P ottersPury THE STORY OF A VILLAGE AND ITS PEOPLE
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior, written permission of the publisher.
Copyright © Potterspury Village Appraisal Group, 2001 Second Edition printed 2012 A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0-9534290-9-1 Printed and bound in Great Britain
Published by P ottersPury V illage a PPraisal g rouP c/o The Post Office, 100a High Street, Potterspury, Northamptonshire, NN12 7PQ.
The moral rights of the authors have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The idea for this book was conceived to mark the start of the new millennium by researching Potterspury’s past, providing a snapshot of its present and collecting opinion about its future, a form of village appraisal. This process included the distribution of a questionnaire to every household in 1998, and a summary of the results is provided in Chapter 10. As work for the book proceeded, a second purpose emerged; to assemble, in words and pictures, a history of the village and its people that would be of interest to all who live here.
It wasn’t possible within the budget for the book or in trying to maintain some balance in its content to include all the information and pictures that were given to us. However, copies of much of what is not included, along with a copy of the book, will be lodged at the Northamptonshire Record Office, and our apologies go to those whose information and pictures we have left out. The County Record Office also holds the original of a previous review of the village carried out to mark the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953, by Harold Pettifer, who lived in Blackwell End. An illustrated map that is part of his “Village Coronation Scrapbook” is reproduced in our colour section.
We are extremely grateful to all those people who have helped us with this project, and we hope that the product will give you all as much pleasure as it has given us.
Wherever possible we have checked the accounts of events and of personalities, but inevitably, when dealing with long ago (or even last week!), people’s recollections differ, so this is the reason why some of the stories recounted may not quite tally with your memory!
To this end, many hours have been spent recording the memories and views of residents of all ages, as well as researching and collating information. Many people have provided personal anecdotes, photographs and documents revealing what life has been like here over the past 90 years or so, and documentary research gives us an idea of life in previous centuries. As this part of the project continued, it became clear that the book should have a third purpose, to provide a lasting source of information and pleasure for future generations, and that is why every effort has been made to give the book lasting qualities, both in its content and in its form.
Potterspury Appraisal Group 1997–2001 Peter Webb (chairman), Bill Buckley, Jenny Cowan, Mags Fenn, Margaret Gale-Smith, Stuart Gartery, Helen Lamb, Lucie McKay, David Marks, Pat Pye, Roger Pye, Dick Sharp, Ian Thompson, Gill Webb, Mick Wootton.
PREFACE
The first print-run and a substantial overrun sold out very quickly and many people have since asked if it could be reprinted. Inevitably, after more than ten years, the computer files had to be updated, and the whole book reformatted, which then required checking and re-checking. Once again, we must thank Peter Webb and David Marks for proof-reading and production. We have been able to reprint it, with a few minor updates and amendments. We took the decision to issue a reprint rather than a full update simply for reasons of time and cost, but with the right help and input, it has certainly not been ruled out in the future. JHM
The Appraisal Group of 2000.
When my family arrived in Potterspury in April 2001, one of the first things to land on the doormat was a leaflet advertising the village history book. Actually, it was an apology that it was running several weeks late, but it was well worth waiting for.
The Appraisal Group would like to thank Peter Webb, our chairman, for his enthusiasm, encouragement to all of us, and months of hard work which have resulted in the production of this book – well done Pete! This second edition has only been made possible by a considerable amount of hard work reformatting the text, painstakingly carried out by Judith Millidge.
Back row: Ian Thompson, Dick Sharp, David Marks, Peter Webb, Mick Wootton, Roger Pye; front row: Gill Webb, Mags Fenn, Jenny Cowan, Lucie McKay.
S ECOND E DITION 2012
Potterspury The Story of a Village and its People is a remarkable work. Compiled entirely by inhabitants of the village, it is a fascinating book which was a labour of love, intensive research and lively writing. It not only provides a comprehensive history of the village, but is also a snapshot of life in the early years of the 21st century.
P O T TE R S P U R Y THE STORY OF A VILLAGE AND ITS PEOPLE
F OREWORDTOTHE
INTRODUCTION Contents AN INTRODUCTION 1 1HISTORICAL REVIEw 13 2INDUSTRY, TRADESAND EmPLOYmENT 27 3VILLAGE DEVELOPmENTOVERTHELASTCENTURY 37 4wORSHIP 59 5EDUCATION 75 6VILLAGE LIFEAND VILLAGE PEOPLE 85 7LEISURE ACTIVITIESINTHE VILLAGE 121 8VILLAGE EVENTS 147 9THE COUNTRYSIDE, FARmINGAND wILDLIFE 157 10A VILLAGE VIEwNEARINGTHE mILLENNIUm 175 BIBLIOGRAPHY 182 ACkNOwLEDGEmENTS 183 (RESULTSOFTHE 1998 qUESTIONNAIRE)
From Map of the County of Northampton by A. Bryant, 1824-6. Published 1827. Reprinted Northamptonshire Leisure and Libraries, 1988. ( Reproduced by permission of Northamptonshire Libraries and Information Service.)
1
An Introduction Potterspury is a village of immense variety and contrasts, in both its character and its people. For many it is a place of comfort as well as convenience in which to live, and, for those with an interest in the past, the developments locally over the years and the people associated with them have considerable fascination. It doesn’t matter that it is not, like nearby Stony Stratford, mentioned in Shakespeare, or that it hasn’t, like Towcester (Lactodorum), a Roman name. We will see that its character, along with its name, has experienced many changes. The first recorded name appears in the Domesday Book as Pirie or Perie, derived from pyrige, the Saxon for pear tree, but by the late 13th century it had changed to Potterispirye, reflecting the growth of a pottery industry.
The fabric of the village, reflecting the physical side of its character, is a mixture of old and new, with former country lanes often bordered by trees, stone walls, and thatched stone buildings, contrasting with the modern estates of houses, built mainly of brick and tile, originally to similar styles that have often been modified over the years with extensions, improvements and individualistic touches. The village people are also a mixture. There are many who have lived here all their lives, but newcomers are now in the majority.
PotterspuryBrown.has seen its share of changes over the centuries, but probably the greatest of these have occurred in the past hundred years or so, in particular with the loss (in 1918) of a wealthy benefactor (the seventh Duke), and progressively, through a variety of 20th century influences on society and ways of
Once, almost everyone worked in and around the village in traditional rural employment, but today most villagers work in the surrounding area and beyond, in a wide variety of jobs and they choose quite different lifestyles. Our environment too, is one of quite striking contrasts: from the tranquillity of the open countryside to the traffic din of the nearby A5; the formality of the housing estates to the rural charm of the older houses.The village is set in gently rolling countryside at the southeastern edge of Northamptonshire. In mediaeval times it was a forest village within the bounds of the Whittlewood Forest, one of the great hunting forests of England frequented by many Royal personages, most notably Edward IV and Henry VIII. It also stands alongside a famous and ancient routeway, variously known as Watling Street, the Holyhead Road, the Chester Road and more recently the A5, which has been a vital artery between London and points north and west for many hundreds if not thousands of years since it was first built by the Romans. Not far away to the south-east is the new town and rapidly growing conurbation of Milton Keynes, which has already engulfed Stony Stratford just three miles away over the Buckinghamshire border. For centuries the village was largely self-sufficient, as most people lived off the land. Many were tenants or in the service of the dukes of Grafton, who owned nearly all of the land around and much of the property in the village. For several centuries successive dukes resided at Wakefield Lodge, just to the west of the village, until the Grafton estate was broken up around 1920. The heart of the Wakefield estate remains intact, including the 18th century mansion (the Lodge) set in grounds laid out by the famous landscape gardener, ‘Capability’
The rural charm of Church Lane in snow. [Alan Wakeman}
life. Potterspury shares with many other villages the impacts of both technological developments and social evolution in the countryside. There has been a transformation from a rural life dominated by farming, to that of a dormitory village where most residents depend for employment, food, shops, services and entertainment on nearby towns, such as Northampton and Milton Keynes.Acentury or more ago, travellers thundering by on horseback or jolting along in a stagecoach as they journeyed by road from London to the Midlands and beyond, might have noticed some of the thatched stone cottages of Potterspury as there were few other signs of habitation between Stony Stratford and Towcester. Among them were four coaching inns – the Anchor, the Reindeer, the Old Talbot and the Red Lion – offering refreshment and overnight rest to the traveller. Only one of these, the Old Talbot, remains as a public house today; the Red Lion is a private dwelling; the Reindeer is an antiques showroom, and the Anchor was demolished in 1965. At the other end of the village, and out of sight of the traveller, there were several important focal points for the community: the church, the chapel, the Blue Ball Inn and the water mill. A rough road, now the High Street, linked the two ends of the village, and was bordered in many places by rows of cottages and several farmhouses.Inmore recent years the motorised traveller speeding in comfort along the undulating path of the A5, with its long straight sections, could have been forgiven for missing the village altogether. The main attractions to catch the eye might have been the advertising signs of commercial enterprises: Roman Way Garden Centre, Reindeer Antiques, Churchill Motors, the Old Talbot, the Wakefield Country Courtyard and the Super Sausage Cafeteria. Today, however, the traveller can hardly miss the newly built stone walls which mark the gateways to the village, and the new traffic-calming measures. These include a mile-long chain of traffic islands which separates the flow of traffic, a forest of warning signs, diagonal white lines and reddened road surfaces, not to mention the avenue of lamp posts. This book will take you on a journey that charts the development of the village, reveals how it has changed and describes many of the events, the people, and the organisations that have had an influence on the lives of villagers over the years. Our information comes from many sources; some from documentary evidence, much as recollections of residents, as well as through direct observation and investigation. It also includes some of the results of a questionnaire to which almost 75% of village residents contributed in the summer of 1998. While our aim is to be accurate, sometimes we can only report what is our best understanding of the information available to us. Before delving into the distant past, we will first take a look around the village as it is today, at the same time reflecting on the past, to provide an introduction for anyone unfamiliar with the village and a flavour for everyone of what is on offer through the rest of the book.
P O T TE R S P U R Y THE STORY OF A VILLAGE AND ITS PEOPLE 2
Watling Street in the early 20th century. The thatched cottages alongside the Anchor Inn (its sign just visible) were demolished in the mid 1950s. An advertisement for Daimler is just visible on a wall in the middle distance. [Source: Jenny Walker] Watling Street today, with the recently introduced road markings, traffic islands and a newly built house on Anchor corner. [Peter Webb]
A Tour of the Village
INTRODUCTION
The sights and scenes of the village are well known to many of us, but, as a quarter of today’s residents have been here less than five years, it is worth looking more closely at the village and some of its more striking features.Should any of the locations mentioned be unfamiliar, our double page colour tinted aerial illustration of the village drawn by Peter Bowtell should help with the village layout. The line drawings of buildings which help us to illustrate this section are also by Peter EnteringBowtell.theparish from Old Stratford roundabout to the southeast, the A5 road rises and falls only to climb a steady incline, bordered by tall hedgerows of blackthorn, hawthorn and elder, draped with wild clematis vines; a sombre scene in winter but colourful and attractive during many months of the year. To both sides, fields of pasture and crops betray the rural setting. Roman Way Garden Centre, set back on the left, has diversified to sell camping equipment as well as plants and garden supplies. It is also home to Palace Interiors, suppliers of interior furnishings. The site has a long history, indicated by pottery finds and earthworks thought to represent a mediaeval fish pond. Further on, the new walled gateway to the village marks the start of the recent measures to reduce speeds and improve safety for traffic at the road junctions into the village. Beyond the gateway, on the left, a narrow entrance marks the lane to
The village gateway built in 1999. Potterspury House (The Mansion) is the grandest Victorian building of the village, and reputed to have been built by a successful bookmaker, who christened it ‘Swindler’s Hall’. [Mick Wootton]
Puxley, still sign-posted at its far end as a gated road, which helps to discourage through traffic. Almost opposite is the entrance to Poundfield Road, which presents one of the more distinctive and memorable scenes in the village. A broad, well-trimmed grassy verge, brightened by daffodils in spring and backed by a pale limestone wall, is dominated in summer by richly coloured copper beech trees and a more delicate silver birch. At the centre of the scene is a black-painted wrought iron seat presented by the Potterspury Nursing Association and made by the last village blacksmith, the aptly-named John Smith. Behind the wall is probably the largest and most impressive Victorian stone-built house within the village, Potterspury House, commonly known as The Mansion, and for a long time the home of the Gratton Holt family. Still a residence, it now houses a nursery. The high limestone wall, topped in places by thick ivy, borders the footpath as it snakes along the north side of Poundfield Road. Along the other side of the road a series of young trees was planted along the verge by Potterspury Improvement Group in the 1980s. Beyond them are grassy paddocks and stables for 3 Poundfield Road entrance with Potterspury House visible through the leafless trees on a bright winter’s day. [Peter Webb]
4 Church End in the early 20th century. Water pipes waiting to be laid are visible along the far side of the road. The iron railings were taken for scrap iron in the Second World War. [Source: Jenny Walker]
THE STORY OF A VILLAGE AND ITS PEOPLE
The village hall being rebuilt in 1984. [Geoff Lucas] Furtho dovecote [Mrs Margaret Powell]
Next to Furtho Lane and opposite the junction with the High Street is the village hall, rebuilt in brick in 1984, but originally wooden and erected in the early 1920s. Beyond the village hall the road, known here as Church End, curves around a stone wall above which tower tall fir trees and limes bordering the grounds of a property that was the vicarage for well over a hundred years until 1984. Set back on the opposite side of the road there is another row of brick houses, mostly built in the late 1940s by the council. At the end of the row, a footpath, which is part of the Grafton Way, leads to Furtho across what must be one of the finest pieces of countryside around the village: a shallow valley with well-cropped pasture, sheep grazing, a meandering brook and imposing trees. Further along, the road, formerly known as Lower End, dips down to the bridge crossing the brook. On the right is a thatched stone house called the Old Vicarage, which must be one of the most picturesque buildings of the village, set in a well-manicured garden. This house dates from the 17th century and was used as the vicarage until 1865, conveniently located directly opposite the church of St Nicholas. Some of the oldest buildings of the village are found around here, within a stone’s throw of the church. Across the brook on
POTTERSPURY
horses, occupying land once used for allotments – only a few of which remain.Along the footpath and behind the stone wall near the 30 mph signs is The Cottage, another Victorian, but less grand, stone and slate house once occupied by Miss Crawford of the ‘cream crackers’ family. On the opposite side of the road there are brick-built groups of houses and bungalows built by the council around 1950. They occupy a sizeable plot as far as Furtho Lane and extend along the lane to Grafton Close, named after the dukes of Grafton in recognition of their influence on the village in the 18th and 19th centuries. This site was formerly a rubbish dump and is reputed to be one of the locations where the night soil cart, active in the village up to the 1950s, used to deposit the load it collected from village privies. In the vicinity was the village cattle pound, which gave Poundfield Road its name. On the far side of Furtho Lane, an older house, much modified over the years, became a dairy soon after the Second World War and continued as a village grocery store until the mid 1960s. A bridleway and footpath from Furtho Lane leads across the fields to Furtho. In the Middle Ages the Manor of Furtho was a substantial village. Furtho Church, now used only twice a year, and a 500-year-old dovecote are all that survive to this day among the buildings of Furtho Manor Farm and today’s Manor House, which is little more than 100 years old.
INTRODUCTION
the right, 6 Church End is another old house, one that has been restored to thatch in recent years. For a long time the roof had been covered with corrugated iron to cut maintenance costs. This house was once a public house known as the Blue Ball Inn. Just beyond, at the eastern extremity of the village, Beech House Drive, also known as The Drift, leads off to the right up to Beech House Farm, originally known as New Dairy Farm when built by the Duke of Grafton around 1870. At the other side of the road behind tall iron railings and gates are the chapel and manse of the United Reformed Church, a redbrick and tiled building which dates from 1780, built on the former site of a Nonconformist building of worship. Behind it is the graveyard and across the yard is the Wood Memorial Institute, built in 1916 in memory of Miss Caroline Wood.Alongside the manse, the road climbs Meeting Hill, and at the top makes an abrupt turn to the right to Yardley Gobion. Here, several footpaths head off across the fields. The hill across the field on the left, with views overlooking much of the village, is known locally as Duffer’s Hill, possibly a corruption of Dove House Hill, a name which appears on some old maps. The view towards the village is from a similar direction as our double page aerial view of the village: the chapel, church and mill dominating the scene to the left; the modern houses of Meadow View, the playing field and sports pavilion in the centre; and to the right, open fields with the Watling Street end of the village beyond. Across the fields to the north are the modern houses of Yardley Gobion, which was at one time part of the parish of Potterspury and the location of the Potterspury Union Workhouse. Some way along the track at the edge of the field at the top of the hill, old maps show a windmill, but remainsnothingtoday
for the field name, Windmill Field. On returning to the point where the winding track of Church End crosses the brook, it can be seen that little more than a trickle flows along the channel during most of the year. At times of heavy rain, however, the brook is liable to flood across the road as it did at Easter 1998. Indeed, flooding was the main reason that the vicarage was moved in 1865. Alongside the brook a drive goes up to the old water mill, which was grinding corn until the 1950s and was converted into residences in the 1980s. Behind the mill there used to be a mill pond, but that was filled in with surplus spoil when the main sewer was laid into the village in 1954.Across from the Old Vicarage on a slight hill is the parish church of St Nicholas. On the grassy bank at the front there was for many years a great elm tree, almost 300 years old, with a circular seat around its base. Like so many other elms in the area, it was lost to the ravages of Dutch elm disease in the 1970s. At the entrance to the churchyard there used to be an impressive pair of heavy wooden gates but these have been replaced by lightweight wrought iron gates. The church is the oldest building in the village: stone-built with a square tower, it looks most impressive when floodlit at night. It is surprisingly spacious inside as a result of the old wooden pews having been 5 Modern view of Church End. In the distance several modern houses have replaced old thatched cottages. [Peter Webb]
On the opposite side of Church Lane there are several stone-built cottages, most of them restored in recent years. Nearest the churchyard gate is Maltsters Cottage. An inscription records a date of 1685, but it is thought to be even older, its name reflecting the former maltings building, part of which remains standing in the garden just next to the mill. Further along the lane is Rose Cottage, where Miss Caroline Wood once lived. When rethatched some years ago, the use of straw instead of reeds caused quite a stir, and the local planning authority insisted on replacement with the correct material. On the opposite side of the lane are chalet-style brick
14th century pottery from The Coachyard, a handled cistern with a bung-hole (29 cm high). [Peter Webb, courtesy of Paul and Charmian Woodfield]
replaced by individual chairs in the early 1990s. There are several remarkable examples of stained glass windows and interesting memorials to the great and the good. In the churchyard is a memorial to John Hellins, once the vicar, a Fellow of the Royal Society and co-founder of the village school; perhaps the most accomplished of all village residents. At this end of the village the peal of Potterspury church bells is a familiar sound to all, but, like the sound of trains on the west coast main line just over two miles away, only reaches the Watling Street end of the village when the wind is in the east. The gate at the other entrance to the churchyard leads into Church Lane. Next to the gate on the left is the current vicarage, a modern building, built in 1984 and faced with a rusty limestone unlike the creamy limestone used throughout the village. Behind it, the former vicarage is almost hidden from view.
POTTERSPURY THE STORY OF A VILLAGE AND ITS PEOPLE 6 St Nicholas Church in the early 20th century. Oil lamps top the pillars on either side of the gates and the great elm tree is visible to the right. [Source: Jenny Walker]
The cast iron gates at the cemetery entrance in the High Street. [Peter Webb]
The central High Street of today. [Peter Webb]
houses built in the 1960s in the grounds of the former vicarage, where there had been a tennis court. Where Church Lane joins the High Street, the stone building on the right with a red-tiled roof is The Old Social. It features prominently in our cover pictures, and for many years a room at the rear was used as a meeting place, especially before the coming of the village hall. Across the High Street the row of bungalows was built on a field once used for many village activities, replacing a row of overhanging lime trees. To the left is the cemetery, shaded by a ring of lime trees and surrounded by a limestone wall, much of which was rebuilt by the Parish Council in the late 1990s. The land was originally given by the fourth Duke of Grafton in the early 1840s along with the chapel. This is a quiet place, with memorials to many prominent village people. The cast iron gates at the entrances were made locally by the Roberts’ iron foundry at Deanshanger, as were many other items of pre-Second World War ironware in and around the village, such as manhole covers and window frames.Along the west side of the High Street, in the opposite direction and beyond the bungalows, Corn Cottage still has a corrugated iron roof, put on over the thatch during the Second World War. It was once a farmhouse, extending across to the A5 on which the Limes estate (comprising Homestead Way, North Way, Brownswood Drive and Mays Way) was built in the late 1960s and early 1970s, followed in the early 1990s by Chettle Place. Mays Way was named after May’s Cafe, a transport cafe on the A5 from the 1930s to the 1960s, and on which part of Mays Way (the low, odd numbers) was built. Further down the High Street there are some modern stone-faced houses on both sides. Those on the Limes side of the road are built on the site of the last village smithy, which closed in the early 1970s. For some years it was in a dilapidated state and was demolished in the mid 1990s. Those opposite are part of The Coachyard, several new houses built on the site of Smith’s Coaches garage and yard, a business which operated to the mid 1990s. This land was also known as The Ropewalk, because ropes were made there in the 19th century.
INTRODUCTION 7
Thatched cottages on the High Street in the early 20th century. [Source: Jenny Walker]
Much of the land hereabouts
POTTERSPURY THE STORY OF A VILLAGE AND ITS PEOPLE 8
Thesystems.Cottage
bears evidence of the pottery industry from which the village gets part of its name. The first example of a pottery kiln was unearthed in 1949 and many others have since come to light. The kilns that were recently discovered in The Coachyard and at the end of Woods Lane (off the High Street to the right), when the new houses were being built, have been quite spectacular and examples of 15th-16th century pot have been recovered.Arestored barn in Woods Lane is the location of one of the village’s modern industries, P.D. Electronics, which manufactures electronic control Stores on the High Street next to Woods Lane is now the only general store in the village and has a good central location. The grocery business transferred here from Furtho Lane in the mid 1960s. The post office switched here from the A5 end of the High Street in 1984. Formerly these premises were Woods Farm, run latterly by Mr Powell who farmed most of the land from the High Street to the brook that is now occupied by Meadow View. Opposite the shop is Brownswood Drive, initiated as a turning in the late 1950s between several council-built houses that had been built on the High Street to replace a row of thatched cottages. It when the Limes estate was built in the 1970s.Further along the High Street on the right is the entrance to Meadow View, a large estate of more than 90 houses built in a distinctive style, with conspicuously overhanging eaves.This estate is built on a slope that drops down to the playing field which was levelled after the estate was completed. The field is the venue for football and the Potterspury Sports and Social Club pavilion, built in the 1970s and expanded several times. Opposite the entrance to Meadow View is The Old Schoolhouse, which was occupied for many years by successive headteachers of the village school. Alongside it is a footpath that was original oil lamps that used to light the footpath. The main school entrance today is in Brownswood Drive, where a new canteen, school hall and offices were built in 1972 to accommodate a hugely increased school population. Like so much of the village, the school is a mix of old and new; the brick-built part having a modern image, whereas the original stone buildings that date from the last century retain their traditional character. At the other side of the footpath is a row of four distinctive stone cottages built by the seventh Duke of Grafton and known as Duchess Row (also once called Pump Row). They have diamond-paned windows and slate roofs. Further along and set back from the road behind a row of lime trees and built in a plain style is Grafton Terrace, a row of eight stone and slate houses, also known as Factory Row, perhaps reflecting the times when they were occupied by lacemakers. For a time one of these cottages was occupied by the village policeman until a pair of police houses was built almost in isolation on the west side of Watling Street in the 1930s.Opposite Grafton Terrace is a row of semi-detached brick houses built in the 1930s, occupying land that had been allotments. The gardens of these houses and many older properties such as Factory Row
The village post and telegraph office in the early 20th century. Beyond it is the butcher’s shop with its awning and, to the left of the post office, the entrance to Jefcoate’s bakery. [Source: Jenny Walker]
Further up on the right there used to be the United Brethren Chapel, an active place of worship in the early years of the 20th century. Opposite is The Colver, a footpath to the Reindeer on Watling Street. Alongside the footpath is a row of semi-detached brick houses and beyond are bungalows mostly built in the 1950s. Further down Blackwell End on the right as the road bends left is a stile leading to footpaths across the fields to Moor End, Yardley Gobion, the church and the playing field. Next to it is the entrance of a long drive, leading to a stone and thatch house now called Pathfinder Cottage, renamed after the war by its owner, who was in Pathfinder squadron. Located among the fields and away from the rest of the village, it was formerly the Pest House, thought to be where sick villagers used to be placed in isolation.Returning to the High Street just past the Cock public house, there used to be cottages on both sides of the road occupying the space that is now the pub car park, and opposite, the entrance to Mays Way and the Limes estate. Next to the Cock car park are the premises of Blue Mountain Systems, another example of modern technology in the village, involving the design and installation of sound systems. Alongside, at the 9 Late 17th century glazed jugs (22 cm high) from the field to the rear of 28 High Street. [Peter Webb: courtesy of Paul and Charmian Woodfield.]
opposite, are extensive, reflecting times when growing garden produce was a necessity and land was cheap. Most of the gardens of houses built since 1960, including those of the Meadow View and Limes estates, are small in Beyondcomparison.Grafton Terrace is a group of stone cottages including White House, formerly occupied by a village character called Johnny Wise, and the adjoining Queen Anne Cottage, dating from 1689. Almost opposite is Sanders Lane, also known as Cock Lane, with the stone-fronted Cock public house on the corner. Facing the pub on the other side of the High Street is a row of brick-built houses, known as Pretoria Cottages, named after a victory in the Boer War.Sanders Lane drops down steeply from the High Street to the brook, giving views across to a damp meadow that is often grazed by cattle. The road turns sharply left at the foot of the hill, and a footpath branches to the right running along the high bank of the brook to the playing field. The road continues alongside the brook for a way until it crosses a culvert where there used to be a ford and a wooden footbridge. Not surprisingly, the road is liable to flooding here. Beyond is Blackwell End, which eventually emerges on Watling Street. A footpath known as Water Lane, also leading to Watling Street, runs along side the brook. The brook is shallow here, and most years gets overgrown with weeds. On the side of the brook is a wild area, once an orchard, that gets boggy in wet weather and is a haven for birds and many other forms of wildlife. Close to the brook in Blackwell End there are several old, stone-built cottages with thatch or slate roofs.
INTRODUCTION
On the opposite side of the High Street stand two cottages built by the seventh Duke of Grafton in the same distinctive style as Duchess Row.
The Old Talbot. The front entrance is now well below road level. [Peter Webb]
On the left is Elmfield farmhouse, thought to date from the early 18th century and owned by the Soper family for over 80 years. Most of the land farmed today is on the other side of the A5; the fields that were closest to the farmhouse are now occupied by Mays Way and the new Elmfield Close development. Between the farmhouse and the A5 there used to be a row of houses known as Ivy Cottages, stepping up the hill where there is now a grassy bank with a good show of daffodils in spring. The cottages were demolished in the early 1970s to improve visibility and access to the High Street road junction. The last brick house on the right in the High Street, Anchor House, was for many years a Spar grocery shop but closed in the early 1980s. When this property changed hands in 1999 it became known that here was the local early warning system for use in the event of nuclear attack during the Cold War. The entrance to the High Street here was very narrow and the Anchor Inn on the corner was demolished in 1965 to widen the road and improve safety for emerging traffic. Anchor Corner was an overgrown site for many years, but around the turn of the century, two stone-faced houses were built there. The High Street used to form a
reputed to be the oldest post and telegraph office in England that had been in continuous use. In the yard behind, the Osborne family also ran a wheelwright’s and an undertaking business. At the near end of the next row of stone cottages was the last working bakehouse in the village, run by the Jefcoate family, and well known for the procession of villagers collecting their Sunday roast. For many years the Jefcoates also ran a horse and carriage hire business, providing an early form of taxi service for the well off (later they used a model ‘T’ Ford). Both brick and stone houses border this part of the High Street before it opens on to Watling Street.
time of writing, an entrance has been constructed to a new housing development on a field to the rear of the site of the slaughterhouse, which was closed and demolished in 1994.
POTTERSPURY THE STORY OF A VILLAGE AND ITS PEOPLE 10 Floods over the A5, Easter 1998. [Geoff Lucas]
During initial ground clearing works several new discoveries were made of pottery kilns and waste with examples found of the latest pottery known from the village and dating to the 1680s. Until 1977 there used to be a butcher’s shop at the front of the redbrick building at the other side of the new entrance.
Next to the old butcher’s shop is a thatched stone cottage which used to have rendered stone walls and has a small brick annex at the far end.
INTRODUCTION
crossroads with Watling Street and the road to Puxley and Wicken on the opposite side of the A5. The village stocks stood here until 1887. In the late 1930s the road opening opposite the High Street was diverted to improve safety. About half a mile down this road is the gateway to the main drive up to Wakefield Lodge, the direct route for the Duke in years past to drive into the village and particularly to church on Sundays. On the hill beside Watling Street is Greystone Lodge, a large stone house formerly called Hill House and once occupied by the Duke of Grafton’s ‘agent’ or estate manager. At the foot of the hill in the Towcester direction the A5 crosses over the brook, which is fed from the Wakefield Lakes, and over the years has flooded the road many times, most recently at Easter 1998. All of the houses along this portion of Watling Street are on the east side, many of them stone-built. Beyond the brook there was once another bakehouse and behind it there was a field where travelling fairs used to overwinter until the mid 1960s. In a prominent position on the rise of the road is Reindeer Antiques, occupying the premises of the former Reindeer Inn, which closed in the 1960s. To the rear are the former maltings, which have had a variety of uses from football changing rooms to a dance hall, and for the storage of carbide in the Second World War. Beyond the Reindeer, there were once rows of stone cottages alongside the A5. One group was demolished and replaced by a row of semidetached council-built houses in the 1950s. Another row, which included a repair workshop and the last petrol pumps in the village, was demolished later and is now the site of Churchill Motors and the entrance to The Orchard, a development of bungalows built in the early 1980s on land to the rear. This brings us to the corner of Blackwell End where the stone-built Holly House was once a farmhouse, with a dairy and a small bakehouse. On the opposite side of the A5 there used to be an avenue of walnut trees and a field used for village football in the 1950s. Beyond is the Old Talbot public house, the sole survivor of the village’s coaching inns. The doorway, which is now about a metre below road level, was once at the same level as the road, reflecting the raising and smoothing out that has been a feature of A5 remodelling during the 20th century. Only a few houses further along the road is Sunnyside Farm, no longer a working farm, and once the Red Lion Inn until some time early in the 20th century. A short way further on and to the left is the drive into the working part of the Wakefield estate, Home Farm and to Assart Farm, now the Wakefield Country Courtyard and Farm Shop, a development of the late 20th century that reflects the popularity in recent years of authentic farm produce. Finally as we leave Potterspury, we pass the Super Sausage Cafeteria, formerly the Nelson Cafe, the only remaining refreshment stop in the village for lorry drivers. Beyond this point, the new traffic arrangements, the 50 mph limit, the central division of the road, the stone walled gateway and the high level lighting are left behind. To the right, Moor End Road leads to Moor End Farm, formerly a manor house. Nearby there was once a mediaeval castle and a forest prison. 11 Wakefield Farm Shop at Assart Farm. [Peter Webb]The main entrance of Potterspury Lodge with the Steiner School buildings on the left, in the 1960s. [Mrs Gladys Barby]
PEOPLE 12
POTTERSPURY THE STORY OF A VILLAGE AND ITS
Aerial photo of Potterspury around 1950 showing open fields that are now the Limes and Meadow View estates. On close inspection, many old cottages, many of them thatched, that have long since been lost, may be seen in the High Street, Watling Street and Sanders Lane. At the far righthand side there were extensive allotments and alongside the A5, May’s Cafe and lorry park. by permission of Northampton Libraries and Information Service]
[Reproduced
The road continues to the village of YardleyContinuingGobion.along the still straight but undulating A5 towards Towcester, the last glimpse of a link to Potterspury is the tree-lined drive to Potterspury Lodge, now in the parish of Yardley Gobion, which provides accommodation for the Steiner School. There is also a farm here and, not far away, the Queen’s Oak, the sad remains of a once grand tree reputed to have historical links with Edward IV and the local girl, Elizabeth Woodville, who became his queen.
