Wothorpe

From Wikishire
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Wothorpe
Northamptonshire

Wothorpe Towers
Location
Location: 52°38’35"N, 0°28’59"W
Data
Population: 226  (2001)
Post town: Stamford
Postcode: PE9
Local Government
Council: Peterborough

Wothorpe is a village and civil parish in the Soke of Peterborough in Northamptonshire. It lies in the far west of the Soke, to the south of Stamford (in Lincolnshire).

Overview

Wothorpe Priory was a "small Benedictine nunnery", founded apparently around 1160. All but one of the nuns died in the outbreak of Plague in 1349, with the survivor becoming part of the Priory of Stamford. The property was dissolved by Henry VIII, being granted to Richard Cecil.[1][2]

As a parish, it was considered a hamlet within the ancient parish of Stamford Baron, becoming a separate civil parish in 1866.

The early-seventeenth-century Wothorpe Towers was a lodge that was once part of the Burghley estate, which was used as a dower house and then, apparently, part dismantled to provide an eye-catcher in the new landscaped park. The main house has been put into a trust which is restoring the gardens.

Racecourse road

Within the parish of Wothorpe is the highest point of the Soke of Peterborough. The high point of 266 ft is located on Racecourse Road at 52°37’32"N, 0°28’19"W, right on the Soke's western boundary. Although unmarked, the summit is of interest to participants in Hill Bagging.[3]

References

  1. Wothorpe House and Towers Hidden Heritage (retrieved 22 December 2011)
  2. R.M. Serjeantson, W.R.D. Adkins (editors) (1906). "Houses of Benedictine nuns: The priory of Wothorpe". A History of the County of Northampton: Volume 2. Institute of Historical Research. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=40224. Retrieved 28 May 2014. 
  3. Simon Edwardes (2001). "Racecourse Road". The Mountains of England and Wales. http://www.hill-bagging.co.uk/mountaindetails.php?rf=5469. Retrieved 20 May 2014. 

Outside links

 This Northamptonshire article is a stub: help to improve Wikishire by building it up.