In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Hardingstone like this:
HARDINGSTONE, a parish, a sub-district, and a district in Northamptonshire. The parish lies on the river Nen, the Grand Junction Canal, and the North-western railway, averagely 2 miles S by E of Northampton, but containing the Northampton station of the Northwestern railway. It includes the hamlets of Cotton-End, Far-Cotton, and Delapre Abbey; and it has a post-office under Northampton. ...
Acres, 3,060. Real property, £9,784; of which £600 are in quarries. Pop. in 1851,1,196; in 1861,1,915. Houses, 396. The increase of pop. arose from the erection of houses at Far-Cotton. The property is divided among a few. Lieut. Gen. E. W. Bonverie, of Delapre Abbey, is the chief landowner. A Queen Eleanor's cross, of three stones, octagonal, and on 8 steps, is near Delapre Abbey, and was built by Edward I., and restored in 1762. A circular camp, enclosing upwards of 4 acres, and supposed to have been formed by Sweyn, the father of King Canute, is on a commanding eminence to the SW of Eleanor's cross. A battle, commonly called the battle of Northampton, between Warwick the king-maker and Henry VI., was fought, in 1459, at Hardingstone-Fields. Paper mills are at Far-Cotton; and wharfs and warehouses are on the canal at Cotton-End. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Peterborough. Value, £534.* Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church is ancient, and was well restored in 1869. New schools were recently erected; and there are charities £103. James Hervey, the author of Meditations, was a native.—The sub-district contains also the parishes of Great Houghton, Preston-Deanery, Piddington, Horton, and Quinton. Acres, 12,253. Pop., 3,657. Houses, 770.—The district comprehends also the sub-district of Milton, containing the parishes of Milton, Courteenhall, Roade, Rothersthorpe, Collingtree, and Wootton; and the sub-district of Brafield, containing the parishes of Brafield-on-the-Green, Cogenhoe, Little Houghton, Yardley-Hastings, Castle-Ashby, Whistou, and Denton. Acres, 32,408. Poor-rates in 1863, £5,668. Pop. in 1851,9,157; in 1861,9,928. Houses, 2,142. Marriages in 1862,75; births, 324,—of which 18 were illegitimate; deaths, 163,—of which 54 were at ages under 5 years, and 5 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60,796; births, 3,380; deaths, 1,917. The places of worship, in 1851, were 19 of the Church of England, with 4,640 sittings; 1 of Independents, with 600 s.; 7 of Baptists, with 1,460 s.; 7 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 555 s.; 1 of Wesleyan Reformers, with 100 s.; and 1 undefined, with 200 s. The schools were 14 public day schools, with 750 scholars; 10 private day schools, with 170 s.; 25 Sunday schools, with 1,672 s.; and 3 evening schools for adults, with 58 s. The workhouse is in Wootton.
Hardingstone through time
Hardingstone is now part of Northampton district. Click here for graphs and data of how Northampton has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Hardingstone itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Hardingstone, in Northampton and Northamptonshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/1232
Date accessed: 29th April 2024
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