Burton Latimer

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Burton Latimer
Northamptonshire

Burton Wold wind farm
Location
Grid reference: SP901749
Location: 52°21’54"N, -0°40’41"W
Data
Population: 6,740  (2001)
Post town: Kettering
Postcode: NN15
Dialling code: 01536
Local Government
Council: North Northamptonshire
Parliamentary
constituency:
Kettering

Burton Latimer is a modest town in Northamptonshire, built on quarrying, shoemaking and weaving, now with a share of light industry and distribution. It is found just south of the junction of the A6 and A14. The two-mile A6 bypass opened in October 1991.

Today's town

Burton Latimer is the location of the first wind farm in Northamptonshire. Burton Wold Wind Farm|Burton Wold wind farm, operated by Your Energy[1] has 10 turbines, producing enough electricity to power around 8,500 homes: a little more than the town itself.[2] It is also home to the Weetabix food company, The Alumasc Group PLC and several group undertakings[3] and a Wm Morrisons supermarket distribution centre, which are major local employers. Weetabix is also made in Corby.

Parish church

The parish church is St Mary the Virgin, a notable building in the town. It is a Norman church[4], containing mediæval murals.

History

The town's name is derived from the le Latimer family who lived there in the 13th Century.[5] It grew in the 19th Century around the ironstone quarrying, clothing and footwear industries. A watermill used for grinding corn was converted and used at various times in the 19th century for the manufacture of silk, worsted and carpet-weaving, followed by its conversion to a steam mill to make chicory, mustard, fodder and flour. The mill was acquired in the 1930s and became the home of Weetabix.

There was a railway station serving the town called Isham and Burton Latimer, but the station closed in 1950. Now the nearest railway station is in Kettering.

Sport

  • Football: Burton Park Wanderers FC, who play at Latimer Park.

Outside links

References

  1. Your Energy
  2. Burton Wold Wind Farm
  3. Alumasc Precision Limited website
  4. Parish church picture
  5. Mills, A.D. (1998). Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names, Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280074-4