Ringstead 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 authorit ...
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, forming part of
North Northamptonshire
North Northamptonshire is one of two local authority areas in Northamptonshire, England. It is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area forming about one half of the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Northampto ...
. It is located approximately 15 miles north-east of
Northampton. At the time of the
2011 census, the parish's population was 1,461 people. The local primary school is situated next to St Mary's Church, which is host to the Ringstead Flower Festival.
History
The village's name means 'Ring place'. The meaning of the name here is obscure.
Ringstead was the birthplace of:
*William Tuttle, who settled in
Charlestown,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
in 1636. His descendants number in the tens of thousands today. Notable among them are:
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...
,
Bob Newhart
George Robert Newhart (born September 5, 1929) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan and slightly stammering delivery style. Newhart came to prominence in 1960 when his album of comedic monologues, ''The Button-Down Mi ...
,
Sinclair Lewis
Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American writer and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States (and the first from the Americas) to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which was ...
,
Humphrey Bogart,
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
,
Gerald Ford,
Lester B. Pearson
Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson (23 April 1897 – 27 December 1972) was a Canadian scholar, statesman, diplomat, and politician who served as the 14th prime minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968.
Born in Newtonbrook, Ontario (now part of ...
,
Jonathan Edwards,
O. Henry,
Margaret Warner
Margaret Garrard Warner (born February 12, 1950) is a senior correspondent for ''The PBS NewsHour''. Before joining the ''NewsHour'' in 1993, she was a reporter for ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'', the ''Concord Moni ...
,
Drew Gilpin Faust
Catharine Drew Gilpin Faust (born September 18, 1947) is an American historian and was the 28th president of Harvard University, the first woman to serve in that role. She was Harvard's first president since 1672 without an undergraduate or gradu ...
,
Norman Rockwell
Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of Culture of the United States, the country's culture. Roc ...
&
Annette Bening
Annette Carol Bening (born May 29, 1958) is an American actress. She has received various accolades throughout her career spanning over four decades, including a British Academy Film Award and two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominati ...
*
Alfred Roberts
Alfred Roberts (18 April 1892 – 10 February 1970) was an English grocer, preacher, and local politician. He served as alderman of Grantham from 1943 to 1952 and mayor of Grantham from 1945 to 1946. His second daughter, Margaret, was the ...
, the father of
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
.
According to tradition, the entrance to St Mary's churchyard has been haunted by the ghost of a village girl, Lydia Atley, who disappeared in 1850. What were thought to be her skeletal remains were unearthed in 1864 in a local orchard; the village butcher, Weekly Ball, was tried for Lydia's murder but acquitted because it proved impossible to conclusively identify the skeleton as that of the missing girl.
During the 1980s, major sand and gravel excavations took place all around Ringstead leaving many man-made lakes and islands.
In 2007, Ringstead,
Hargrave,
Raunds
Raunds is a market town in North Northamptonshire, England. It had a population of 9,379 at the 2021 census.
Geography
Raunds is situated north-east of Northampton. The town is on the southern edge of the Nene Valley and surrounded by ar ...
and
Stanwick were legally united as "The 4 Spires Benefice", with each village retaining its own church.
Heritage assets
The following buildings and structures are listed by
Historic England
Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...
as of special architectural or historic interest.
*Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Grade I) 12th century
*Slade Farmhouse (Grade II) 17th century
*Manor House (Grade II) 18th century
*5, 7 and 9 Denford Road (Grade II) 18th century
*War memorial (Grade II) 20th century
Demography
*In 1801 there were 454 persons
*In 1831 there were 620 persons
*In 1841 there were 640 persons
*In 2011 there were 1,461 persons
[Office for National Statistics, Census 2011]
Sport
Football
The village has a relatively successful sporting tradition in football. They have had a team representing the village for over 100 years since it was established in 1896
Ringstead Rangersincludes a men's team, a men's reserve team, an under 17s, under 14s and an under 9s team. All the teams play their home matches at Ringstead Recreational Ground and their traditional strip colours consist of red and black. The teams have been known to sport various other strip colours, especially in their away strips, including orange, blue and pink.
Social club
Activities at the Village Social Club include pool; the team currently plays in Division 3 of the East Northamptonshire League. It also has a skittles team and facilities for darts, bingo and dominoes.
Water-related activities
The
River Nene
The River Nene ( or : see below) is a river in the east of England that rises from three sources in Northamptonshire.OS Explorer Map sheet 223, Northampton & Market Harborough, Brixworth & Pitsford Water. The river is about long, about of w ...
runs past the village in a series of
locks
Lock(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
*Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance
*Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal
Arts and entertainment
* ''Lock ...
. A National Lottery funded cycle, bridle and footpath track runs between
Stanwick Lakes and Islip, the Nene Way running through the area all offering easy walking. Ringstead has a very large boating community and features over 250 river craft moored at Willy Watt Marina and Blackthorn Lake Marina.
Nature reserve
Kinewell Lake is a
local nature reserve and part of the
Upper Nene Valley Gravel Pits Site of Special Scientific Interest,
Ramsar Ramsar may refer to:
* Places so named:
** Ramsar, Mazandaran, city in Iran
** Ramsar, Rajasthan, village in India
* Eponyms of the Iranian city:
** Ramsar Convention concerning wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran
** Ramsar site, wetland listed in ...
wetland site of international importance and
Special Protection Area
A Special Protection Area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and certa ...
under the
European Communities Birds Directive
The Birds Directive (formally known as Council Directive 2009/147/EC on the conservation of wild birds) is the oldest piece of EU legislation on the environment and one of its cornerstones which was unanimously adopted in April 1979 as the Dire ...
.
References
External links
East Northants Online page on RingsteadRingstead CE Primary School
{{authority control
Villages in Northamptonshire
Civil parishes in Northamptonshire
North Northamptonshire