Stanwick Lakes is a

country park A country park is a natural area designated for people to visit and enjoy recreation in a countryside environment. United Kingdom History In the United Kingdom, the term ''country park'' has a specific meaning. There are around 250 designated c ...

on the outskirts of the village of Stanwick and was opened in 2006. It is managed by the

Rockingham Forest Rockingham Forest is a former royal hunting forest primarily located in the English county of Northamptonshire, with a small section extending into neighbouring Cambridgeshire. It is an area of some lying between the River Welland and River ...

Trust on behalf of

East Northamptonshire District Council East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that eas ...

and comprises 750 acres (304 hectares) of former gravel pits. It is part of the larger

River Nene The River Nene ( or ) flows through the counties of Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, and Norfolk in Eastern England from its sources in Arbury Hill in Northamptonshire. Flowing Northeast through East England to its mouth at Lutt ...

Regional Park.

History

Prior to the construction of a bypass and mass excavation of gravel, a Roman villa was excavated in 1984–1992 and several mosaics were found. In 2013, one of the mosaics was returned after study and is now on display in the Visitor Centre at Stanwick Lakes. A medieval village was excavated in 1985-1989 near to the village of Ringstead. The earthworks and buried archaeological remains of the medieval village of West Cotton, including a mid-late Anglo-Saxon and medieval settlement abandoned before 1450. The settlement overlies the north end of an extensive prehistoric ceremonial complex.West Cotton, Raunds: a study of medieval settlement dynamics, AD 450-1450: Excavation of a deserted medieval hamlet in Northamptonshire, 1985-1989, Northamptonshire Archaeology, 2010 Oxbow Books

Geography

Stanwick Lakes is approximately 15 miles north-east of

Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...

Landmarks

The following buildings and structures are listed by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

as of special architectural or historic interest. *Raunds bowl barrow (Scheduled Monument) Prehistoric *Irthlingborough bowl barrow (Scheduled Monument) Prehistoric *Medieval Settlement of West Cotton (Scheduled Monument)

References

{{Reflist

External links

Stanwick Lakes Nature Reserve

River Nene Regional Park
Country parks in Northamptonshire North Northamptonshire