Duston
| Duston | |
| Northamptonshire | |
|---|---|
 Typical buildings on Main Road, in the village | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SP7261 |
| Location: | 52°14’49"N, -0°56’37"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 15,565 (2001[1]) |
| Post town: | Northampton |
| Postcode: | NN5 |
| Dialling code: | 01604 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | West Northamptonshire |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Northampton South |
Duston is a parish in Northamptonshire that forms a suburb of the county town, Northampton. The civil parish population was 15,498 at the 2011 census.[2] It has been a settlement since at least Roman times.[3]
Duston Church is dedicated to St Luke. It was begun in the 12th century but has many 13th-century features.It has a nave, aisles and what would be a crossing tower except that it has no transepts.
From 1876 to 1995 Duston was home to St Crispin's Hospital, a county-owned and subsequently NHS mental hospital. During the First World War it was turned into Duston War Hospital for convalescent soldiers.
Schools in the area include Chiltern Primary School, Duston Eldean Primary School, The Duston School, Hopping Hill Primary School, Millway Primary School and St Luke's Church of England Primary School.
History
Archaeological remains found in the area suggest that Duston has roots in Prehistoric and Roman settlements. However, development in the area has meant that it is now difficult to find further remains.[4]
Early Extractive Industries
Iron ore was first quarried in the district in 1854 and 1855 to the east of the village on land leased from Viscount Palmerston and from Duston Church (St Luke's.) At that time the ore was quarried mostly to the south of the Northampton to Daventry road, but also on the other side. The quarry was connected by railway to the Northampton branch of the canal, close to Duston Mill where the ore trucks were emptied into canal boats for transport to an ironworks elsewhere. The trucks descended when full by gravity and when emptied were hauled back to the quarry by horses. The quarry was re-opened in 1859 and the railway was extended under the road as the quarry was extended on that side. Steam locomotives were used on the railway from 1861 onwards. Quarrying finished on the south side of the road in 1905 and on the north side of the road in 1908.
There was also a limestone quarry to the north side of Bants Lane which closed by 1901. It was connected to the railway by a narrow gauge tramway. Limestone trucks were emptied into standard gauge trucks in the iron ore quarry.
A branch of the railway connected with a claypit and brickworks and an iron foundry in the St James district of Northampton. By 1883 the sidings next to the canal were closed and the line extended across the canal to sidings on the Northampton to Blisworth railway, close to the Hunsbury Ironworks. The iron ore quarry site is now built on, being the site of an industrial and retail estate. Most of the course of the railway southwards was obliterated when the area was dug for gravel in the 1960s and by the construction of the Northampton Town Football Ground. The bridge over the canal (altered) is still there. A quarry face still remains close to Duston Road.
Part of the limestone quarry was incorporated into the British Timken site in 1941.[5]
Economy
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British Timken was previously a major employer in Duston. Established in Chester Road, Aston, Birmingham in 1937 manufacturing tapered roller, parallel roller and ball bearings. In World War II a shadow factory was built in 1941 on a green-field site in Main Road, Duston, to produce roller bearings. At its peak over 4,000 people were employed in the factory. In 2002 the works were closed and the site cleared for housing with production moving to Poland.[6][7] British Timken was a division of the (then) Timken Bearing Company of Canton Ohio, now The Timken Company.
Duston also benefits from its proximity to the Sixfields Leisure retail park, which includes a cinema and the Sixfields Stadium - home to the Northampton Town Football Club, a supermarket and several restaurants and pubs. Blacks Leisure Group (owner of Blacks and Millets) is based on an industrial estate on Mansard Close. On the north-eastern side of the area lies the Lodge Farm industrial estate, where major employers include builders merchants Travis Perkins, XPO Logistics, and a Debenhams distribution centre.
References
- ↑ Office for National Statistics: Duston CP: Parish headcounts. Retrieved 9 November 2009
- ↑ "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11122893&c=Duston&d=16&e=62&g=6451974&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1467467049531&enc=1. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
- ↑ Northampton Museum and Art Gallery
- ↑ "Duston | British History Online" (in en). Institute of Historical Research, University of London. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/northants/vol5/pp249-266. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
- ↑ Tonks, Eric (1989). The Ironstone Quarries of the Midlands. Cheltenham: Runpast. pp. 90-105. ISBN 1 870754 03 4.
- ↑ British Industrial History accessed 1 January 2012
- ↑ British Timken to axe 950 jobs BBC News 26 April 2001, accessed 1 January 2012
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Duston) |