Horton, Northamptonshire
Coordinates: 52°10′58″N 0°48′15″W / 52.1827°N 0.8041°W
| Horton | |
 Horton, Northamptonshire, England Lodges at the entrance to the demolished Horton House, Victorian according to Pevsner[1] |
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 Horton
Horton shown within Northamptonshire |
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| Population | 433 2010 est.[2] |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | SP817545 |
| - London | 62 miles (100 km) depending on route |
| District | South Northamptonshire |
| Shire county | Northamptonshire |
| Region | East Midlands |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | NORTHAMPTON |
| Postcode district | NN7 |
| Dialling code | 01604 |
| Police | Northamptonshire |
| Fire | Northamptonshire |
| Ambulance | East Midlands |
| EU Parliament | East Midlands |
| UK Parliament | Northampton |
| List of places: UK • England • Northamptonshire | |
Horton is named from the Old English meaning "muddy farmstead" and lies in the English county of Northamptonshire. It was originally an estate village, serving the now demolished Horton House[3] and it is close to its neighbouring village Hackleton. It was home to the first Governor of the Bank of England.
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[edit] Location
It is 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Northampton and about 8 miles (13 km) north of Newport Pagnell on the road between those two towns in the southern part of the county. The current designation of this road as the B526 belies its former importance as the A50 the former stagecoach route connecting Leicester and London. The road was declassified when the M1 motorway was built. It was to service the original road that what is now a restaurant and hotel was built originally as a seventeenth-century country manor and coaching inn now known as "The New French Partridge".[4][5]
[edit] The church
The Norman church is dedicated to St Mary Magdalene and still in use. It has a 13th century western tower and a "splendid curly weathervane".[1] Much of it was rebuilt between 1862-3 by a local architect E F Law. It has various monuments: a brass relating to Roger Salisbury (1491) and his two wives; Lord and Lady Parr, Catherine Parr's uncle and aunt; a free standing tomb-chest; two recumbent effigies of Sir William Lane and his family, and Edward and Henrietta Montagu, members of the family of the Earl of Halifax.
[edit] Horton House estate
[edit] Horton: the surname
Hereditary surnames were popular in England after the Norman conquest and most were derived from the place-names of their family estates, whether in France or England. One such recorded is that of Richard de Horton from Northamptonshire, in 1255.
[edit] The earlier estate
The original medieval village and house were demolished to make way for the rebuilding of the house in the 17th century - all that remains are a number of mounds in the fields to the south and east of the house remains.
The first house and estate were owned by William, Lord Parr of Horton - the same family that Catherine Parr came from. She was the last of the six wives of Henry VIII of England. Parr's daughter, Maud, married Sir Ralph Lane and they had five sons including: Sir Ralph, Sir Robert, Sir Parr and Sir William, the latter commemorated in the church.
[edit] The last house
The last house had originally belonged to a branch of the Montagus (who held the Earldom of Halifax for two generations). Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax KG, PC, FRS (16 April 1661 – 19 May 1715) was an English poet and statesman, one of the Commissioners of the Treasury, a member of the Privy Council and Chancellor of the Exchequer. At the accession of George I, he was made Viscount Sunbury and Earl of Halifax, with remainder to heirs male, a Knight of the Garter, and First Lord of the Treasury. The Gunnings purchased the estate in 1782 and the family stayed at Horton until 1888 when the 5th Baronet sold it to Pickering Phipps of the brewing family. Later it was sold to George Winterbottom but it was demolished in 1936[3] However, some of its out-buildings remain, many Grade II listed: the Green Bridge; The Ice House and the New Temple, which has an Ionic portico with a pulvinated frieze - and is thought be early Georgian in date.
- The Menagerie,[6] turned into a house by Gervase Jackson-Stops is Grade II* listed. This is a one storey building with corner pavilions and a raised central area. The surrounding windows are in the style of the architect James Gibbs. The work has most recently been attributed to Thomas Wright, the astronomer, who undertook work for Lord Halifax after 1739.
- The Arches, also Grade II. These are made up of a tri-partite triumphal archway with Ionic pilasters.
- Two Victorian gate lodges, see image in infobox top right
- Red brick stable block, c18th century'
Near the Menagerie is an old fish pond dating back several centuries and what are thought to be the remains of a Norman motte-and-bailey can be found in the fields behind the Menagerie. There are rumoured to be a series of tunnels from the Menagerie towards the Ice House and elsewhere.
[edit] 2009 Campaign to save the estate
A campaign[7] has begun to highlight the plight of the estate which has been almost forgotten. Among people pledging support are Northampton South MP Brian Binley, the current Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, and pop singer Leo Sayer. Horton Park Conservation Group have also launched a website and petition to improve knowledge of the park.[8] They are also planning events for 2011 to mark the 300th anniversary of Thomas Wright's birth.
[edit] The village today
The village is a dormitory serving Northampton and Milton Keynes. There are no shops or pubs but there is a cricket club, Horton House CC,[9] which celebrates its centenary in 2008 andoffers both Senior and Junior Cricket. There is a well known restaurant "The New French Partridge",[4][5] next to the church.
[edit] Horton Rounds: The famous house on a circle
The village is well known for the modern design of "Horton Rounds",[1] an unusual curved house on stilts incorporating the shapes of a comma and a full stop. The house was built in 1966 by local architect Arthur A J Marshman as a family home on the site of the old tennis courts for Horton House. It has an unusual cantilevered balcony and cedar roof shingles. The house is under the ownership of Roy Clarke the writer of Last of the Summer Wine. Pevsner says:[1]
"A striking house. The dominant features are the broad curving eaves of the shingled roofs and the taller circular service cores and chimney of local yellow stone. In plan the house is a comma, with a full stop linked by a bridge. The tail of the comma, open on the ground floor with bedrooms above, shelters a paved garden. The broad end has service rooms and entrances below and a circular living area above which has views in all directions".
[edit] Famous residents of the village
- Roy Clarke, TV writer of Last of the Summer Wine owns Horton Rounds
- Sir Robert Gunning - diplomat, died at Horton House, 22 September 1816
- Allan Lamb, England cricketer lived in the village in the 1970s.
- Arthur Marshman - architect and designer of Horton Rounds house
- Charles Montagu, Earl of Halifax - founder of the Bank of England
- Sir William Parr - uncle of Catherine Parr - 1st Baron Parr of Horton
- Thomas Wright (b.1711) Astronomer and architect and the first person to describe the shape of the Milky Way. He laid out the house's parklands and designed some of the buildings.
[edit] Pictures from around the village
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Horton Church of St Mary Magdalene
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A touching gravestone from Horton Churchyard
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Horton Rounds - the house on a circle
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The French Partridge Restaurant
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Pevsner, Nikolaus (1961). The Buildings of England – Northamptonshire. London and New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 263–5. ISBN 978-0-300-09632-3.
- ^ SNC (2010). South Northamptonshire Council Year Book 2010-2011. Towcester NN12 7FA. pp. 39.
- ^ a b "England's lost country houses". http://lh.matthewbeckett.com/lh_complete_list.html. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
- ^ a b "The New French Partridge - official website". http://www.newfrenchpartridge.co.uk/. Retrieved 27 October 2008.
- ^ a b "Room service: The New French Partridge, Horton, Northamptonshire - Paddy Burt finds that the deluxe room isn't up to standard but the pork is superb". The Daily Telegraph (London). 23 March 2006. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/734703/Room-service-The-New-French-Partridge,-Horton,-Northamptonshire.html. Retrieved 27 October 2008.
- ^ "Magic of the Menagerie". Northampton Chronicle & Echo. 25 June 2007. http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/gardening/Magic-of-the-Menagerie.2979775.jp. Retrieved 26 October 2008.
- ^ "Campaign to protect estate of Horton Hall". Northampton Chronicle & Echo. 29 December 2008. http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/Campaign-to-protect-estate-of.4826139.jp. Retrieved 29 December 2008.
- ^ Group website
- ^ "Horton House Cricket Club". http://hortonhousecc.play-cricket.com/home/aboutUs.asp. Retrieved 26 October 2008.
[edit] External links
Media related to Horton, Northamptonshire at Wikimedia Commons
