Hardingstone
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Hardingstone is a Northamptonshire village located on the southern edge of Northampton and now forms part of greater Northampton.
The original village school was built around around 1860/70 by General Bouverie; this building remained open until the 1960/70s when the primary school was transferred to a more modern building in Martin's Lane, and the Old School was transferred to Northampton County Council (Social Services) who have now let it to the Hardingstone Village Hall Association.
- The village today has two pubs - The Crown and The Sun.
- Hardingstone Parish includes Far Cotton - bordering on Delapre Abbey.
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[edit] Eleanor Cross
On the edge of the village (on the road going into Northampton, can be found one of only three remaining Eleanor crosses.
The site of the cross commemorates the resting at nearby Delapré Abbey of the body of Queen Eleanor; the King Edward I stayed at nearby Northampton Castle. This cross was begun in 1291 by John of Battle; he worked with William of Ireland to carve the statues; William was paid £3 6s. 8d. per figure.
The cross is octagonal in shape and set upon some steps - the present ones are replacements. The cross is built in three tiers and originally had a crowning terminal - possibly a cross. It is not known when this became lost - but it had been lost by the time of the second Battle of Northampton in 1460.
The Cross is referred to in Daniel Defoe's a "Tour through the whole island of Great Britain", where he reports on the Great Fire of Northampton in 1675, "...a townsman being at Queen's Cross upon a hill on the south side of the town, about two miles off, saw the fire at one end of the town then newly begun, and that before he could get to the town it was burning at the remotest end, opposite where he first saw it."
Its bottom tier features open books. These probably included painted inscriptions of her biography and of prayers for her soul to be said by viewers, which are now lost.
[edit] Church
The Church is dedicated to St Edmund and dates to the 12th century - with most of the remaining building dating to the 13th century. Pevsner considered that the body of the church had been over-restored.
Many members of the Bouverie family (owners of nearby Delapré Abbey) are buried in the vault - the family used this as their family church as the Abbey after the dissolution lacked its own church.
During the war the stain glass windows were removed for safety and afterwards could not be found; some people believe that they might be in the Bouveries' family vault - unfortuantely this is bricked up and so no-one has tested this theory.
[edit] Alfred Rouse
Hardingstone Lane was the scene of the "Blazing car murder" of 1931 which attracted sensational national interest. The felon, Alfred Rouse was tried at Northampton Assizes and subsequently hanged in Bedford prison.
[edit] Local government
- Hardingstone Parish Council
- Parochial Church Council
[edit] Sources
- Pevsner - The Buildings of England - Northamptonshire. ISBN 0-300-09632-1
