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 Armston is a hamlet in Northamptonshire, England. The population is included in the civil parish of Polebrook Polebrook is a village in Northamptonshire, England. The population (including Armston) at the 2011 census was 478. History There i ...

) 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. 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 manus ...

,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 * C ...

on the site of the current 12th century stone Church of All Saints.

Thomas de Thelwall Thomas de Thelwall (died 1382) was an English judge and Crown official who spent part of his career in Ireland, where he held office as Master of the Rolls in Ireland and Clerk to the Privy Council of Ireland. He was Chancellor of the Duchy of Lanc ...

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is a ministerial office in the Government of the United Kingdom. The position is the second highest ranking minister in the Cabinet Office, immediately after the Prime Minister, and senior to the Minist ...

was the parish priest of Polebrook in the 1360s.

RAF Polebrook Royal Air Force Station Polebrook or more simply RAF Polebrook is a former Royal Air Force station located east-south-east of Oundle, at Polebrook, Northamptonshire, England. The airfield was built on Rothschild estate land starting in Augus ...

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 opposi ...

from 1941 to 1945. The

USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

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 pub ...

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 ca ...

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 missile The PGM-17A Thor was the first operational ballistic missile of the United States Air Force (USAF). Named after the Norse god of thunder, it was deployed in the United Kingdom between 1959 and September 1963 as an intermediate-range ballistic mi ...

s 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 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 in

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