Laxton is a village in

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

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 ...

, east of Corby and approximately west of the A43. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish's population was 160 people, increasing to 234 at the 2011 census.

History

The villages name means 'Leaxa's farm/settlement' or 'Lax's farm/settlement'. The village was rebuilt by George Freke Evans, as a

model village A model village is a type of mostly self-contained community, built from the late 18th century onwards by landowners and business magnates to house their workers. Although the villages are located close to the workplace, they are generally phys ...

to designs by

Humphry Repton Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great English landscape designer of the eighteenth century, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown; he also sowed the seeds of the more intricate and eclectic styles of ...

. The church, dedicated to All Saints, was rebuilt in 1867 but retains a mediaeval tower.

Laxton Hall

Laxton Hall is a Grade II*-

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 ...

between Laxton and Corby. It was much modified in the 19th century and altered again in 1867-8 for the seventh Lord Carbery. In 1924 the

Dominican friars The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...

opened a boys'

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

called Blackfriars at Laxton Hall. The hall has now been converted into a

residential care home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of elderly or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as skilled nursing facility (SNF) or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to in ...

for the Polish community while keeping the integrity of the original architecture intact. Since the 1970s there have been Corpus Christi events where a mass usually takes place in the afternoon which is then followed by a procession. In 2009 the mass was conducted by bishop

Stanislaw Budzik Stanislav and variants may refer to: People *Stanislav (given name), a Slavic given name with many spelling variations (Stanislaus, Stanislas, Stanisław, etc.) Places * Stanislav, a coastal village in Kherson, Ukraine * Stanislaus County, Cali ...

and the following year by monsignor Stefan Wylezek. There was no event in 2011 but resumed in 2012 on 10 June with Wylezek again presiding. On 2 June 2013 former Primate of Poland Jozef Kowalczyk visited the hall and presided over the Corpus Christi celebrations. The 2014 celebrations were conducted by

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

Kazimierz Nycz. Bishop

Damian Zimon Damian ( la, links=no, Damianus) may refer to: *Damian (given name) *Damian (surname) *Damian Subdistrict, in Longquanyi District, Chengdu, Sichuan, China See also *Damiani, an Italian surname *Damiano (disambiguation) *Damien (disambiguation) *Dam ...

presided over the 2015 procession; in attendance was

Marek Jurek Marek Jurek (; 28 June 1960 in Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland) is a right-wing politician and a Member of the European Parliament. Since 20 April 2007 he has been the leader of the aspirant party Right of the Republic. Politically, he is most kno ...

, a former marshal of the sejm as well as a candidate for the

2010 Polish presidential election Presidential elections were held in Poland on 20 June 2010. As no candidate received a majority of votes in the first round, a second round was held on 4 July 2010. Bronisław Komorowski, the acting President of Poland and vice-chairman of the C ...

. On 3 June 2018, Stefan Wylezek again presided over the Corpus Christi celebrations. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

the Corpus Christi was postponed but returned on 19 June 2022 with Wylezek presiding.

Amenities

Laxton Park Cricket Club plays in the Rutland and District Division 5. Laxton Village Hall is a new building, completed in Spring 2013 thanks to funding from the Big Lottery Fund.Website
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References

External links

Villages in Northamptonshire Model villages North Northamptonshire Civil parishes in Northamptonshire Laxton Hall {{Northamptonshire-geo-stub