Harrington 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, administered by

North Northamptonshire North Northamptonshire is one of two local authority areas in Northamptonshire, England. It is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area forming about one half of the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Northampto ...

council. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish's population was 154 people, including Thorpe Underwood but reducing to 146 at the 2011 Census. The

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...

of St Peter and St Paul is located north-east of the village itself.

History

The villages name origin is uncertain. 'Farm/settlement connected with Heathuhere' or farm/settlement of the Heather dwellers'. After the dissolution of the monasteries, the Saunders family became lords of the manor of Harrington. In the 17th century the

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals ...

passed by marriage to the Stanhope and then the Tollemache families until it was pulled down in 1745 by

Lionel Tollemache, 4th Earl of Dysart Lionel Tollemache, 4th Earl of Dysart KT (1 May 1708 – 10 March 1770), styled Lord Huntingtower from 1712 to 1727, was a nobleman from East Anglia, who bore a Scottish title. Lionel's father, a namesake in 1712 predeceased his father Lionel ...

. A stone pillar from one of the gateposts now stands in the middle of

Desborough Desborough is a town in Northamptonshire, England, lying in the Ise Valley between Market Harborough and Kettering. It was an industrial centre for weaving and shoe-making in the 19th century and had a long association with the Co-operative ...

. The site of the manor house is called ‘The Falls’ with the ‘Park’ adjoining. The Falls contains the remains of terraces,

fishponds Fishponds is a large suburb in the north-east of the English city of Bristol, about from the city centre. It has two large Victorian-era parks: Eastville Park and Vassall's Park (once the Vassall Family estate, also known as Oldbury Court). ...

and a sunken garden, which may have had a fountain. The fishponds were constructed to supply fresh fish to the monastic house. Eel,

bream Bream ( ) are species of freshwater and marine fish belonging to a variety of genera including '' Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), '' Acanthopagrus'', ''Argyrops'', '' Blicca'', '' Brama'', '' Chilotilapia'', ''Etelis'', '' L ...

, pike, and

perch Perch is a common name for fish of the genus ''Perca'', freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Per ...

were bred in a series of ponds of varying size fed by channels. The gardens were laid out by

Sir Lionel Tollemache, 2nd Baronet Sir Lionel Tollemache, 2nd Baronet (2 August 1591 – 6 September 1640) PC, of Helmingham Hall in Suffolk, was twice elected as a Member of Parliament for Orford in Suffolk, in 1621 and 1628. He had a considerable reputation as a surgeon, bu ...

who married Hon. Elizabeth Stanhope, daughter of

John Stanhope, 1st Baron Stanhope John Stanhope, 1st Baron Stanhope (1549? – 9 March 1621) was an English courtier, politician and peer. Life He was the third son of Sir Michael Stanhope, born in Yorkshire, but brought up in Nottinghamshire after his father's attainder ...

, around 1620 and inherited the estate in 1675. It is now listed as an historical archaeological site. The Tollemache family sold the Harrington estate in 1864, and it was ultimately purchased in 1913 by the Desborough Cooperative Society, which saw great possibilities in the development of ironstone working. A converted barn at Falls Farm in Harrington now houses a gin distillery, Warner's Distillery. The gin is made with spring water from the farm itself, together with home-grown

elderflower ''Sambucus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Adoxaceae. The various species are commonly called elder or elderberry. The genus was formerly placed in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae, but was reclassified as Adoxaceae due to ge ...

and ten other botanicals including

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' () of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arcti ...

coriander Coriander (;

and

Angelica root ''Angelica archangelica'', commonly known as garden angelica, wild celery, and Norwegian angelica, is a biennial plant from the family Apiaceae, a subspecies of which is cultivated for its sweetly scented edible stems and roots. Like several oth ...

. In April 2013 the company was featured on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

's ''

Countryfile ''Countryfile'' is a British television programme which airs weekly on BBC One and reports on rural, agricultural, and environmental issues in the United Kingdom. The programme is currently presented by John Craven, Adam Henson, Matt Baker ...

''.

Notable buildings

The Historic England website contains details of a total of five listed buildings in the parish of Arthingworth, all of which are Grade II apart from St Peter & St Pauls Church, which is Grade II*. They are: * St Peter & St Paul's Church, Church Lane *Appleton Farmhouse, Rothwell Road *Henry Hall’s House, 22 & 24 High Street *Slade Farmhouse, High Street *40-50 High Street

RAF Harrington

During World War II

RAF Harrington Royal Air Force Station Harrington or more simply RAF Harrington is a former Royal Air Force station in England about west of Kettering in Northamptonshire south of the village of Harrington off the A14 road. During the early Cold War, it wa ...

used by the

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

was located south of the village across the B576 road, now the A14. It was a later a

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 ...

site.

References

External links

Harrington and Thorpe Underwood websiteTollemache ArmsCarpet Baggers Aviation MuseumWarner Edwards Distillery

Church Lodge Farm

Harrington Concerts
{{authority control Harrington North Northamptonshire Civil parishes in Northamptonshire