Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for HARDINGSTONE

HARDINGSTONE, a parish, a sub-district, and a district in Northamptonshire. The parish lies on the river Nen, the Grand Junction Canal, and the North-western railway, averagely 2 miles S by E of Northampton, but containing the Northampton station of the Northwestern railway. It includes the hamlets of Cotton-End, Far-Cotton, and Delapre Abbey; and it has a post-office under Northampton. Acres, 3,060. Real property, £9,784; of which £600 are in quarries. Pop. in 1851,1,196; in 1861,1,915. Houses, 396. The increase of pop. arose from the erection of houses at Far-Cotton. The property is divided among a few. Lieut. Gen. E. W. Bonverie, of Delapre Abbey, is the chief landowner. A Queen Eleanor's cross, of three stones, octagonal, and on 8 steps, is near Delapre Abbey, and was built by Edward I., and restored in 1762. A circular camp, enclosing upwards of 4 acres, and supposed to have been formed by Sweyn, the father of King Canute, is on a commanding eminence to the SW of Eleanor's cross. A battle, commonly called the battle of Northampton, between Warwick the king-maker and Henry VI., was fought, in 1459, at Hardingstone-Fields. Paper mills are at Far-Cotton; and wharfs and warehouses are on the canal at Cotton-End. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Peterborough. Value, £534.* Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church is ancient, and was well restored in 1869. New schools were recently erected; and there are charities £103. James Hervey, the author of Meditations, was a native.—The sub-district contains also the parishes of Great Houghton, Preston-Deanery, Piddington, Horton, and Quinton. Acres, 12,253. Pop., 3,657. Houses, 770.—The district comprehends also the sub-district of Milton, containing the parishes of Milton, Courteenhall, Roade, Rothersthorpe, Collingtree, and Wootton; and the sub-district of Brafield, containing the parishes of Brafield-on-the-Green, Cogenhoe, Little Houghton, Yardley-Hastings, Castle-Ashby, Whistou, and Denton. Acres, 32,408. Poor-rates in 1863, £5,668. Pop. in 1851,9,157; in 1861,9,928. Houses, 2,142. Marriages in 1862,75; births, 324,—of which 18 were illegitimate; deaths, 163,—of which 54 were at ages under 5 years, and 5 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60,796; births, 3,380; deaths, 1,917. The places of worship, in 1851, were 19 of the Church of England, with 4,640 sittings; 1 of Independents, with 600 s.; 7 of Baptists, with 1,460 s.; 7 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 555 s.; 1 of Wesleyan Reformers, with 100 s.; and 1 undefined, with 200 s. The schools were 14 public day schools, with 750 scholars; 10 private day schools, with 170 s.; 25 Sunday schools, with 1,672 s.; and 3 evening schools for adults, with 58 s. The workhouse is in Wootton.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a parish, a sub-district, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 3rd order divisions")
Administrative units: Hardingstone AP/CP       Hardingstone SubD       Hardingstone RegD/PLU       Northamptonshire AncC
Place: Hardingstone

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