Places to visit, attractions, heritage and things of interest in Northamptonshire, in the English Midlands.
Someone on Twitter was talking about Ashby St Ledgers. This is a small, attractive, village in Northamptonshire, famous for being home to the Catesby family and for its associations with the Gunpowder Plot. Then I remembered a brief winter’s morning visit to the peaceful old church, and that it is dedicated to St Leodegarius. Leodegarius
Blessed Virgin Mary and St Leodegarius Read More »
East Midlands
Some places inspire a sense of curious awe. Though the past is ubiquitous, shaping who and what we all are, there are particular spots on earth where the shades of great events and people gather, jostling for attention. Visiting them is like walking across the hallowed pages of a giant book, catching tantalising glimpses of
The unique Saxon church at Earls Barton in Northamptonshire has been there for a thousand years or more and will probably wait for you. But, if you like your history, you do need to get there sometime. There was probably a settlement at Earls Barton as early as the 6th century – possibly even a
Earls Barton, our finest Saxon church tower Read More »
East Midlands
Northamptonshire is blessed with some fine Saxon churches. And the largest – in fact the largest Anglo-Saxon church in Britain – is at Brixworth. Actually, a monastery was founded at Brixworth sometime before 675AD, more than 1300 years ago, when this part of the country was in the Kingdom of Mercia and England did not
Brixworth – All Saints’ church Read More »
East Midlands
It is hard to associate the Northamptonshire village of Ashby St Ledgers with one of the most notorious terrorist plots of all time. In fact, despite nestling between Dunstable’s tired industrial estates and the fearsome Daventry International Rail Terminal to the north, you may actually struggle to associate Ashby St Ledgers with the 21st century
Terror plot planned in peaceful village Read More »
East Midlands
Althorp (sometimes pronounced ‘Awltrup’) is the Spencer family pile in Northamptonshire. Who amongst us lesser mortals had heard of either the estate or the family before Lady Diana Spencer shot into public awareness like a blazing comet? Perhaps, some may have vaguely thought, the family was something to do with that other lot, the Marks.
Geddington is an attractive Northamptonshire village, with Saxon roots. It boasts an ancient church, St Mary Magdalene, and a ford over the River Ise with an attractive old bridge, said to date from 1250, alongside. However, it is probably most famous for its Eleanor Cross, the best preserved of three of the twelve original crosses
Geddington’s Queen Eleanor Cross Read More »
East Midlands
The above is not a comment on Eleanor’s mood, addressed to someone called Hardingstone (which I’m thinking is a good name for a butler); it is a memorial to a dead queen beside a busy road in a suburb of Northampton. And it is part of a very old love story. When you think of
Eleanor’s Cross, Hardingstone Read More »
East MidlandsIncluding the counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland. What can you say about the East Midlands, an area that spawned Tennyson, DH Lawrence, Margaret Thatcher and the legend of Robin Hood? Sherwood Forest is still there, though it’s a little smaller now; and did you know they’re building a brand-new forest, the
A bit about the East Midlands Read More »
All East Midlands