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| Naseby | |
|---|---|
 | |
.svg)  Naseby Location withinNorthamptonshire | |
| Population | 687 (2011) |
| OS grid reference | SP689781 |
| Civil parish |
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| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | NORTHAMPTON |
| Postcode district | NN6 |
| Dialling code | 01604 |
| Police | Northamptonshire |
| Fire | Northamptonshire |
| Ambulance | East Midlands |
| UK Parliament | |
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Naseby is a village andcivil parish in theWest Northamptonshire unitary authority area ofNorthamptonshire, England.[1] The population of the civil parish at the2011 Census was 687.[2]
The village is 14 miles (23 km) north ofNorthampton, 13.3 miles (21.4 km) northeast ofDaventry, and 7 miles (11 km) south ofMarket Harborough.
The village sits in a commanding position on one of the highest parts of the Northamptonshire Uplands, close to the county border withLeicestershire.
The original settlement probably owes its existence to its geography; the village lay in a strong defensive position. In the 6th century aSaxon named Hnaef established the settlement with the name ofHnaefes-Burgh ("fortified place of Hnaef"). Evidence for these origins came in the form of a 19th-century discovery of anAnglo-Saxontrefoil-headedbrooch which is now in the collection of theBritish Museum.
In 1086 Naseby appeared in theDomesday Book, by which time Hnaefes-Burgh had evolved into Navesberie. In later records the village had been known as Navesby and Nathesby, eventually becoming Naseby. It was believed that the name derived from the Old Englishnaefela, meaning navel, because it was thought to be the navel of England.[citation needed] In 1203,King John granted Naseby its market charter and the village became a flourishingmarket town for many years.
During this period the village grew. In 1349, theBlack Death, which wiped out a third of the population of England, attacked the village and greatly reduced its population, with parts becoming abandoned altogether. Extensiveearthworks in the fields adjacent to parts of the village show the outlines of lost lanes and the outlines of buildings and enclosures which existed before the Black Death.
The Battle of Naseby took place on 14 June 1645, during theEnglish Civil War. In the area called Broad Moor a small distance north of the village, theRoyalist forces, commanded byKing Charles I, battled theRoundhead army commanded byThomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron. The battle resulted in a decisive Royalist defeat.
A naval warship during theCommonwealth period was named theNaseby in honour of the battle; after theRestoration the ship was renamedRoyal Charles.
During the 18th century, Naseby continued as an agricultural community and during this time several fineGeorgian buildings were constructed in the parish, including Manor Farm (built 1720), Shuckburgh House (1773), and the old Vicarage (1785). One of the most significant buildings is Naseby House, built in 1818 for the Fitzgeralds,Lords of the Manor. In the 20th century the hall hosted theDuke of York, later KingGeorge VI, with theDuchess of York,Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (the Queen Mother) and a very young futureQueen Elizabeth. Naseby Hall, altered byE F Law in 1859 was badly damaged by fire in 1948, and was rebuilt from the ground up using the old materials.[3]
RevJohn Mastin was vicar of Naseby from 1783 until his death in 1829. He was the author of "The History and Antiquities of Naseby, in the County of Northampton", which was the earliest published history of the parish. He also left a manuscript account of his life. The texts of both these works are included in a 2004 publication by the Northamptonshire Record Society.[4]
In 1822 theEnclosure commissioners allocated the open land around the village to two landowners, who duly fenced off their newly acquired fields. This action deprived many of the villagers of their traditional plots of land that surrounded the village, that had for years allowed them to grow crops and graze their cattle and sheep. This action did not adversely affect the community as much as it did in other villages; one reason may have been that the village had other trades. A survey of the time lists 26 different occupations and trades in the village.
The local friendly society attractednon-conformists from the end of the eighteenth century and in 1825, a Methodist chapel was erected.[5]The population continued to grow: thus between 1831 and 1841 it increased from 707 to 898 (including 48 visitors to the annual feast).[5]In 1837, following the passing of theBirths and Deaths Registration Act 1836 there was a peak in the number of baptisms recorded in the Naseby parish register, relating to All Saints church. Whereas during the previous ten years the number per annum had varied between 7 and 24, in 1837 there were a total of 91 baptisms which amounted to 10.7% of the population given in the 1841 census. 50 of these occurred in the week before 1 July when civil registration was made mandatory. Most of those baptised were over the age of one, mostly children with the oldest age recorded being 26. One view is the prevalence of baptisms in this year is that non-conformists wished to ensure their children and young adults were recorded before the introduction of civil registration.[5]
Until around 1870, most buildings (except for the church, chapel, school, and the three houses from the Georgian period) were made of mud walls andcob withthatched roofs. During the 1870s Lord Clifden had most of the cottages demolished and replaced with new red-brick cottages, some of which weresemi-detached, to house his estate workers. This gave Naseby its well-knownVictorian appearance. All these Victorian houses still survive to this day, along with two remaining 17th-century cob and thatched cottages.
The two churches in Naseby are:
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Naseby and the plateau of land towards Sibbertoft form a watershed and contain the sources of four rivers flowing west, south and east.
In the front garden of Manor Farm at the junction of Church Street, Newlands and Welford Road is a cone-shaped monument which sits in a depression. This is the source of theRiver Avon, Warwickshire.
The northerntributary of theRiver Nene (Brampton Arm) arises by the Thornby road to the west of the village (the main Source being at Arbury Hill (SP 542 581) nearStaverton, Northamptonshire).
The source of theRiver Ise can be found close to Sibbertoft Road to the north of Naseby.
The source of theRiver Welland can be found in fields close to Welland Rise,Sibbertoft village, three miles to the north.
The Historic England website contains details of a total of ten listed buildings in the parish of Naseby, all of which are Grade II apart from All Saints' Church, which is Grade II*.[7] They are:
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Details of some of these and other notable buildings in the village appear below.
Within the village at the junction of Church Street and Gynwell, close to the Methodist Chapel (1825) there is the shaft of the old whipping post dating to 1203. In theMiddle Ages this stood opposite the church in what was the marketplace and is now the village street called Newlands.
Also to be found in Newlands are examples of the Victorian cottages from around 1870, which continue down the right-hand side of High Street; further down the street to the right is one of the two surviving cob-thatched cottages. It was built around 1630 and is now called Cromwell Cottage. Next door to the cottage in School Lane is the village school, built in 1843.
Further down School Lane are more Victorian cottages. At the end of School Lane with its intersection with Church Lane is the villagewar memorial. This memorial, built in 1918 to commemorateWorld War I, is a smaller copy of one ofEdwin Henry Landseer's four lions atNelson's Column inLondon'sTrafalgar Square. On the opposite side of Church Street from the memorial is the Old Vicarage, built around 1785. The twobeech trees at the entrance were planted in 1792. Next to the vicarage is Shuckburgh House which dates from around 1773. The other surviving cob thatched cottage can be found at the southern end of High Street.
Naseby is 2.4 mi (3.9 km) from Junction 2 of theA14 road, giving it access to the national road system. For rail travel, theMidland Main Line can be accessed at the railway station in Market Harborough. There is a bus service between Market Harborough and Northampton that stops in Naseby, but it is very infrequent.
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