Grendon, Northamptonshire

Grendon
Northamptonshire
Thatched cottages in Grendon
Location
Grid reference:	SP8760
Location:	52°14’4"N, -0°42’52"W
Data
Population:	544  (2011)
Post town:	Northampton
Postcode:	NN7
Dialling code:	01933
Local Government
Council:	North Northamptonshire
Parliamentary constituency:	Wellingborough

Grendon is a small village in rural Northamptonshire on the borders of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Many houses are made of the local limestone and various older thatched houses survive. The name of the village means "green hill" and today the village remains centred on the hill. As with Earls Barton, the village was owned by Countess Judith, the niece of William the Conqueror.

The village's parish church, St Mary's, dates in part back to Norman times, and a thatched pub, the Half Moon.

At the time of the 2011 Census the parish population was 544.

The village is a popular place to live with commuters to London or Milton Keynes. It is the site of the 19th-century local uprising called the 'Battle of Grendon'. The village is in two parts, separated by a brook. The smaller part of the village is often shown on maps as Lower End whilst the higher (southern) part of the village is at the top of the (steep) hill.

History

The village appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, when Grendon formed part of the hundred of Wymersley, which covered an area of 52 square miles. Here it is listed as having three hides and one virgate and land enough for nine ploughs, twelve sochmen, three mills rendering 3 shillings, along with 30 acres of meadow.

There is a village folklore about drunken revellers leaving the pub in olden days trying to fish the reflection of the moon from the brook; these characters became known as "Moonrakers". This story was reported by Thomas Sternberg in his 1851 book The Dialogue and Folk-lore of Northamptonshire, in which he reports that:

"...the men of Grendon go by the name moonrakers, in consequence, it is said, of a party of them having once seen the moon reflected in a pool and attempted to draw it out by means of rakes, under the impression it was a cheese!"

Trinity College, Cambridge, and the advowson

The advowson of the church, including 12 acres (49,000 m²) of glebe land – including their common rights and village tithes, was granted in 1342, to King's Hall, Cambridge by King Edward III. When Trinity College, Cambridge was founded in 1546, the advowson was transferred to the Master and Fellows of the new Trinity College. In 1780, following an enclosure act, the tithes were all reduced to a cash payment. The control of the living was transferred in 1926 to the Bishop of Peterborough.

The lost village

In 1970, excavations produced evidence of an abandoned village or deserted mediæval village, known as Coton (which means cottages) situated behind Grendon Hall.

The Battle of Grendon

On 29 August 1876, a battle took place between local farmers and their men over water rights. The scene was commemorated in a poem by a local poet.

Parish church

The church is built from limestone rubble with ironstone dressings. In the church are the remains, in the form of two rounded arches, of the original 12th century building. The two eastern bays of the nave arcades and the chancel were rebuilt between 1368 and 1380, with the clerestory being added in the 15th century along with the four-storey tower; the tower contains a ring of five bells, dating from 1618. The church houses a wooden framed clock which was made locally in 1690. The tower now uses a replacement made in 1970, but the original is still kept in the church as an exhibit and remains in working order.

Inside the church, on each side of the chancel there are mediæval wooden corbel carvings of the grotesque faces of a nagging wife and her leering husband - they are thought to have been a local couple.

The gargoyles on the four corners of the tower represent the four evangelists: a bull for St Luke, a lion for St Mark, a man's head for St Matthew, and an eagle for St John.

The chancel was re-roofed in around 1848. There are three hatchments relating to the Compton family (of whom come the Marquesses of Northampton.

Of the church, Pevsner says: "The first three bays on both sides are late Norman. Next in order of time the late 12th century doorway with one order of shafts carrying simple moulded capitals and an arch with a thick roll moulding. Early 13th century the simple north doorway close to a pair of lancets. Money was left to the campanile in 1453."

• 
  The outside of the church in winter
• 
  Inside the Church
• 
  The grotesque nagging wife
• 
  The nagging wife's husband
• 
  The workings of the old clock
• 
  One of the hatchments
• 
  The squint - now partially blocked
• 
  A tomb or Easter Sepulchre
• 
  The bier

Grendon Hall

Grendon Hall

Most of the present hall dates from the 17th century when it was rebuilt by General Hatton Compton, although certain earlier parts date to the 1570s. Pevsner describes the east front as being "fine" quality. It is thought to be the work of John Lumley of Northampton.

During the Second World War, the hall was used by the SOE as a training camp for the Free French.

Next to the present site of Grendon Hall, but on the other side of the brook is the site of a much earlier mediæval manor house owned by Richard de Harrington, whose fish ponds remain today as part of the grounds of the present hall.

In 1946, after the death of the then owner Miss Mundy, the hall was sold to the County Council.

Society

• 1st Grendon Beavers and Cubs, and Rainbows and Brownies
• Grendon Bellringers
• Grendon Cricket Club
• Grendon Over 60s - Age Concern
• Grendon Playgroup
• Grendon Sapphires Football Club
• Half-Crown Share Club
• Mums & Tots
• Women's Institute

Charities

The village has three small charities:

• Charles Markham memorial trust
• Poor's Close (set up with land bequeathed by the Rev Robert Shelbourne)
• Richard Piper Coles Will Trust

Pictures

• 
  St Mary's Church tower through the clematis
• 
  Thatched cottages on Main Road
• 
  The Half Moon public house
• 
  Main Road
• 
  A funerary hatchment from St Mary's Church

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Grendon, Northamptonshire)

• Grendon Village
• Pictures of Grendon and the area on Geograph.co.uk

References

• Grendon in Northamptonshire - Tito Benady & Eileen Wilmin (Gibraltar Books Ltd - 1994) ISBN 0-948466-34-0
• Pevsner - The Buildings of England - Northamptonshire. ISBN 0-300-09632-1
• Thomas Sternberg - "The dialogue and folk-lore of Northamptonshire" 1851
• The Lore of the Land - Westwood & Simpson - 2005 - ISBN 0-8052-3836-0