Polebrook 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. The population (including Armston) at the 2011 census was 478.

History

There is evidence that Polebrook as a settlement dates back to 400 BC, where the village consisted of many farms. The farms were mainly centred on the modern day village of

Ashton Ashton may refer to: Names *Ashton (given name) *Ashton (surname) Places Australia * Ashton, Elizabeth Bay, a heritage-listed house in Sydney, New South Wales *Ashton, South Australia Canada *Ashton, Ontario New Zealand * Ashton, New Zealand ...

. Polebrook is called ''Pochebroc'' 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 ...

,Domesday Polebrook
and was the centre of a large administrative area (the Polebrook hundred). There may have been a wooden

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

on the site of the current 12th century stone Church of All Saints. Thomas de Thelwall, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster was the parish priest of Polebrook in the 1360s. RAF Polebrook was a little southeast of the village 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 ...

from 1941 to 1945. The USAAF 351st Bomber Group was stationed at the

airfield An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

from 15 April 1943 to 23 June 1945, and the

U.S. flag The national flag of the United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the c ...

hangs as a memorial to the men, along with a roll of honour in the church. The airfield is now disused, but remains a rich part of Polebrook culture; there is a memorial chapel in Polebrook Church. The base was used as a site for Thor missiles in the 1950s. For some time during the war

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...

was stationed at Polebrook and at

RAF Marston Moor RAF Marston Moor was a Royal Air Force airfield at Tockwith, North Yorkshire, during the Second World War. It was originally called RAF Tockwith, but confusion with RAF Topcliffe led to the name change. RAF Marston Moor was opened on 11 Novemb ...

near

Wetherby Wetherby () is a market town and civil parish in the City of Leeds district, West Yorkshire, England, close to West Yorkshire county's border with North Yorkshire, and lies approximately from Leeds City Centre, from York and from Harrogat ...

. He made morale-boosting visits locally during his time there, an example being

Marco Marco may refer to: People * Marco (given name), people with the given name Marco * Marco (actor) (born 1977), South Korean model and actor * Georg Marco (1863–1923), Romanian chess player of German origin * Tomás Marco (born 1942), Spanish c ...

Grantham Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln and ...

– a picture appears on the Manthorpe News website.

References

External links

* Villages in Northamptonshire North Northamptonshire Civil parishes in Northamptonshire {{Northamptonshire-geo-stub