Ravensthorpe, Northamptonshire
Historical Description
Ravensthorpe, a village and a parish in Northamptonshire. The village stands 3 miles N of Althorp Park station on the Northampton and Rugby section of the L. & N.W.R., and 8 NE of Daventry, and has a post office under Northampton; money order and telegraph office, East Haddon. Acreage of the civil parish, 1497; population, 352; of the ecclesiastical, 518. There is a parish council consisting of seven members and a chairman. The manor belongs to Lord Willoughby de Broke. The Teeton Reservoir, which belongs to the corporation of Northampton, has an area of 183 acres. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Peterborough; gross value, £200 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Peterborough. The church is a building of stone in the Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, S porch, and an embattled western tower, and has pews of 15th-century date. There are 33 acres of land for the benefit of " the honest and industrious poor," and a Baptist chapel.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Northamptonshire | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Ravensthorpe St. Denis | |
Hundred | Guilsborough | |
Poor Law union | Brixworth |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register of baptisms dates from the year 1551; marriages and burials, 1539.
Ancestry.co.uk, in association with the Northamptonshire Record Office, have images of the Parish Registers and Bishop's Transcripts for Northamptonshire online.
Churches
Church of England
St. Dionysius (parish church)
The church of St. Dionysius is a building of stone in the Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel, clerestoried nave, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower with small pinnacles, containing a clock and 5 bells, one of which was recast in the year 1887 at a cost of £30, given by the Rev. Robert N. L. Featherston B.A. late vicar (1884-94), and his wife: in the south aisle, which retains a Decorated piscina, are the remains of a rood-loft door: the chancel was rebuilt in 1808, at the expense of Mrs. Bateman, of Guilsborough, but on a smaller scale than before, and in an inferior style; in 1866 it was again rebuilt in the Decorated style: in the south aisle is a large and curious chest, covered with thin plates of iron, crossing at right angles, in which were found portions of a breast-plate and gauntlets, now hung in the vestry: the pulpit bears the date April 23rd, 1619: some good original benches remain, with square traceried ends.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Ravensthorpe from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Ravensthorpe (St. Denis))
- Kelly's Directory of Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Northamptonshire, 1914
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Northamptonshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Ravensthorpe are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Northamptonshire papers online: