Feudal Features

Superimposed onto a map assembled from Google data (2006/7) are various features of historical interest. Some of the features are feudal or medieval - many relate to the Victorian era. The map is littered with '?' marks which, if clicked on, will take you to a brief explanation in a paragraph that is then placed at the very top of your page - you then should use the 'back' button to resume looking at the map. For more information you will need to enter a keyword in the search box on the homepage or follow the few links provided.

For information on major present day features, eg. church, school etc., please see the larger scale satellite picture on this website.

Blue lines show the position of roads or paths as indicated in 1729 maps, being the oldest we have in the N.R.O. Many survive as byways or bridle paths to this day. Red lines shows the position of the main stream, Fishweir Brook, and the two pools it is thought to have served. Alternative names for the stream are 'Gutter' in 1800, 'Winterbrook' mentioned 1935 and 'Washbrook' post WWI. The boundaries of medieval fields, those which were cultivated in small parcels (typically 220 yards by 22 yards), are not known but the labels 'Nether field' ie. north field and Common Land convey an approximate impression. In RCHM Vol. IV is mentioned other fields; windmill field to the east, long stockin field to the south-east and wood field to the south-west. Before 1700 many sub-division fields were being created by hedging and ditching and assigned to particular tenant farmers who would produce food more efficiently. This process of assignment, known as inclosure, continued and for this parish was virtual completed by 1815. The legacy of the family-tended small parcels of land, before inclosure, is the ridge and furrow pattern of undulations in the ground surface. It remains in a few small fields particularly those near the Grand Union Canal, cut off and too small to justify modern farmers using heavy machinery. Near the top of this map is a striking example of ridge and furrows visible to the satellite camera. The furrows run north-south in a field just to the south of the railway (the railway being the prominent feature cutting across the top-right corner of the map.)

The medieval village plan was essentially the convergence of three tracks onto a main road from Northampton to Towcester. The inset shows an overview of the housing in 1900. Then, most houses were of 17th century build so the map well indicates the approximate extent of the village in medieval times. There was a track from due east, from Courteenhall, with only three houses on it near to the main road. The road from Stoke Bruerne from the south did not exist before 1794. There was a network of lanes instead (shown in blue in the main map below) and houses lined the street for only 300 yards as it entering the village as South Street. The branch of the lane that joins the Courteenhall Road was merely for access to the common land and served no dwellings. The lane from the west, from Gayton, divides and on one branch provides access to the watermill and a handful of modest dwellings near the main road while the other joins the Towcester main road and serves only one house before the coming of the canal in 1797.This last road appears to follow the curve in the canal. It probably followed a contour that kept the road out of a flood zone and fording area - the canal, for obvious

reasons, was constrained to follow a similar contour and its construction obliterated the fording area and resulted in a larger bridge being built. The name of the main road through the village was Bridge Street at the Towcester end and Northton Lane at the Northampton end. Other names might have been used in the centre - certainly 'The Cross' was used to denote the widened road near to the junction with South Street, where presumably markets were held.

The figure below was generated using Google and associates' data
©2007 Google - Imagery Infoterra Ltd & Bluesky, Map Data ©2007 TeleAtlas

There is an extension southwards based on a 1820 Grafton Map describing the 1800-5 Hill Railway

? Northampton Road - road off to the left to 1926 - 1980 Sewage Farm; to the right the 'Railway Cottages' and a very wide grass verge - see next paragraph.

? Ridge & Furrow pattern - the best example in the parish. The east west path running from the main road due east along the north end of the ridges is designated 'The Poor' in the 1729 survey. This field has an interesting feature in its south west corner: hedges delineate a parallel road which on the 1729 map extends, adjacent to the Northampton Road, to the north-most part of the parish. The parallel road is labelled 'common land' and a vestige of it is visible today as an extra wide grass verge.

? The Parish Lands - the main field, there is a smaller one off the Towcester Road just outside the present village limit.

? Ford Lane - so named because it forded the stream. On the 1729 survey it peters out and crosses a field; with imagination it might be conjectured to join up with the prominent field track running north from the Gayton Road. The latter, and a barn at its end was ploughed up in the 1960s. With coming of the new railway station Ford Lane was routed further west and renamed Station Road.

? The Grand Union Canal - in 1794/5 when it was established through this region, much land inclosure had already occurred so it was individual farmers with large holdings that were given concessions on rent due to loss of farm land.

? Gayton Road - once called Arbutts Lane at the time of the Bryant mapping (1825) referring, it is thought, to an old building stone quarry in Gayton. The farm by the road side is Hill Farm and was once rented by the Roper family. The field to the south-east of the farm was that traditionally used to hold the Blisworth Horse Show in the 1950s.

? (site of) Watermill - placed at this point in many old maps but referred to rather seldom. Age unknown. The millpond shown in pink must have extended across most of the field which became Pond Bank but the oldest map of 1729 shows it substantially drained.

? (site of) Victorian Sewage Settling Tanks - basically a couple of tanks, which were periodically cleaned out by reluctant villagers, enabling some of the solids to settle before overflowing into the stream.

? Ironstone Gully - as can be seen in the 1900 inset map this gully connected with a horse-railway that extended to the canal. In opencast mining the field, including the parish area, a gully would have been established running roughly northwards from the Courteenhall Road and would have been worked 'clockwise' as spoil was placed 'behind' the mining face. This quarry was known as Blisworth Pit 1. Also, this map may be helpful and an overview of all Blisworth mining is given here.

? Courteenhall Road - this lane emerges onto the A508 opposite the avenue leading to Courteenhall, being the present residence of Sir Hereward Wake.

? Fishweir Brook in The Park - the park was the private grounds for the manor (Blisworth House) until about 1919 when it became possible to walk through it. Before the coming of the canal, the stream's location can only be guessed.

? Manor rear entrance - at some time between 1805 and 1838 this gate became disused and the road which goes past the church then took a more direct line eastwards to join South Street (Stoke Road). It is considered most likely that the seat of the Wake family (1240 - 1545 approx.) was in the area between front and rear gates - in fact referred to in 1718.

? 1838 Allotments - owing to the impact of the inclosure and perhaps the loss of the Green in 1799 to the canal, the Duke established some allotments for villagers on the field that was formerly the warren.

? South Street & The Green - the 1729 survey map shows the layout of the southern most extent of South Street. The Stoke Road did not exist; the lanes connected with Shutlanger instead.

? Back Lane & the path to Roade - back lane ran behind some of the more prestigious plots of land in the village and defined the edge of the common land. Back Lane is now a bridleway which now runs across the allotments field rather than goes around it.

? Towcester Road - known as Westbridge Hill in 18th and early 19th century. The triangle of green field under the ?-mark is part of the 2 acre parish field.

? c. 1815 Limestone Quarry - some say this was opened by the Duke's agent in 1821. There is evidence of earlier activity however.

? Medieval Limestone Quarries - a curate in 1718 appears to identify a quarry here as a source of good white stone. Layout of barrow paths within the area is also visible in an aerial shot from a balloon. To the east end of this large area there is a field named in the 1729 survey as 'Slatpitt furlong', ie. limestone slate pit. See an overview of all Blisworth mining given here.

? (suspected site of) Fish Pool and, far more important to many villagers, this is the field in which the Boxing Day 'Wild and Woolly' motor-cycle event was held from about 1929 to 2000. It is still held locally but not in such an excellent site affording surplus mud.

? Canal Tunnel and the 1795 Toll Road. That part of South Street running across the Green, lost to the canal excavation, was replaced by a new road running along the eastern edge of the excavation. It joined a new road, set up briefly as a toll road, to Stoke Bruerne, routed to the canal wharf there.

? The Roman Saltway - old path running east-west across the parish. The eastern extent of The Saltway is believed to coincide with Knock Lane. This road has also been called Plain Lane as it traverses Blisworth Plain, a large area of common land, once wooded, shared with the village of Roade. The name Knock may have come from 'nock' - an old word for the divided oaken trunks used at the gables of medieval dwellings.

? A green lane called Nunn Lane to Shittlehanger (Shutlanger) - origin of the name is shittle = shaft of an arrow, hanger = copse or wood. Now a most pleasant public bridleway. The name derives from the Cistercian Abbey at Showsley (Sewardsley) just north of Shutlanger. All remnants of the abbey are gone, as is any local knowledge it seems!

? 2007 Virgin train on the 'mainline' - a rail track established in 1835 which can support 100mph trains!

? Location of the first ironstone mine. Ironstone entrepreneurs arrived and began in Blisworth in 1852, immediately after the 1851 exhibition in the Crystal Palace at which Northamptonshire land-owners exhibited their 'potential'. The miners extracted by hand the ironstone from a field adjacent to West Bridge Hill leaving a broad hollow which is still plain today. The ore was trundled down to the canal and shipped to Birmingham. [Account in the Blisworth book]

? Stone Works farm buildings - built c. 1830 as an impressive frontage to help sell the stone from the quarry behind - see Blisworth mining.

? Glebe Farm - may have been built some time after 1800 when a sizable area became glebeland, defined by a stream to south and east and by various fields to the north. The area is outlined on the map with a dashed yellow line.

? The first tunnel vent - going southwards; a 20 foot high by 8 foot diameter brick stack.

? The Arch for the railway over the Northampton Road - the Grafton Villas can be made out just to the west of the arch.

? A trapezoidal shaped field, alongside Chapel Lane, known as Brick-Kiln field. It was the home of a brickmaking business run by the Blisworth Peasnall family in the mid-19th century. This part of the village is so low-lying that the lias clay substrate is immediately below alluvial topsoil. Gentle excavations in the field have revealed much brick rubble but nothing notable.

? This field shows so much soil quality variation that it would seem appropriate to extend the area of suspected Victorian ironstone mining shown on the map. Recently, another map suspected of being marked-up by Eric Tonks has been found and it shows the field with a rail track looped across it. The field was named Connegar Leys (as is the council housing estate to the north-east) which implies that it was used in medieval times to grow fodder for the warren (coneygre, connegar etc.) which is the field to the immediate west.