Dingley 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 ...

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 ...

, England, located along the A427, about east of the nearest town,

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 admi ...

. It is also close to the A6 and near the border with

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 t ...

. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish's population was 209 people, reducing to 194 at the 2011 census. The villages name origin is uncertain. 'Dynni's wood/clearing' or perhaps, 'hollow wood/clearing'.

Governance

Dingley is part of

North Northamptonshire North Northamptonshire is one of two local authority areas in Northamptonshire, England. It is a unitary authority area forming about one half of the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire. It was created in 2021. Its notable towns are Ketterin ...

. Before local government changes it was part of

Kettering Kettering is a market and industrial town in North Northamptonshire, England. It is located north of London and north-east of Northampton, west of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene. The name means "the place (or territory) of Ket ...

borough.

Dingley Hall

The main feature of the village is Dingley Hall which has had many famous owners over the centuries. A house has stood on this site from medieval times when it was a Preceptory for the Knights' Hospitallers. It is first recorded as ''Dinglei'', meaning "the woodland clearing marked by valleys". At the dissolution of the monasteries it was sold to Edward Griffin. During the late 1550s Griffin had the house extensively rebuilt leaving only the older tower, and adding a

renaissance style Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...

porch. Further additions were made in the 1680s and the porch - which is dated 1558 - was re-sited during these alterations. In 1781-2 the west wing was demolished, but it remained a large rambling house. On 24 June 1603 Sir Thomas Griffin entertained

Anne of Denmark Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional fo ...

her son

Prince Henry Prince Henry (or Prince Harry) may refer to: People *Henry the Young King (1155–1183), son of Henry II of England, who was crowned king but predeceased his father *Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal (1394–1460) *Henry, Duke of Cornwall (Ja ...

, and Princess Elizabeth at Dingley, on their way to London from Edinburgh.

Lady Anne Clifford Lady Anne Clifford, Countess of Dorset, Pembroke and Montgomery, ''suo jure'' 14th Baroness de Clifford (30 January 1590 – 22 March 1676) was an English peeress. In 1605 she inherited her father's ancient barony by writ and became ''suo jure'' ...

and her aunt the Countess of Warwick travelled from London to see the queen at Dingley, meeting

Lucy, Countess of Bedford Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford ( Harington; 1580–1627) was a major aristocratic patron of the arts and literature in the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, the primary non-royal performer in contemporary court masques, a letter-writer, and a ...

on the way. The queen moved to

Althorp Althorp (popularly pronounced ) is a Grade I listed stately home and estate in the civil parish of Althorp, in West Northamptonshire, England of about . By road it is about northwest of the county town of Northampton and about northwest of c ...

the next day.John Nichols, ''The Progresses, Processions, and Magnificent Festivities, of King James the First'', vol. 1 (London, 1828), p. 173-5. It became the home of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

naval leader Admiral David Beatty. The Hall continued as a family home until 1936. During

World War II 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 opposin ...

it was used as a nursing home. Although the estate was sold in 1958, the house was left to deteriorate until it was gutted in 1972. In 1978, it was bought by the architect

Kit Martin Kit Martin CBE (born 6 May 1947) is a British architectural designer and country house property developer. Martin is the son of Sir Leslie Martin, Professor of Architecture at the University of Cambridge. Since the 1970s Martin has specialised i ...

who divided it into seven houses and three flats. Nothing is left of the original interiors. Although Dingley Hall is a private property, for 30 years it hosted musical events throughout the year called 'Music at Dingley' with concerts in the Norman church or in the Porch House. Having had 30 wonderful years of music making, the committee have decided to stop.

Village

All Saints church, Dingley (geograph 3215961)

A small village grew up as part of the Dingley Hall estate; there are two distinctive rows of attractive workers' cottages on the A427 half a mile into the village beyond Dingley Hall gatehouse. Point to point racing takes place between Easter and summer and draws a crowd averaging 10,000 at each meeting.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Northamptonshire North Northamptonshire Civil parishes in Northamptonshire