Earls Barton

Earls Barton
Northamptonshire
The Anglo-Saxon Church at Earls Barton
Location
Grid reference:	SP8563
Location:	52°15’47"N, -0°44’46"W
Data
Population:	5,353  (2001)
Post town:	Northampton
Postcode:	NN6
Dialling code:	01604
Local Government
Council:	North Northamptonshire
Parliamentary constituency:	Daventry
Website:	Earls Barton Parish Council

Earls Barton is a village in Northamptonshire, notable for its Anglo-Saxon church, All Saints' Church and also for its heritage industry, shoe-making.

Churches

Parish church

The parish church of All Saints is described as the finest Anglo-Saxon church in the land. It has been the dominant feature of the village for over a thousand years.

The church's Anglo-Saxon tower dates to around 970 AD. Pevsner says that the church tower as built was not originally followed by a nave, but a chancel. He also describes the tower's bell openings as being very unusual - having five narrow arches each on turned balusters.

Another fine Anglo-Saxon church can be found nearby in Brixworth.

All Saints' underwent two phases of Norman enlargement, one at either end of the 12th century.

Other notable features include:

• a Norman or Anglo-Saxon door and arcading on the western end of the building - this was the original entrance to the church,
• a mediæval rood screen,
• a Victorian font and pews, and
• a modern 20th-century inner porch and windows

Apart from the Anglo-Saxon tower, the church is mainly built from Northamptonshire ironstone and limestone, while the tower was constructed from Barnack stone and infilled with local limestone.

Another feature is that every century from the 10th century onwards is represented in either the fabric or the fittings of the church building. It is decorated with the work of the local artist Henry Bird.

The church was featured on a 1972 postage stamp issued by the Royal Mail, as part of a set depicting village churches.

Other churches

There are four churches in Earls Barton:

• Church of England: All Saints
• Baptist
• Methodist
• Roman Catholic

The Methodist Church is on Broad Street; the church building is over 200 years old and is home to many village groups including the 1st Earls Barton Boy's Brigade, badminton club and wives group.

History

The first English settlement at the place which became Earls Barton came perhaps in the sixth century, and this was one of various settlements built on a spring-line on the northern bank of the River Nene. The site is on a spur above the flood plain. Originally the village was known as Beretun - which means "Barley village". The village's fine church was built in the tenth century, possibly on an earlier foundation.

After the Norman invasion, the Domesday Book of 1086 records the village as Buarton(e), and Countess Judith, the King's niece, is listed as both the landowner and mill owner. Judith married Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria, son of Siward, Earl of Northumbria who in 1065 AD became Earl of Northampton - it was from these links and with another Earl - the Earl of Huntingdon, that gave the village its prefix "Erles" from 1261 AD.

The Normans also built a castle here, hard by the church. In The King's England: Northamptonshire, Arthur Mee says of the church:

It was here when The Conqueror gave these lands to his niece the Countess Judith, and except for the clock and the battlements it looks today as it looked then... It is called Earls Barton because it was the Earl of Huntingdon's barley farm; his house stood where the church stands and the remains of its moat can be seen.

Nikolaus Pevsner says of the castle site that it has:

...a conspicuous and quite unmistakable Norman castle-motte. It is so close to the church that it stands partly in the church-yard; on this side it appears to have been cut back to make more room. To the N it is protected by a particularly fine ditch.

He goes on to argue that the castle was founded at the time of the Norman conquest and its builder ignored the then existing church, leaving it in its bailey, for a later demolition that never happened.

In the 14th and 15th centuries a major change took place in the local economy, when sheep rearing gave prominence to the manufacture of woollen cloth, which remained a major cottage industry until the shift to the newly industrialised north several centuries later.

Another change took place in the 13th century when shoes began to be made from leather bought in nearby Northampton. At this time the village had its own tanyard, which remained in operation until 1984. The census of 1801 shows that the population had by then grown to 729. By 1850 the population had trebled.

Barker have been making shoes in Earls Barton since 1880; Barkers built a new factory and offices in 1986 in the centre of the village.

Between 1913 and 1921 ironstone was quarried locally with the ore being removed either by train or by an aerial ropeway.

Industry

The village has a history of ingenious industry including the Barker's shoe factory, a woven label company, and the White & Co factory that produced Tredair and DM boots until 2003.

In the village's small market square there's a pharmacy run by a member of the Jeyes the chemists family, who invented and manufactured Jeyes Fluid and the Philadelphus Jeyes chemist chain and who lived nearby at Holly Lodge in Boughton.

Miscellany

The village and its shoe-making were the inspiration for the film Kinky Boots and part of the film was shot here. It is based on the true story of a local boot factory which turned from DMs, their own Provider brand and traditional boots to producing fetish footwear in order to save the ailing family business and the jobs of his workers.

In snowy conditions Kensit's field becomes a popular attraction for sledgers due to its steep hill.

Sport

• Badminton
• Cricket: When the club was established is unknown but there has been cricket in Earls Barton since the late 19th century.
• Football: Earls Barton FC, formed in the late 19th century. When [[Northampton Town FC was first formed in 1897, their first game was against Earls Barton United (EBU) on 18 September 1897. The final score was Northampton 4 – Earls Barton 1.
• Tennis: Earls Barton Tennis Club

A speedway training track operated at Earls Barton in the early 1950s.

"Earls Barton Motors" was home to Britain's 1957 stock car World Champion, Aubrey Leighton, who was a recognised innovator and builder of stock cars, as well as a racer.

Big Society

• 1st Earls Barton Boys Brigade
• Earls Barton Historical Society
• Earls Barton Junior School
• Earls Barton Museum of Village Life
• Earls Barton Music
• Earls Barton Parish Council
• Earls Barton Youth Club
• Saxon Pre-School
• Starfruit Youth Theatre Company
• Under The Tower - Drama Group

Pictures

• 
  Earls Barton Village centre
• 
  Earls Barton Church
• 
  The Old Church Door

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Earls Barton)

• Earls Barton
• Parish Council website
• Northants County Guides: Earls Barton

References

• Palmer, Joyce. Earls Barton: The history of a Northamptonshire Parish. ISBN 0-300-09632-1. 
• Pevsner, Nikolaus; Cherry, Bridget (revision) (1973) [1961]. The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 195–196. ISBN 0-14-071022-1.