King's Sutton is a village and

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 ...

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 ...

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 in the valley of the

River Cherwell The River Cherwell ( or ) is a tributary of the River Thames in central England. It rises near Hellidon, Northamptonshire and flows southwards for to meet the Thames at Oxford in Oxfordshire. The river gives its name to the Cherwell local g ...

. The village is about south-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 ...

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 ...

. The parish includes the hamlets of Astrop contiguous with eastern end of King's Sutton and Upper Astrop about north-east, in the same area as the shrunken villages of Great and Little Purston.

History

Early history

The village

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

means the King's south estate.King′s Sutton Heritage Trust Site
/ref> Blacklands, in the parish north of the village, is the site of a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

town. Coins from the 4th century AD have been recovered from the site.Pevsner & Cherry, 1973, page 279 The infant Saint Rumwold (or Rumwald, Rumbold or Rumbald) is said to have lived and died at King's Sutton in 662. Rumwold is said to have lived for only three days but professed his faith continuously during his life.

The English Civil War

The

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

helped develop

’s then arms industry. The

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...

garrison was constantly at work early in 1645 digging

saltpetre Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . This alkali metal nitrate salt is also known as Indian saltpetre (large deposits of which were historically mined in India). It is an ionic salt of potassium ions K+ and nitra ...

in King's Sutton and making

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...

out of it in a house specially built near Banbury. Just over 10 years earlier a government saltpetreman had operated at Banbury for a year, having moved there from the then small market town of

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

, before moving on to

Hook Norton Hook Norton is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England. It lies northeast of Chipping Norton, close to the Cotswold Hills. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 2,117. The village is formed of four neighbourhoods: Ea ...

a short while afterwards. King's Sutton was a local centre for saltpetre excavation and digging at the time.

Parish church

The oldest parts of 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 ...

Saints Peter and Paul Peter and Paul may refer to: * Saint Peter and Paul the Apostle considered together ** Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, 29 June in the Catholic liturgical calendar ** St. Peter and St. Paul's Church (disambiguation) * ''Peter and Paul'' (film), 1 ...

are the

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

and largely Norman

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 ...

. The north

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...

was added in the 13th century and the south aisle early in the 14th century. The

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

and most of the windows 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

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

was added to the

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

probably late in the 14th century, raising the

steeple In architecture, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religi ...

to a height of .Pevsner & Cherry, 1973, page 278 Sir

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 it ''"one of the finest, if not the finest, spire in this county of spires"''. The south porch, north aisle, west window and very fine east window of the chancel are

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 ...

. Ss. Peter & Paul parish is now part of a single Church of England benefice with the adjacent parish of Newbottle and Charlton. King's Sutton 360 Panorama

Other notable buildings

The Court House was built in about 1500, partly of stone and partly

timber-framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

. It was altered in the 16th and 18th centuries. The

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

was built in the middle of the 17th century.

Astrop House

Astrop Park, Kings Sutton (geograph 3398065)

Astrop house is a Grade II* listed country manor about north-east of the village. It is constructed of limestone ashlar in two storeys with a 7-bay frontage It was built c.1740 for Sir John Willes,

Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas The chief justice of the Common Pleas was the head of the Court of Common Pleas, also known as the Common Bench or Common Place, which was the second-highest common law court in the English legal system until 1875, when it, along with the other ...

. Sir

John Soane Sir John Soane (; né Soan; 10 September 1753 – 20 January 1837) was an English architect who specialised in the Neoclassical architecture, Neo-Classical style. The son of a bricklayer, he rose to the top of his profession, becoming professo ...

added wings for the Revd. William Shippen Willes, which were extended in the 19th century and demolished in 1961.Pevsner & Cherry, 1973, page 96 William Wilkinson added the Keeper's lodge, pheasantry and a cottage in 1868.

Lancelot "Capability" Brown Lancelot Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783), more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English gardener and landscape architect, who remains the most famous figure in the history of the English la ...

laid out the grounds. Astrop was the site of a famous Spa discovered in the 17th century. All that now remains is a small well known as St. Rumbald's Well, south of the house in a valley (see "History" section).

Transport

The

Oxford and Rugby Railway The Oxford and Rugby Railway was promoted by the Great Western Railway as a means of connecting to the West Midlands and the north of England, by joining existing railways at Rugby. It was authorised in 1845, but the GWR soon decided to make its ...

between and was built between 1845 and 1850, passing through the west of King's Sutton parish between the village and the River Cherwell. The

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

had taken the line over by the time it opened, and in 1872 the GWR opened

King's Sutton railway station Kings Sutton railway station serves the village of King's Sutton in Northamptonshire, England. It is also one of the nearest railway stations to the town of Brackley. The station is managed by Chiltern Railways, who provide most of the servic ...

for the village.

Chiltern Railways Chiltern Railways, formally The Chiltern Railway Company Limited, is a British train operating company that has operated the Chiltern Railways franchise since July 1996. Since 2009, it has been a subsidiary of Arriva UK Trains. Chiltern Railw ...

trains to , ,

Great Western Railway (train operating company) Great Western Railway (GWR) is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that operates the Greater Western passenger railway franchise. It manages 197 stations and its trains call at over 270. GWR operates long-distance inter-cit ...

services to Oxford and now serve the station. King's sutton station Mk2 (5)

Governance

The village has a parish council with 15 members.

Heritage Trust

King's Sutton Heritage Trust Fund was formed in December 2005 with a Mission Statement which reads 'To promote, protect and enhance the history, facilities, structures, and amenities of the village of King's Sutton and the surrounding area for the benefit of its inhabitants.

Notable residents

* Olga Kevelos, motorcycle racer, was landlady of The Three Tuns in King's Sutton for a number of years. *

Arthur Halestrap Arthur Halestrap MBE (8 September 1898 – 1 April 2004) was one of the last surviving British soldiers of World War I. He was born in Southampton, Hampshire. In his youth he walked the decks of the ''Titanic'' before she sailed. He tried to e ...

, one of the last surviving British soldiers of the First World War, lived and died in the village.

Amenities

Kings Sutton Primary School is in Richmond Street.Kings Sutton Primary School website
/ref> It celebrated its centenary in 2008. Its last

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

report was in 2010 and gave the school grade 2, stating: ''"This is a good school. The new headteacher provides focused leadership so that all the staff are supporting the good quality of education for the pupils."''2010 OFSTED report, accessed 20 January 2011
The school used to be in Astrop Road and those premises are now a private house. Kings Sutton has also a pre-school. King's Sutton has two

public house 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 Butchers Arms (

Hook Norton Brewery Hook Norton Brewery is a regional brewery in Hook Norton, Oxfordshire, England, several miles outside the Cotswold Hills. Founded in 1849, the brewing plant is a traditional Victorian 'tower' brewery in which all the stages of the brewing pr ...

), and The White Horse. There is a

lawn tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cove ...

club.King's Sutton Lawn Tennis Club
/ref>

References

Gallery

File:Kings Sutton mk1.png, King's Sutton in 2000. File:Kings Sutton 1 (3).png, King's Sutton in 2000. File:Kings Sutton 1 (2).png, King's Sutton in 2009. File:Kings Sutton 1 (4).png, King's Sutton in 2000. File:Kings Sutton 1 (6).png, King's Sutton in 2009. File:Kings Sutton 1 (7).png, King's Sutton in 2001.

External links

King’s Sutton website
{{authority control Villages in Northamptonshire Country houses in Northamptonshire History of Northamptonshire Tourist attractions in Northamptonshire Gardens by Capability Brown West Northamptonshire District