Alderton, Northamptonshire
| Alderton | |
| Northamptonshire | |
|---|---|
 Alderton | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SP7446 |
| Location: | 52°6’56"N, -0°55’11"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 248 (2001) |
| Post town: | Towcester |
| Postcode: | NN12 |
| Dialling code: | 01327 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | West Northamptonshire |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
South Northamptonshire |
Alderton is a small village and parish in Northamptonshire about nine miles south of Northampton, and 10 miles north of Milton Keynes. The village lies along a road between the A5 and A508 main roads in the south-west and north-east respectively. The nearest large town is Towcester, about three miles north. The village is famous for the remains of a Scheduled Ancient Monument, a Norman castle, known locally as "The Mount",[1] which was the subject of an investigation by the Channel 4 programme Time Team.[2]
Geography
Alderton is on the southern ridge of the valley of the River Tove which flows east between the village and Stoke Bruerne to the north. Stoke Bruerne church and Stoke Park Pavilions are clearly visible in the distance.
History
There is evidence of settlement at Alderton in the Iron Age.[1] Later the Romans built major roads including Watling Street, the A5, only half a mile south-west of the village. Domestic Roman artefacts have been found and large villas and farming communities were established nearby. The nearest known Roman villa was the Piddington Roman Villa at the village of Piddington, about six miles away. Iron Age, Roman and Saxon artefacts have been found on The Mount.[1]
Alderton became a larger Saxon settlement and a Saxon burh is thought to have stood on the high ground and would have included the Mount site. The village lies on what was the frontier between the Saxon kingdoms of the south and the Danelaw in the north.
The 1066 Norman conquest saw the development of the ringwork castle in the form visible today. This was one of the strongholds owned by Robert, Count of Mortain the half-brother of William the Conqueror. It was an imposing earthwork hastily constructed to form part of the defence William's new kingdom. Twenty years later, the Domesday Book entry for Alderton shows the name as "Aldrintone" and the Earl of Ferrers as the local lord and lists land for 8 ploughs.
Recent archaeological research points to the castle being abandoned in the latter half of the 14th century. This was at the time of the Black Death when there appears to have been a sharp reduction in the local population as elsewhere in Britain. Alderton came under the control of the Manor of Stoke Bruerne.[1]
Alderton was a very small community throughout the 14th and 15th centuries. By 1541 King Henry VIII had included the village within the Honour of Grafton. The village population grew in the latter half of the 16th century with the arrival of William Gorges, a nobleman from a distinguished aristocratic line. Gorges built a very large mansion house with landscaped gardens. Through the marriage of Gorges' daughter Frances to Thomas Hesilrige, the Manor House passed to the Heselrige family. In 1605, the Queen, Anne of Denmark stayed at Alderton Manor and in 1608 King James I visited and knighted Thomas Hesilrige who later became a baronet. Hesilrige's son Sir Arthur Hesilrige, 2nd Baronet, a close ally of John Pym and Oliver Cromwell and one of the Five Members, was Lord of the Manor in 1655.[1]
By the early 18th century the village was a thriving agricultural community. The Manor House was demolished and its site was occupied by a substantial farm, known as Manor Farm. The village population remained small and largely involved in agriculture. Recently, it has changed character and is now a dormitory settlement for professional people; it is also a conservation area.
Historic buildings and structures
The Mount
This is the remains of a ringwork castle which is now overgrown with trees. The earthworks are still in a good state of preservation and comprise an area of about two acres. The ditch is 16 feet deep in parts and still fully accessible. The internal area of the castle has some slightly raised areas interpreted as building platforms.
The castle and Manor of Alderton were sold by Thomas le Sauvage to Pagan de Chaworth during the reign of Edward I. During the first Civil War there were a number of engagements in the vicinity, most notably the siege and eventual destruction of Grafton Manor House in 1644. Parliamentarian forces involved in this action passed through Alderton. There is little evidence of any significant use of the castle at this time, however. Some civil war musket balls have been discovered but may be associated with musket practice. Certainly it is documented that during the 18th century the site was used as a gentlemen's rifling range.
During the Victorian era the castle appears to have been a popular picnic spot, judging by the recent porcelain and glass finds. This use as a village amenity has continued to the present day. In 1998 Derek Batten, a resident of the neighbouring village of Paulerspury and former County Councillor, purchased the castle site.
Time Team visit
As The Mount is a scheduled ancient monument, ordinarily Channel 4's archaeological television programme Time Team would not have been given permission to excavate the site. Because so little is known about it, however – and about this type of castle in general – English Heritage did on this occasion grant permission for a dig in three specific areas. One of these was in the ditch surrounding the castle; one on the ramparts; and one inside the castle. The aim, according to Glyn Coppack, the English Heritage inspector with responsibility for the excavation, was to obtain 'the maximum amount of information for the minimum disturbance of the site'. The programme was broadcast on 14 January 2001 and is summarised on the Time Team website.[3][4]
Mediæval Castle
In August 2009, archaeologists uncovered what they believed were remains of the only mediæval stone castle in southern Northamptonshire, after they picked up where Time Team's archaeologists left off eight years before.[5]
Church of St Margaret
The building dates from 1522–1528 and later 1848. There is a monument to Sir William de Combermartin (d.ca.1318).[6]
Manor House
The building dates from 1695.[6]
Notable residents
Sir Arthur Hesilrige, of Alderton, was one of the five MPs impeached by King Charles I in 1642.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Friends of Alderton Monuments - website giving full details of the monument". http://www.foamm.co.uk/. Retrieved 5 April 2009.
- ↑ BBC news item on the village
- ↑ Details of Channel 4's Time Team excavation of the site; includes additional links and resources
- ↑ Time Team unofficial site on Alderton
- ↑ Northampton Chronicle & Echo, 20 August 2009, p14 "Remains of Castle Found"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Pevsner, Nikolaus; Cherry, Bridget (revision) (1961). The Buildings of England – Northamptonshire. London and New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 76. ISBN 978-0-300-09632-3.
Outside inks
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Alderton, Northamptonshire) |
- Alderton in the Domesday Book