education Act (with its variations) is a stock short title used for legislation in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States that relates to education. The Bill for an Act with this short title wil ...
, the Rev. Edward Sale began an effort to build a local school. Boddington C of E Primary school was built on church land at a cost of £718. The school remains in use today, with recent extension work providing it with modern sports and
information technology
Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...
facilities.
Buildings
During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
the parish hosted
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
refugees. During
World War II
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 ...
, on 25 November 1944, a
Vickers Wellington
The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its g ...
bomber crashed into the Manor House, killing three people in the house and the seven crew of the plane, and severely damaging the upper storey of the building. The house has only recently been re-roofed.
The parish contains many old,
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
s. Opinions vary as to which house is the oldest in the village. Some of the more recent books on the village claim that Cherry Tree House is the oldest, though, architecturally, the house appears to be approximately the same age as Stoneleigh Farm, situated opposite it, and the Plough Inn.
Church and chapel
The
Church of England parish church
A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...
of Saint
John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
in Upper Boddington includes two tomb recesses dating from about 1300.Pevsner & Cherry, 1973, page 437 The
chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse.
Ove ...
windows and the south window of the south
transept
A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...
are
Decorated Gothic
English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed ar ...
. The west tower is
Perpendicular Gothic
Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed) architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-c ...
and the south porch was added in 1629.
North of St. John's is the Old Rectory, which was built in 1680 and had a third storey added in the 19th century. It is an
ironstone
Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be con ...
building of five
bays
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...
.
Upper Boddington had a
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...
chapel that was built in 1865.
Amenities
The parish has a number of community facilities and businesses, mostly in Upper Boddington. The church, the Methodist Chapel, Post Office, the Plough Inn, a new
village hall
A village hall is a public building in a village used for various things such as:
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, a village hall is usually a building which contains at least one large room (plus kitchen and toilets), is owned by a local ...
and a
primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
described as ''"good, with outstanding features."'' The Village Garage, specialising in
classic car
A classic car is an older car, typically 25 years or older, though definitions vary.While other languages, such as German and Dutch, may refer to classic cars as "oldtimers", this usage is unknown in English, where "old-timer" refers to an elder ...
s, opened in 2007. A photographic studio and a web design company are also in the garage building.
Boddington Reservoir is used for local and competition
fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...
and is also the base of Banbury Sailing Club.Banbury Sailing Club Retrieved 6 November 2009 Local activities range from
darts
Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, missiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dar ...
and
skittles
Skittles may refer to:
* Skittles (confectionery), a brand of fruit-flavor chewy candy, distributed by Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company
*'' Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical''
* Skittles (sport), the game from which bowling originated
* Skittles (ch ...
leagues at the Plough Inn,
badminton
Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...
matches and annual quizzes at the Village Hall, a 6-a-side football team playing in
Napton
Napton on the Hill, often referred to locally as just Napton, is a village and civil parish east of Southam in Warwickshire, England. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 1,144.
Manor
The toponym Napton is derived ...
and a classic car get-together every first Sunday of the month at the Village Garage.
The Buildings of England
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Civil parishes in Northamptonshire
West Northamptonshire District