Twywell is a village and civil parish

Civil parish

In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 in the English

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...

 county of 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,...

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Located just to the north of the A14 road approximately three miles west of Thrapston

Thrapston

Thrapston is a small town in Northamptonshire, England. It is the headquarters of the East Northamptonshire district, and in 2001 had a population of 4,855. By 2006, this was estimated to be over 5,700....

, Twywell forms part of the district of East Northamptonshire

East Northamptonshire

East Northamptonshire is a local government district in Northamptonshire, England. Its council is based in Thrapston and Rushden, which is the largest town in the area...

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History

Twywell is recorded 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...

 as Twowelle but can be dated back to the Iron Age. It is likely that this manor was given to Northman miles ("Northman the knight") in 1013 by King Æthelred II. This Northman is thought to be Northman, son of Leofwine

Northman, son of Leofwine

Northman was a Mercian chieftain of the early 11th century. A member of a powerful Mercian kindred, he is known primarily for receiving Twywell in Northamptonshire from King Æthelred II in 1013 and his death at the hands of King Cnut the Great in 1017...

 This charter was preserved in the archives of Thorney Abbey

Thorney Abbey

Thorney Abbey was on the island of Thorney in The Fens of Cambridgeshire, England.- History :The earliest documentary sources refer to a mid-7th century hermitage destroyed by a Viking incursion in the late 9th century. A Benedictine monastery was founded in the 970s, and a huge rebuilding...

, which in the 1050s was one of the abbeys controlled by Northman's relation Abbot Leofric of Peterborough.

The Manor House Farm dates from 1591 and some of the building material is thought to have come from an old monastery situated between Slipton

Slipton

Slipton is a hamlet in the East Northamptonshire civil parish of Lowick....

 and Sudborough

Sudborough

Sudborough is a village and civil parish in East Northamptonshire. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish's population was 189 people.Sudborough is bypassed by the A6116 road and is in the boundaries of the ancient Rockingham Forest; its nearest town is Thrapston, to its south-east.- External...

 at a site known as 'Money Holes'.

Twywell was the birthplace of the bluestocking

Bluestocking

A bluestocking is an educated, intellectual woman. Until the late 18th century, the term had referred to learned people of both sexes. However it subsequently was applied primarily to intellectual women, and the French equivalent bas bleu had a similar connotation. The term later developed...

 writer Hester Chapone

Hester Chapone

Hester Chapone , writer of conduct books for women, was born on 27 October 1727 at Twywell, Northamptonshire,The daughter of Thomas Mulso , a gentleman farmer, and his wife , a daughter of Colonel Thomas, Hester wrote a romance at the age of nine, 'The Loves of Amoret and Melissa', which earned...

, née Mulso, whose conduct book

Conduct book

Conduct books are a genre of books that attempt to educate the reader on social norms. As a genre, they began in the mid-to-late Middle Ages, although antecedents such as The Maxims of Ptahhotep are among the earliest surviving works...

 Letters on the Improvement of the Mind (1773), addressed to a 15-year-old niece, remained influential and regularly reprinted for over fifty years.

Modern Twywell

The village is centred along the High Street and The Green and there are nine buildings of special architectural or historic interest in the parish.

The 1991 population was 179 with 87 residences.
There was a butcher, an off-licence and a public house. It is visited by a greengrocer and library

Bookmobile

A bookmobile or mobile library is a large vehicle designed for use as a library. It is designed to hold books on shelves so that when the vehicle is parked the books can be accessed by readers. It usually has enough space for people to sit and read books inside. Mobile libraries are often used to...

. A bus service operates to Thrapston and 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...

.

Twywell Hills and Dales

Twywell Hills and Dales

Twywell Hills and Dales is a country park in East Northamptonshire, England. It is situated on the site of a former quarry in Rockingham Forest. Since quarrying ended in 1948, it has been managed by The Wildlife Trusts....

 Country Park is nearby and provides attractive countryside walks. Twywell Plantation, a wood belonging to the Woodland Trust

Woodland Trust

The Woodland Trust is a conservation charity in the United Kingdom concerned with the protection and sympathetic management of native woodland heritage.-History:...

is to the south and west of the village.