Tiffield 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 ...

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, north of Towcester between the A5 road to its west and the A43 road to its east. The village's name origin is dubious. It has been suggested that the primary component of this obscure name could be 'meeting place', '

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

' or '

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyly, monophyletic lineage within the ...

/swarm'. "Field" meant a piece of open land and the whole name could mean open land with or near to a meeting place.

Governance

Tiffield is part of the district of West Northamptonshire.

Demographics

The 2001

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

shows 370 residents, 185 each male and female, living in 142 dwellings. The population at the 2011 census included

Adstone Adstone is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England. The population at the 2001 census was 65. It remained than 100 at the 2011 census and was included in the civil parish of Tiffield. Adstone is situated approximately sout ...

but had fallen to 362.

Facilities

The

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

is one of the smallest in the country, with just 46 pupils in the 2007-08 academic year. It is

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

Voluntary Aided A voluntary aided school (VA school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation (charity), foundation or Charitable trust, trust (usually a religious organisation), contributes to building costs and has a substantial influ ...

and has two classrooms. The old

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

school building, used for KS2 and a 1960s mobile classroom for KS1, was to be demolished in summer 2008 and replaced by a modern classroom behind the Victorian building. Most pupils who leave the school progress to

Sponne School Sponne School in Towcester, Northamptonshire, England, is the oldest secondary school in Northamptonshire, and one of the oldest in the country. Part of the school was originally Towcester Grammar School, until Grammar schools were abolished i ...

in Towcester. There is a church dedicated to St John the Baptist and a pub, The George. It also has a pocket park and a playing field, Claydon's Field, which was opened in 1979 after eight years of fundraising by villagers. The village has one main road, which runs from the St. John's turning on the A43 to the village of Gayton. Two 1960s roads exist: Pigeon Hill at the southern end of the village and Meadow Rise at the northern end. The village is approximately ½ mile long. It is linked directly to Gayton and Eastcote by road. Tiffield Pocket Park was declared a Local

Nature Reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

in 2008. The Pocket Park land was originally part of the

Northampton and Banbury Junction Railway Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

, which was closed in the 1960s. It now is a linear trail connecting several footpaths and rights of way. Three orchid species are found within the Pocket Park and may be seen flowering between April to June (depending on the season).

The Gateway School

The Gateway school teaches more than 50 pupils with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties. It moved from its old building in Raeburn Road, Northampton in May 2008 which cost £6.4m of government funding. The official opening ceremony was attended by HRH The Duchess of Gloucester. The site was occupied by an

approved school An approved school was a type of residential institution in the United Kingdom to which young people could be sent by a court, usually for committing offences but sometimes because they were deemed to be beyond parental control. They were modelle ...

many years ago and, before that the Northampton Society's Reformatory School for Boys which opened on 21 January 1856.

Iron industry

There was an iron works next to the railway to the south of the village. It lasted from 1875 to 1882. It operated the Siemens Direct Process using ore from a nearby quarry at Hulcote but the local ore was found to be unsuitable for that process. The quarry continued in operation until 1920, as did a newer quarry started closer to Tiffield in 1908.

References

External links

{{commons category
Tiffield Parish CouncilTiffield Primary School's website
Villages in Northamptonshire