Lamport 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 ...

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 signific ...

, England. The village is on the A508, about south of

Market Harborough Market Harborough is a market town in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England, in the far southeast of the county, forming part of the border with Northamptonshire. Market Harborough's population was 25,143 in 2020. It is the adm ...

and north of

Northampton 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 ...

. Nearby is Lamport Hall. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish's population was 207 people, including Hanging Houghton and increasing to 225 at the 2011 Census. The name of the village means 'Long town'. Between 1859 and 1960, the village was served by

Lamport railway station Lamport railway station on the Northampton and Market Harborough railway opened on 16 February 1859 serving the villages of Lamport, Maidwell, Hanging Houghton as well as Lamport Hall, Northamptonshire, England. It ran half a mile (ca.800 m) ...

just north of the village running trains south to

and north to

. This is now part of the heritage

Northampton & Lamport Railway The Northampton and Lamport Railway is a standard gauge heritage railway in Northamptonshire, England. It is based at Pitsford and Brampton station, near the villages of Pitsford and Chapel Brampton, roughly north of Northampton. Overview ...

, but as of 2018 the tracks have not yet been rebuilt as far as Lamport. The parish Church of All Saints is a Grade I listed building. It has a medieval tower but the remainder was built in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. The 19th century part is the south vestry, designed by G.F. Bodley. The church contains monuments to members of the Isham family who lived at Lamport Hall from 1560 to 1976. Lamport Hall, the seat of the Isham baronets for around 350 years, stands opposite the church. The Carnegie Medal-winning children's author

Denys Watkins-Pitchford Denys James Watkins-Pitchford MBE (25 July 1905 – 8 September 1990) was a British naturalist, an illustrator, art teacher and a children's author under the pseudonym "BB". He won the 1942 Carnegie Medal for British children's books. Early ...

, who wrote under the pseudonym BB, was born in Lamport.

Iron Ore Quarrying

The first iron ore quarry at Lamport was north of the village. It was close to the Draughton Road, on the west side of that road. It was connected to the railway by a standard gauge steam operated tramway. The junction was at the north end of the station. The ore was taken by the tramway and railway to blast furnaces at Finedon. This quarry operated from 1882 to 1890. Its position is marked by a crescent shaped depression in a field. The tramway's engine shed remains. Ore was quarried close to Hanging Houghton and Scaldwell from about 1912. By 1924 these quarries were working close to the junction of the main Northampton to Lamport road and the road to Scaldwell. The ore was at that time taken a short distance by narrow gauge (3 feet) tramway and then aerial ropeway to sidings on the railway between Brixworth and Hanging Houghton. This quarry to the north and east of the road junction operated until 1927 and again from 1936 to 1963. The narrow gauge tramway was replaced by a standard gauge line in 1942 which operated direct to the sidings without the need to tranship the ore onto the aerial ropeway. During this time the working face moved gradually northwards just to the east of the main road and Lamport Hall until the final workings were close to the village. In 1963 the final gullet was actually in the parish of Scaldwell, but it was very close to Lamport village to the west of the Lamport to Scaldwell road. Steam and later diesel quarrying machines were used and in 1942 an electric dragline was introduced. The tramways were worked by steam locomotives. The tramways and quarries have been landscaped and little is now visible except that the level of the fields quarried is lower than the roads.Tonks,pages 185 - 222

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Northamptonshire West Northamptonshire District Civil parishes in Northamptonshire