Welford 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 ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, on the River Avon border between

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 ...

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 ...

. At the 2011 census, the population was 1,043.

Location

It is on the main

A5199 road The A5199 road is the direct road from Northampton to Leicester in England. It was formerly part of the A50 trunk road that ran from Bedfordshire to Lancashire. For most of its length it is known as the Welford Road, except for small stretch ...

connecting

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 ...

and

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

and, being halfway between the two, was an important

stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are dra ...

stop. The A5199 is known as the 'Welford Road' for much of its length. It is close to the junction of the two major motor routes in England - the

M1 motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the country was the Preston By-pass, which ...

and the

M6 motorway The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 and the western end of the A14 at ...

- and is 1½ miles north of Junction 1 of the A14, which connects that junction with the east of England.

History

The village's name means 'ford with a spring/stream'. In medieval times its

Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...

Abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The c ...

moved to Sulby some two miles to the east and Welford lost its market charter which was sold to

West Haddon West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

. There is clear evidence that Welford shrank considerably during the medieval period and it is notable that three of its neighbouring

es — Elkington,

Stanford-on-Avon Stanford-on-Avon is a village in the civil parish of Stanford in West Northamptonshire, England. It lies next to the River Avon, which here forms the county boundary between Northamptonshire and Leicestershire. On the Leicestershire side of th ...

and Sulby — are almost entirely depopulated. In 2016, a new housing estate was built called Miller's Lock. While the builders were digging up the foundations, they found the remains of an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

roundhouse. A silver cup dating from the sixteenth century that was found in the village is in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. The history of the parish has been the subject of two books: *Welford: Portrait of a Northamptonshire Village" *Welford: The Legacy 1856 to 1980

Notable buildings

The Historic England website contains a total of 38 entries for listed buildings in the parish of Welford. These are all Grade II, apart from St Mary's Church, which is Grade II*. They include: * St Mary's Church, Church Lane *The Talbot, High Street *Manor House, West Street * Welford Congregational Church, West End

Facilities

It is served by a short arm from the

Grand Union Canal The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another ends in Birmingham, with the latter ...

and has two

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or ...

s. The Jurassic Way

long distance footpath A long-distance trail (or long-distance footpath, track, way, greenway) is a longer recreational trail mainly through rural areas used for hiking, backpacking, cycling, horse riding or cross-country skiing. They exist on all continents exc ...

passes through the village on a southwest–northeast axis; although it officially makes its way through the fields to the east of the village, many walkers prefer to walk along the High Street to make use of the village's facilities.

Welford has a village shop and

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional se ...

, a hairdresser, a primary school, a garage, a coffee & gift shop and one

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

, although technically this is in the neighbouring parish of Husbands Bosworth. The primary school is called WSSES and also accepts children from the surrounding parishes of Sibberroft and Sulby.. Its website is https://www.wsses.com Other amenities include a village hall, a sports field that is home to Welford Victoria F.C., a youth centre and a pocket park. There is also a spinney which is near the park and was a gravel quarry in the 19th century. To the North East of the village lie Welford Reservoir and

Sulby Reservoir The Sulby Reservoir is the largest reservoir or lake in the Isle of Man, with an area of . The reservoir Sulby is an impounding reservoir. The dam was completed in 1982 and has a rock-fill embankment high. The reservoir's capacity is and the ...

. A painted wood carving of Postman Pat and his black and white cat, Jess stands at the junction of High Street and West Street. It was crowd funded by villagers and installed in 2019 after the previous statues, which stood in the same spot for 25 years, rotted away. It is now administered as part of

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 ...

. Previously it was in Daventry District (1974-2021) having earlier been part of

Oxendon Rural District Oxendon was a rural district in Northamptonshire, England from 1894 to 1935. It was formed under the Local Government Act 1894 from the part of the Market Harborough rural sanitary district which was in Northamptonshire (the rest going on t ...

(1894–1935) followed by Brixworth Rural District (1935–74).

References

External links

The Official Welford Victoria Football Club Website

The village website
*
{{authority control Villages in Northamptonshire Civil parishes in Northamptonshire West Northamptonshire District