Broughton, Northamptonshire
Encyclopedia
Broughton is a large village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 and civil parish in the borough of Kettering
Kettering (borough)
Kettering is a local government district and borough in Northamptonshire, England. It is named after its main town Kettering where the council is based. It borders onto the District of Harborough in the neighbouring county of Leicestershire, the Borough of Corby, the District of East...

, in Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Its population in 2001 was 2,047 people. The village is located around 2 miles (3 km) south-west of Kettering
Kettering
Kettering is a market town in the Borough of Kettering, Northamptonshire, England. It is situated about from London. Kettering is mainly situated on the west side of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene which meets at Wellingborough...

, next to the A43 road
A43 road
The A43 is a primary route in the English Midlands, that runs from the M40 motorway near Ardley in Oxfordshire to Stamford in Lincolnshire. Through Northamptonshire it bypasses the towns of Northampton, Kettering and Corby which are the three principal destinations on the A43 route...

 (it was bypassed in 1984).

Broughton has a long history, being referred to as "Burtone" in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

. The church (St. Andrew), which is mostly early 14th century, incorporates part of a (12th century) Norman aisleless church at the south-west angle, including the south doorway with colonettes, scallop capitals and zigzags. The village has some notable Jacobean houses

Further adding to its cosmopolitan image is its links to the former X factor superstar who owns a property in the village. It is thought that in Broughton the phrase "chico time" was invented.

An ancient ritual, which still exists in the village, is that of the "Tin Can Band". It is held annually in mid-December, when, at midnight, a group of people walk around the village making as much noise as possible by banging on tin-cans (anything from cans to pots and pans and metal dustbins), either to scare away evil spirits just before Christmas, or (less charitably) to drive out gypsies. Nowadays it's quite good-natured, but in the past there have been riotous scenes, especially in years when the authorities tried to prevent it happening.

Broughton currently has one pubs, The Red Lion, it used to also have The Sun but was closed down, a protest to keep the pub running was fought for via driving a tank to the Kettering council but no appeal has been won. It also has three shops, and used to have a post office, which is now part of one of the shops (Note: the old post office is still up for rent) . Many years ago, its had a cinema, two bakers and a butcher.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK