Brackley
| Brackley | |
| Northamptonshire | |
|---|---|
Mar2006.jpg) Brackley Town Hall | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SP5837 |
| Location: | 52°1’55"N, 1°8’49"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 13,331 (2001) |
| Post town: | Brackley |
| Postcode: | NN13 |
| Dialling code: | 01280 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | West Northamptonshire |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Northamptonshire South |
| Website: | Brackley Town Council |
Brackley is a town in Northamptonshire, about 19 miles from Oxford and 22 miles from Northampton. Historically a market town based on the wool and lace trade, it was built on the intersecting trade routes between London, Birmingham and the Midlands, and between Cambridge and Oxford. Brackley has connections with Formula 1 as it is close to Silverstone and home to Mercedes AMG.
History
The Domesday Book of 1086 names the town as Brachelai or Brackele and states that it was held by Earl Alberic. After his time, it passed to the Earl of Leicester, and to the families of De Quincy and Roland.[1]
In the 11th and 12th centuries Brackley was in Manor of Halse. Brackley was named by King Richard I as one of five authorised sites for jousting tournaments (a measure to restrict such events to avoid their being used as local wars). The tournament site is believed to be to the south of the castle where the A422 now passes.
Henry III attacked and destroyed the castle in 1173. The site was later granted to the Hospital of SS. James and John.
The town was the site of an important meeting between the barons and representatives of the King in 1215, the year of Magna Carta. King John and the barons were to have signed Magna Carta at Brackley Castle, but they eventually did so at Runnymede in Surrey.
Market day was on Sundays until 1218, when it was changed to Wednesdays. It is now on Friday mornings.
In 1597 the town was incorporated by King James II. It had a mayor, six aldermen and 26 burgesses.
Over time the Brackley has been known for wool and lace-making.
In 1901 the population of the town was 2,467.
The Brackley Poor Law Union
Brackley used the poor house at Culworth until 1834, when Parliament passed the Poor Law Amendment Act and as a result the Brackley Poor Law Union was founded.[2] A workhouse for 250 people was built in 1836, southwest of the town on Banbury Road. It was demolished in the 1930s.
Parish church
The oldest part of the Church of England parish church of Saint Peter at the eastern end of the town centre is an 11th-century Norman south doorway.[3] Both the four-bay arcade of the south aisle[4] and the west tower with its niches containing seated statues[3] were added in the 13th century. Next the chancel was rebuilt, probably late in the 13th century.[4] The north arcade and the windows in both the north and south aisles were probably added early in the 14th century, about the same time as the Decorated Gothic chapel was added to the chancel.[4]
Notable buildings
Castle
Brackley Castle was built soon after 1086. Its earthwork remains lie between Hinton Road and Tesco. It comprised a motte 10 feet high and approximately 44 yards in diameter with an outer bailey to the east. Archaeological excavation has revealed evidence of a ditch defining the perimeter of the bailey. Two fishponds originally lay outside the ditch but have subsequently been infilled – however south of St. James Lake may have formed a part of this. Brackley Castle may have gone out of use in 1147. It was destroyed in 1173.[5]
Mediæval hospitals
In about 1150 Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester founded the Hospital of St. James and St John.[6] Its master was a priest, assisted by a number of religious brothers. Its duties included providing accommodation and care for poor travellers.[6] In the 15th century there were complaints that successive masters were absentees, holding other livings at the same time as being in charge of the hospital.[6] The hospital was closed in 1423 for maladministration but re-established in 1425.[6] In 1449 a master was appointed who seems to have continued the practice of non-residence while holding parish livings elsewhere.[6] In 1484 the patron, Viscount Lovell granted control of the hospital to William Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester, citing its failure to give hospitality and alms.[6]
Waynflete had founded Magdalen College, Oxford in 1458 and Magdalen College School, Oxford in 1480. He made the former hospital part of their property and by 1548 it was Magdalen College School, Brackley. St James' chapel became the school chapel, in which use it remains today. It is the oldest building in Great Britain in continuous use by a school.
The oldest part of the chapel is the west doorway, which is late Norman.[4] Most of its windows are slightly later, being Early English Gothic lancet windows.[5] The trio of stepped lancets above the west doorway are late 13th century.[4] The Gothic Revival architect Charles Buckeridge restored the chapel in 1869-70.[4]
The Hospital of St Leonard was a smaller institution, founded to care for lepers.[7] It was ½ mile (800 m) from SS. James and John, apparently on the northern edge of Brackley.[7] It was in existence by 1280. After 1417 it shared the same master as SS. James and John and thereafter there is no separate record of St Leonard's, so the larger hospital may have taken it over.[7] No buildings of St Leonard's hospital have survived.
Secular buildings
The almshouses were founded in 1633 by Sir Thomas Crewe of Steane.[5] They have one storey plus attic dormers.[5] They were originally six houses but by 1973 they had been converted into four apartments.[5]
Brackley Manor House was also a 17th-century Jacobean building that also originally had one storey plus attic dormers.[5] In 1875-78 the Earl of Ellesmere had it rebuilt on a larger scale, in the same style but retaining only the doorway and one window of the original building.[5] It is now Winchester House School,[8] a coeducational preparatory school for children aged from 3-13. It used to be a Woodard School.[5]
The town hall was built in 1706 by the 4th Earl of Bridgewater.[5] The ground floor was originally open but has since been enclosed.[5] Market Place and Bridge Street feature number of other early 18th-century houses and inns, mostly of brick and in several cases combining red and blue bricks in a chequer pattern.[5]
The town park belongs to the National Trust.
Industry
Brackley is close to the Silverstone motor racing circuit, and has some industry related to Formula One racing, notably Mercedes Grand Prix (formerly Brawn GP, Honda, British American Racing and Tyrrell) which is based in the town, and the Force India F1 team which operates a wind tunnel on the former site of the north railway station.
On the east outskirts of the town is H Bronnley & Co., makers of hand-made soaps who hold Royal Warrants of Appointment for supplying The Queen and the Prince of Wales.
Sports and leisure
- Football:
- Brackley Town Football Club, known as the Saints
- Brackley Sports FC
- Brackley Athletic Football Club - junior football
- Rugby: Brackley RUFC
- Tennis: Brackley Tennis Club
There is a leisure centre and swimming pool in the town, and a martial arts academy.[9]
Angling takes place at St James Lake south of the town, a balancing lake of almost 3 acres created in 1977. Fishing is managed by a local angling club. The lake is within a 5-acre wildlife park that is open to the public.
Brackley is also the home of German F1 team Mercedes AMG having had British team Brawn GP, who were bought out by Mercedes-Benz in 2009. The Japanese team Honda F1 and British-United States team British American Racing (BAR), who were bought out by Honda in 2006, were previously based in Brackley.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Brackley) |
References
- ↑ Online 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica entry for Brackley
- ↑ Brackley Poor Law Union and Workhouse 1835 onwards
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Pevsner & Cherry, 1973, page 115
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Pevsner & Cherry, 1973, page 116
- ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 Pevsner & Cherry, 1973, page 117
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Serjeantson & Adkins, 1906, pages 151-153
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Serjeantson & Adkins, 1906, pages 153-154
- ↑ Winchester House School
- ↑ Brackley Freestyle Martial Arts Academy
- Pevsner, Nikolaus; Cherry, Bridget (1973). Northamptonshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 115–118.
- Serjeantson, R.M.; Adkins, W.R.D. (1906). A History of the County of Northampton, Volume 2. Victoria County History. pp. 151–154.