Spratton

Spratton
Village sign
Spratton  Spratton shown within Northamptonshire
Population	1,099
OS grid reference	SP7169
District	Daventry
Shire county	Northamptonshire
Region	East Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Northampton
Postcode district	NN6
Dialling code	01604
Police	Northamptonshire
Fire	Northamptonshire
Ambulance	East Midlands
EU Parliament	East Midlands
UK Parliament	Kettering
List of places: UK • England • Northamptonshire

Spratton is a village and civil parish in the English county of Northamptonshire. The local government authority is Daventry District Council. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish's population was 1,099 people. Spratton is 7.1 miles north of Northampton, 6.5 miles from Long Buckby and 11.4 miles from Daventry. The village is situated on the A5199 road.

Landmarks

Parish Church

The parish church of Spratton is dedicated to St Andrew and stands on Brixworth Road. The ecclesiastical parish is part of the diocese of Peterborough. The church, built from ironstone, stands on high ground in the centre of the village and has a tower with a spire. The chancel is 29 feet long by 15 feet wide. The earliest church built on the site dated from 1120, but it has been altered and remodelled considerably over the centuries. The interior of the church was restored in 1847 by Sir George Gilbert Scott, and the north porch rebuilt. The spire was taken down nearly to the base in 1870 and rebuilt. The great great grandmother of George Washington was baptised in the church, there is a plaque saying this in the church.

Spratton Hall Preparatory School

The private co-educational Spratton Hall School was founded by K.C. Hunter and his wife Joan in 1951. Spratton Hall, the largest house in the village, is a plain three-storey 18th century structure. The roof is slate and the main structure is made from limestone from Kingsthorpe. The house was probably built in 1760 on the site of an earlier farmhouse. The house is a Grade II listed building and set in 50 acres of rolling Northamptonshire countryside.

The actor Tenniel Evans taught English and drama there for a short time in the early 1950s before returning to theatre. Matt Dawson, the Saints, Wasps and England Rugby player, was a gap student at Spratton Hall from 1996 to 1997. Michael Ellis the MP for the Northampton North constituency was educated there.

There are currently over 400 pupils at the school aged between 4-13 years old. The school celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2011.

Amenities

The village has one public house, the King’s Head on Brixworth Road. There is a butchers, Saul’s, also on Brixworth Road, and established in 1926. There is also a village store.

Events

Spratton used to host a folk music festival in July every year but stopped because they lost money 2 years in a row. Bands that have appeared include Capercaillie, Show of Hands, Oysterband and Peatbog Faeries. In addition to the music, there were craft stalls, food, children's entertainment and a bar serving real ales and ciders.

Notable people

• The Victorian cricketer Charles Studd was born in the village in 1860
• Amphillis Twigden, the great-great grandmother of George Washington, first President of the United States, was born in the parish of Spratton at Little Creaton; she was baptised in Spratton Church on 2 February 1602
• World Cup-winning rugby player Ben Cohen lived in the village for a number of years
• Part of the same World Cup-winning team as Ben Cohen, Matt Dawson was also a Spratton resident
• Former England cricketer Devon Malcolm lives in the village
• The suffragette Emily Davison was working as a live-in governess to the Moorhouse family at The Grange, Spratton, at the time of the 1901 census
• Author Alison Penton Harper lives in the village.

External links

Media related to Spratton at Wikimedia Commons