Whiston is a village and former

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 ...

, now in the parish of Cogenhoe and Whiston, in the

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 ...

district, in the ceremonial county of

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. It is 4 miles due east of the county town of Northampton. In 1931 the parish had a population of 49.

History

The name of the village derives from Old English and was first recorded as Hwiccingtune in 974. It means "the farmstead of the Hwicce tribe." On 1 April 1935 the parish was abolished and merged with Cogenhoe.

The Church

Whiston Church is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin. The present building was built for Anthony Catesby in the early 16th century. It is on the hill, separated from the rest of the village, from where it is reached by a footpath. The tower was built first and the church was probably complete by 1534.

Quarrying

Quarrying for iron ore and limestone was carried out at Whiston between 1914 and about 1922. The quarry was to the south west of the village adjoining an earlier quarry at

Cogenhoe Cogenhoe ( , ) is a village in West Northamptonshire, England. The civil parish of ''Cogenhoe and Whiston'' had a population at the 2011 census of 1,436. The village of Cogenhoe is some five miles (8 km) east of the county town, Northa ...

. The quarrying must at first have been done by hand with the aid of explosives but a steam navvy and a transporter machine was brought in in 1915. The ore was taken away by a steeply graded standard gauge railway leading to sidings at the

London & North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lon ...

's Northampton to Peterborough line. This was operated by a steam locomotive (a saddle tank engine built by Andrew Barclay Sons & Co Ltd.) The gradient was in favour of the loaded trains.

References

{{authority control Villages in Northamptonshire Former civil parishes in Northamptonshire West Northamptonshire District