Polebrook
| Polebrook | |
| Northamptonshire | |
|---|---|
| |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TL068871 |
| Location: | 52°28’16"N, 0°25’37"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 478 (2011) |
| Post town: | Peterborough |
| Postcode: | PE8 |
| Dialling code: | 01832 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | North Northamptonshire |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Corby |
Polebrook is a village and parish in Northamptonshire, after which the county's Polebrook Hundred is named. The population (including Armston) at the 2011 census was 478.[1]
History
There is evidence that Polebrook as a settlement dates back to 400 BC,[2] where the village consisted of mainly farms. The farms were mainly centred on the modern day village of Ashton. Polebrook is called Pochebroc in the Domesday Book.[3]
There may have been a wooden church on the site of the current 12th-century stone Church of All Saints. Thomas de Thelwall, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster was the parish priest of Polebrook in the 1360s.
RAF Polebrook was a little south-east of the village during the Second World War from 1941 to 1945.[4] The USAAF 351st Bomber Group was stationed at the airfield from 15 April 1943 to 23 June 1945, and the U.S. flag hangs as a memorial to the men, along with a roll of honour in the church. The airfield is now disused, but remains a rich part of Polebrook culture; there is a memorial chapel in Polebrook Church. The base was used as a site for Thor missiles in the 1950s.[4]
For some time during the war Clark Gable was stationed at Polebrook and at RAF Marston Moor near Wetherby. He made morale-boosting visits locally during his time there, an example being Marco in Grantham – a picture appears on the Manthorpe News website.
References
- ↑ "Civi Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11127621&c=Polebrook&d=16&e=62&g=6451084&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1467036586795&enc=1. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
- ↑ Welcome to Polebrook
- ↑ [https://web.archive.org/web/20060820120818/http://www.polebrook.org.uk/domesday_record.html Domesday Polebrook
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Gibson, Michael L (1982). Aviation in Northamptonshire, An Illustrated Guide (includes a map of the Polebrook airfield and an angled photo taken in 1944). Northampton: Northamptonshire Libraries. pp. 270–1. ISBN 0-905391-08-X.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Polebrook) |
- https://polebrook.org/
- Valor at Polebrook about the USAAF base in World War II
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