The village was first mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086) as Edonne, possibly meaning "heather-covered hill";[1] the prefix East was added in later years to distinguish it from the nearby village of West Haddon.[2] The oldest building in the village is St Mary's Church, parts of which date from the 12th century. East Haddon Hall was built in the 18th century. The village has many thatched cottages built in the local Northampton Sand ironstone.
At the time of the 2011 census, the parish's population was 643 people,[3] down from 651 at the 2001 census.[4]
Geography
East Haddon lies approximately midway between the towns of Northampton and Daventry, with each town being around 8 miles to the east and west of the village respectively. East Haddon is close to Althorp, the stately home and estate of the Spencer family, and surrounded by the villages of Ravensthorpe to the north, Holdenby to the east, Great Brington to the south, and Long Buckby to the west.
The parish covers c. 1080 hectares and lies between two east flowing streams between 180m and 90m above sea level.[5] Most of the lower ground is Upper Lias Clay but the main east to west ridge across the centre of the parish is Northampton Sand overlaid by patches of Boulder Clay and glacial sands and gravels.[5] The village falls within the Northamptonshire Uplands, a national character area, and possesses many typical characteristics of the area.
East Haddon has been home to Haddonstone, a stone supplier, since 1971.[6] The show gardens in the village are on the site of the company's head offices,[7] and have been featured in books by gardening writers Peter Coates[8] and Timothy Mowl.[9] The gardens are maintained throughout the year and contain garden ornament and cast stone architecture products sold by the company.[7] The gardens are also open for the National Garden Scheme, and raised over £1,000 in May 2012.[10]
In 2015, Grovelands Business Park was established to the west of the village from the ruins of old agricultural buildings. The site provides office facilities to several local businesses. A solar farm was added in 2024. There are plans afoot to build additional office space, a cafe and a gymnasium at the site.[11]
Education
East Haddon Primary School
The East Haddon CEVC Primary School is the only school in the village; the original classroom was built in 1790 when the school was founded.[1]
It was extended in the mid-19th century and further enlarged in 1904.[1] It was originally a boys school, with a separate girls school being situated at the top of Ravensthorpe Road.[1]
In 2020, the primary school was rated Outstanding by Ofsted. The village falls within the catchment area of the Guilsborough Academy.[12]
Recreation
East Haddon's relatively small population of around 600 people maintains a tennis club, a gardening club, a history society, a couple of successful cricket teams and three book clubs. A popular bridge group meet in the village hall weekly and the village hall is the venue for regular quiz nights and celebratory events. The village running club has about 35 members[13] and has been affiliated since 2002.[14] A book of village history was published at the same time.[citation needed]
Notable buildings
St Mary's Church, East Haddon
The oldest building in the village is St Mary's Church, parts of which date from the 12th century, but it was mostly rebuilt in the 14th century.[1] The font is one of the oldest parts of the church,[1] and its bells were installed in 1621 with a fifth added in 1731.[15] The first ever recorded peal on five bells was rung on New Year's Day 1756, lasting over three hours with 5,040 changes.[16] The nearby Vicarage on Vicarage Lane was built by Reverend Locock in 1856, which is a stone building in the Gothic style.[1] It is rumoured that a tunnel connects the Vicarage with the Manor on Main Street, which itself dates back to the early 1600s.[1] The Old Chapel on Holdenby Road was built much later in 1811.[1]
Thatched cottages on Main Street
There are a number of thatched stone cottages within the village, many of which were built with local stone believed to have come from the demolished palace at Holdenby House and others from cob.[1] Well and Deene Cottages are believed to be the oldest cottages in the village, dating back to either the 15th or early 16th century.[1]Historic England-listed cottages include Thatched House on Main Street,[17] and Gardeners House (formerly within East Haddon Hall grounds) on Ravensthorpe Road, which both date back to the 17th century.[18] The Old House, Walcott House, Hall Farmhouse and Hall Farm Cottage on Main Street are also all listed stone buildings and date back to the 18th century.[19][20][21][22]
The historical thatched water pump dates back to 1550
A key feature of the village is the old thatched water pump which was constructed in 1550 and in use until the 1920s.[1] During the First World War, a lorry hit the pump and knocked the top off, but this was restored with the use of a crane.[1] In 1890, a stone water tower was built in the gardens of the old post office (now a show garden by Haddonstone); it used to supply the village before the arrival of mains water.[1] Haddonstone also occupies the Forge House on Church Lane, which is listed and dates back to the 17th century.[23] The old fire station on Main Street was built in 1865, but it was closed in 1945 and is now a bus shelter.[1]
The gates and old stable block to East Haddon Hall
East Haddon Hall is a Grade I listed building and was built in 1780 for the Sawbridge family by John Wagstaff, a builder from Daventry.[24] It was built to a design by John Johnson of Leicester.[25] The house was originally set in gardens laid out by garden designers Gertrude Jekyll and Edwin Lutyens in 1897, of which only fragments of the formal rose gardens and a sundial remain.[26][27] The Hall Flats, an old sandstone building to the south of the hall, has a 1663 date stone and were part of the old stable block to the hall.[1][28]
The Red Lion Inn can be traced back to 1765,[1] although the present building was previously used as an off license while the inn was in what is now Hall Farm to the west of the premises.[1] The Red Lion has been in its present home since the early 20th century,[1] where it continues to trade as a pub, restaurant and hotel under the Wells & Co company. The Red Lion Cottage within the grounds is listed and was built in 1695.[29]
Transport
East Haddon is served by the main A428 road, which passes the southern edge of the village. Further afield, junctions 16 and 18 of the M1 motorway are approximately 8 miles from the village. Junction 1 of the A14 road is also 8 miles north of the village which provides connections eastwards and westwards.
Regular Stagecoach Midlands bus services connect East Haddon to Northampton, Long Buckby, West Haddon, Crick and Rugby.
There is a network of footpaths which connect the village up with neighbouring villages as well as two long-distance footpaths, Macmillan Way and Via Beata, which both skirt the eastern side of the parish.
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References
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