Stanford-on-Avon is a village in the

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 ...

of Stanford 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. It lies next to the River Avon, which here forms the county boundary between Northamptonshire and

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

. On the Leicestershire side of the river is Stanford Hall, a historic house. Stanford Reservoir is one mile north of the village. The population is included in the

Clay Coton Clay Coton is a village in West Northamptonshire in England. The population (including Elkington and Stanford-on-Avon) of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 271. The nearest large town is Rugby, Warwickshire, about away by road. The vil ...

. The hamlet's name means 'Stone ford' situated on the River Avon. In a field just north-east of the village there is a stone monument to

Percy Pilcher Percy Sinclair Pilcher (16 January 1867 – 2 October 1899) was a British inventor and pioneer aviator who was his country's foremost experimenter in unpowered flight near the end of the nineteenth century. After corresponding with Otto Lilien ...

, a 19th century aviation pioneer who died in a glider accident at the location of the monument in 1899. The village was formerly served by

Yelvertoft and Stanford Park railway station Yelvertoft and Stanford Park railway station was a railway station serving the villages of Stanford-on-Avon and Yelvertoft in the English county of Northamptonshire and the stately home of Stanford Hall nearby in Leicestershire. It was opene ...

on the former

Rugby and Stamford Railway The Rugby and Stamford Railway was an early railway in England built in 1850. The London and Birmingham Railway had already built a branch from Blisworth to serve Northampton and extend to Peterborough. The success of this, the Northampton and P ...

which closed in 1966. The station is now a private house. Stanford-on-Avon is now the only populated settlement within the civil parish of Stanford. The parish contains the remains of two

deserted medieval village In the United Kingdom, a deserted medieval village (DMV) is a former settlement which was abandoned during the Middle Ages, typically leaving no trace apart from earthworks or cropmarks. If there are fewer than three inhabited houses the convent ...

s of ''Downtown'' and ''Stanford''.

Church

The most notable building in the village is the church of St Nicholas, which dates from the

14th century As a means of recording the passage of time, the 14th century was a century lasting from 1 January 1301 ( MCCCI), to 31 December 1400 ( MCD). It is estimated that the century witnessed the death of more than 45 million lives from political and n ...

, and is

grade I listed 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 ...

. It contains the oldest metal

organ pipe An organ pipe is a sound-producing element of the pipe organ that resonates at a specific pitch when pressurized air (commonly referred to as ''wind'') is driven through it. Each pipe is tuned to a specific note of the musical scale. A set of ...

s surviving in Britain. The upper part of the organ-case appears to be related to the Dallam organ at

Tewkesbury Abbey The Abbey Church of St Mary the Virgin, Tewkesbury–commonly known as Tewkesbury Abbey–is located in the English county of Gloucestershire. A former Benedictine monastery, it is now a parish church. Considered one of the finest examples of Nor ...

, and therefore the pipes probably date from the 1630s (i.e. before the Cromwell era when many organs were destroyed).

References

External links

*
Cyclists' Special: Cyclists' Touring Club film of touring group passing St. Nicholas Church, Sunday 8 May 1955
Villages in Northamptonshire West Northamptonshire District {{Northamptonshire-geo-stub