Higham Ferrers

Higham Ferrers
Northamptonshire
Market Square, Higham Ferrers
Location
Grid reference:	SP9668
Location:	52°18’21"N, -0°35’4"W
Data
Population:	7,145  (2011)
Post town:	Rushden
Postcode:	NN10
Dialling code:	01933
Local Government
Council:	North Northamptonshire
Parliamentary constituency:	Wellingborough

Higham Ferrers is a market town in the Nene Valley in East Northamptonshire, close to the borders of Huntingdonshire and Bedfordshire. The town centre contains many historic buildings around the Market Square and College Street.

The townscape of Higham Ferrers runs into that of Rushden to the south (which itself runs right up to the Bedfordshire border. Both towns are constrained to the west by the unforgiving dual carriageways of the A45 trunk road and beyond it by the River Nene and a broad acreage of old gravel pits which now form the Higham Ferrers nature Reserve.

Higham Ferrers has an estimated population of 7,145.

History

The first Charter of 1251 was due to a far-sighted Lord of the Manor, William de Ferrers, who created the borough in order to promote a prosperous community at the gates of his castle, where people had begun to settle in numbers and to trade in the ancient market.

Henry Chichele (c. 1364 – 12 April 1443) was born in Higham Ferrers. He was Archbishop of Canterbury and founded All Souls College, Oxford.

The second Charter was granted in 1556 in the reign of Mary Tudor. For many years the town provided a safe seat for a supporter of the Crown nominated by the Duchy of Lancaster, the biggest landowner. When James I came to the throne the opportunity was taken to obtain a confirmation and further extension of civic powers and liberties by the Charter of 1604. Again after the Restoration of Charles II to the throne and the passing of the Corporations Act of 1662 the liberties were confirmed and extended.

The town was a rotten borough and sent one MP to the House of Commons until it was stripped of its borough representation by the Reform Act 1832.

After the Municipal Corporations Act of 1882, the modern charter of Queen Victoria re-organised the composition of the Corporation on modern lines to conform to the pattern of local government laid down in that act. This Charter is the only one of the town's charters written in English: the earlier charters were in Latin.

The castle is thought to have been built not long after the Norman Conquest in 1066. However towards the end of the 15th century the castle suffered years of neglect. It was finally demolished in 1523 and the stone removed to build Kimbolton Castle. A grass bank and a pond are all that remain of the defensive earthworks and moat. In the garden of the Green Dragon Inn, formerly within the area of the outer ward of the castle, are the remains of a rectangular dove-house.

Thatched Cottage

Transport and communication

Historically, the town was at the crossroads of the east-west route from Northampton to Cambridge, and the north-south road from London to Leicester, now transformed into the A45 and A6 respectively, dualled and bypassed. It was a busy junction as both were long-distance transport corridors. The A45 bypassed the town in the early 1990s with a dual-carriageway, the former route (through the narrow, but beautiful streets of Kimbolton) becoming the B645. As the A6 carried less traffic, a bypass around Higham Ferrers and Rushden came later, opening on 14 August 2003, with the old road through both towns becoming the A5028.

Higham Ferrers railway station was the terminus of a short (5.25 mile) railway branch line on the Midland Railway from Wellingborough. There was an intermediate station at Rushden. The station closed to passenger services in 1959 and closed completely in 1969 with the end of goods services. Nowadays, the nearest operational railway station is at Wellingborough about four miles away but there is no bus route connecting Higham Ferrers to Wellingborough Station.

However Rushden station still stands and is completely preserved and the Rushden, Higham and Wellingborough Railway plan to extend the line to the old station site and eventually to Wellingborough (making the heritage railway, one of only a few heritage lines around the United Kingdom to operate a whole branch line in its original format).

Commerce and civic buildings

The town was once a centre of short-run footwear production, along with its neighbours of Rushden and Northampton. Shoes are the quintessential Northamptonshire industry. This trade was much reduced in the 1980s-2000s by a high exchange rate, but specialised firms and individual tradesmen remain in the area.

Higham Ferrers Farmer's Market is held on the last Saturday of each month, except in December when it is moved to the last available day before Christmas. Higham Ferrers Farmer's Market is a Certified Farmer's Market, and is part of the FARMA organisation.

Higham Ferrers Public Library is on Midland Road. The Town Hall is on The Market Square and was built in 1808 to replace an earlier building.

Parish church

St Mary's Church

The parish church is St Mary the Virgin.

Sports

• Bowls: Higham Ferrers Town Bowls Club, founded in 1946, based at the recreation grounds on Vinehill Drive.
• Cricket: Higham Ferrers Town Cricket Club, based at the recreation grounds on Vinehill Drive, established in 1881
• Football: Rushden and Higham United Football Club (successor to Higham Town and Rushden Rangers)
• Rugby: Rushden & Higham RUFC, founded in 1951, based on the Bedford Road in Rushden

Notable buildings

Chichele College

Chichele College

Chichele College was founded by Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1422 as a college for secular canons. The College had provision for 8 priests, 4 clerks, 6 choristers and a song and grammar master. In later times the college became an inn, and then later a farm. Only ruins survive today, save for one hall now used for artistic exhibitions.

The Bede House

About the year 1422, when planning his College at Higham Ferrers, Archbishop Henry Chichele founded "In a place adjoining the Vicarage and the Churchyard", his Bede House or Hospital to be a dwelling place for 12 men over 50 years old to live "in close company", with one woman to look after them. It consisted of a common open Hall. Each man had his little cubicle with its locker, divided off by a screen from his fellows, and the rest of the Hall formed a common room with a fine open fireplace, itself a relic of even older times. On the South, a sheltered garden was added by taking part of the land of the Vicarage.

Outside links

• St Mary's Parish church
• Photos of Higham Ferrers
• Aerial photographs of Higham Ferrers
• The Bede House
• Higham Ferrers Town Council
• Higham Ferrers Nursery and Infant School
• Higham Ferrers Junior School
• Henry Chichele Primary School
• The Ferrers Specialist Arts College
• Chichele College
• The Antique Shop of Higham Ferrers & photos