Finedon is a
civil parishIn England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and in some places the lowest tier of local government, below districts and counties. A civil parish can alternatively be known as a town, village, neighbourhood or community by resolution of its parish council; and in a limited number of...
and village in
WellingboroughWellingborough is a local government district and borough in Northamptonshire, England. It is named after Wellingborough, its main town, but also includes surrounding rural areas....
,
NorthamptonshireNorthamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census...
, with a population at the 2001 census of 4,188. It is
twinnedTwinning may refer to:* In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring at a time, or having a tendency to do so;* Town twinning* Twinning institutional building tool...
with
WittlichWittlich is the capital of the district Bernkastel-Wittlich, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. In 2005 it had about 19,000 inhabitants. It is situated on the river Lieser, about 30 km northeast of Trier.Wittlich is twinned with Wellingborough, England....
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
and
NiortNiort is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department in western France.The Latin name of the city was Novioritum.The population of Niort is 60,486 and more than 125,000 people live in the urban area....
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
.
In 1086 when the
Domesday BookThe Domesday Book is the record of the great survey of England completed in 1086, executed for William I of England, or William the Conqueror...
was completed, Finedon was a large royal manor, previously held by
Queen EdithEdith of Wessex, , married King Edward the Confessor of England in 1045. The marriage produced no children. Later ecclesiastical writers claimed that this was either because Edward took a vow of celibacy, or because he refused to consummate the marriage because of his antipathy to Edith's family,...
. At this time the village was known as Tingdene, which may originate from the Danish word
TingA thing or ting was the governing assembly in Germanic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers, meeting in a place called a thingstead...
meaning assembly, together with the Saxon
Dene for valley or
valeIn geography, a vale is a wide river valley, usually with a particularly wide flood plain or flat valley bottom. Vales commonly occur between the escarpment slopes of pairs of chalk downs, where the chalk dome has been eroded, exposing less resistant underlying rock, usually clay.- List of vales...
. Tingdene and the later version, Thingdon, were used until the early nineteenth century until finally Finedon became the commonly accepted version, both in written format as well as in pronunciation. (Bailey, 1975)
The importance of Finedon at the time of the
Domesday BookThe Domesday Book is the record of the great survey of England completed in 1086, executed for William I of England, or William the Conqueror...
is clear, as with a population of 102 it was one of only four towns listed with a population greater than 50 in
NorthamptonshireNorthamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census...
- the others being
NorthamptonNorthampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. It is about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, and lies on the River Nene...
,
BrackleyBrackley is a town in south Northamptonshire, England. Historically a market town based on the wool and lace trade, it was built on the intersecting trade routes from London to Birmingham and Cambridge to Oxford....
, and
RushtonRushton is a small village in Northamptonshire. It is north-east of Rothwell. The village has a primary school with a current roll of seventy-two pupils and a pub opposite the village cricket pitch....
.
The
Bell Inn also claims to be listed in the Domesday Book, but the current building does not date back to this period, and there is evidence that the site of the original inn was situated several hundred metres away. However the main building was built around 1598, with the current imposing
façadeA facade or façade is generally one side of the exterior of a building, especially the front, but also sometimes the sides and rear. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
added in 1872.
The Parish Church, St Mary's, is a magnificent mid-fourteenth century church with an
aisleAn aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of seats on either side or with rows of seats on one side and a wall on the other. Aisles can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings such as churches, Cathedrals...
d and
cloisterthumb|250px|right|Cloister of Saint Trophimus, in [[Arles]], [[France]]thumb|250px|right|Cloister of [[Abbaye de Fontenay]], in [[Marmagne]], [[France]]...
ed
naveIn Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
of four bays. The tower houses a ring of eight bells in the key of D with the tenor weighing just over 21
hundredweightCentum weight or hundredweight is a unit of mass with two definitions: the Imperial hundredweight, equal to 51 kilograms, and the U.S...
(about 1.1 tonnes). http://www.finedon-bellringers.org.uk[ The church also boasts an impressive
organThe organ is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet...
which originated from the
Chapel RoyalA Chapel Royal is a department of the Ecclesiastical Household of the monarch in right of either Canada or the United Kingdom, formally known as the royal Free Chapel of the Household...
in London. It was installed in 1717 and rebuilt in 1872 and retains its
tracker actionTracker action is a term used in reference to pipe organs and steam calliopes to indicate a mechanical linkage between keys or pedals pressed by the organist and the valve that allows air to flow into pipe of the corresponding note...
. Popular legend has it that
HandelHANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
played on the organ whilst it was situated in London, but this has never been decisively proved.
Finedon hides away many fascinating buildings which many residents of the town are unaware of. Possibly Finedon's most historical building was
the Volta TowerThe Volta Tower was a folly in the town of Finedon, Northamptonshire, England.The tower was built in 1865 by William Mackworth-Dolben of Finedon Hall....
built in 1865 by Mr Mackworth Dolben. This sadly collapsed in 1951 due to not being constructed with any mortar but the legendary building was a local landmark when it stood.
Finedon is linked to the
BoroughA borough is an administrative division of various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely....
of
WellingboroughWellingborough is a town in Northamptonshire, England situated some eleven miles from the county town of Northampton and eight miles south of Kettering. It dates from the 6th century and is mentioned in the Domesday Book under the name of Wendelburie, and was granted a royal market charter in 1201....
, although many of the inhabitants are anxious to assert Finedon's distinct identity and not be assimilated into the larger town.
Finedon has a small country park which is officially called
Finedon Pocket Park. The local name for the park area (
The Pits) is derived from its historical use as an
ironstoneIronstone is a fine-grained, heavy and compact sedimentary rock. Its main components are the carbonate or oxide of iron, clay and/or sand. It can be thought of as a concretionary form of siderite. Ironstone also contains clay, and sometimes calcite and quartz.-Appearance:Freshly cleaved ironstone...
quarryA quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel...
.
Nearby communities include
IrthlingboroughIrthlingborough, originally called Artleborough , is a small town on the River Nene in Northamptonshire, England with a population of around 9,000 people. It is the smallest town in England to have possessed a league association football team, Rushden & Diamonds F.C..-Landmarks:The parish , St...
,
Burton LatimerBurton Latimer is a town in Northamptonshire, England, with a population in 2001 of 6,740. It is just south of the junction of the A6 and A14 in the borough of Kettering. The two-mile A6 bypass opened in October 1991.-History:...
and
Little HarrowdenLittle Harrowden is a village in Northamptonshire nearly three miles north-west of Wellingborough, off the A509. The village is one of the longest and narrowest parishes in Northamptonshire and is built around the Church of St Mary the Virgin, which dates back to circa 1190...
.
Ordnance SurveyOrdnance Survey is an executive agency of the United Kingdom government. It is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, and one of the world's largest producers of maps...
Grid Reference: SP914722
People from Finedon
- The poet Digby Mackworth Dolben
Digby Augustus Stewart Mackworth Dolben was an English poet who died young from drowning. He owes his poetic reputation to his cousin, Robert Bridges, poet laureate from 1913 to 1930, who edited a partial edition of his verse, Poems, in 1911.He was born in Guernsey, and brought up at Finedon Hall...
was brought up at Finedon Hall.
- Arthur Henfrey
Arthur George Henfrey was an English footballer who made five appearances for England between 1891 and 1896 playing initially as a forward and later as a half back...
(1867-1929) Cambridge University, Corinthians and England footballer, was born and died in Finedon.
- Parents of snooker player, Peter Ebdon
Peter "Ebbo" Ebdon is an English professional snooker player and former world champion renowned for his remarkably focused, determined style of play.-Career:...
, live in Finedon.
External links