Brackley
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Brackley | |
  Brackley shown within Northamptonshire |
|
| Population | 13,331 (2001 Census) |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | |
| District | South Northamptonshire |
| Shire county | Northamptonshire |
| Region | East Midlands |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BRACKLEY |
| Postcode district | NN13 |
| Dialling code | 01280 |
| Police | Northamptonshire |
| Fire | Northamptonshire |
| Ambulance | East Midlands |
| European Parliament | East Midlands |
| UK Parliament | Daventry |
| List of places: UK • England • Northamptonshire | |
Brackley is a town in south Northamptonshire, England. In the 2001 census Brackley had a population of 13,331. Historically a market town based on the wool and lace trade, it was built on the intersecting trade routes from London to Birmingham (and the general north of England) and Cambridge to Oxford.
Notable villages nearby include Syresham, Biddlesden, and Hinton-in-the-Hedges.
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[edit] History
Brackley, originally also known as Brachelai or Brackele, was owned in 1086 by Earl Alberic. After this it passed to the Earl of Leicester, and to the families of De Quinci and Roland.[1]
The market day previously on a Sunday, was changed in 1218 to Wednesday.
In 1597 the town was incorporated by King James II. It had a mayor, 6 aldermen and 26 burgesses.
Over time it has been known as a wool and lace-making area.
In 1901 the population of the town was 2,467.
[edit] The Brackley Poor Law Union
Prior to 1834, the poor house in use by the area was in nearby Culworth, but in that year, the Brackley Poor Law Union came into effect.[2] A workhouse was built in 1836 to the south-west of the town, on the Banbury Road. It was built to accommodate 250. This workhouse was demolished in the 1930s.
[edit] Rumoured underground access
It has been a long-spun tale amongst Brackley's residents (but more precisely its students) that the town developed an underground passageway that connected the Eastern and Western ends. The most notable present day sites rumoured to be on its route include the excavated cavern on Manor Road (now an underground car park serving apartments above a supermarket) and St. Peter's Church in Old Town. Despite the appeal of the story, no actual proof of this secret tunnel exists.
[edit] Government
Brackley is governed by the Brackley Town Council.
[edit] Transportation
Brackley is close to the A43 road, which now bypasses the town, linking it to Towcester and Northampton to the east and the M40 motorway to the west. The A422 links it to Banbury.
The nearest railway station to Brackley is at Kings Sutton, about six miles away. Brackley once had two railway stations of its own, but both have since closed. The first, known in its latter years as Brackley Town, opened in May 1850 on a LNWR branch line from Verney Junction on the Oxford-Bletchley-Bedford-Cambridge line, to Banbury via Buckingham. The second was Brackley Central on the Great Central line, the last main line to be constructed from the north of England to London, opened in March 1899. The line through Brackley Town closed in January 1961, while the Great Central was axed by Beeching in September 1966. A very prominent feature of the latter was Brackley Viaduct, which spanned the Ouse valley just south east of the town. 255 yards in length, 62 feet high and containing 20 brick arches and two girder spans, it was demolished in sections in the spring and early summer of 1978. It is possible the viaduct may be rebuilt as passenger expansion increases in the near future and the tracks laid once again in the old cuttings of the Great Central Railway. The present A43 road runs across its site. Recent proposals were made to reconstruct one of these lines, but these were voted against by a vocal minority of the town's residents. A new vote was expected in late 2007 on this issue.[3]
The town has numerous bus services and is connected to major towns and cities such as Banbury ('499', '500'), Buckingham, Towcester, Oxford and Northampton ('X88', '88'). In 2001 the 'X38' Oxford-Northampton express service became the 'X6' with the introduction of the '88' to serve villages en route to Northampton (such as Towcester, Blisworth and Milton Malsor). In September 2007, Stagecoach's Oxford-Brackley-Towcester-Northampton services were reduced with the merging of the '88' and 'X6'.
[edit] Notable Buildings
Mar2006.jpg/234px-BrackleyTownHall(AndrewSmith)Mar2006.jpg)
Notable buildings in the town include Magdalen College School, founded by Magdalen College for its pupils to escape the great plague affecting Oxford in the 15th century. St John's chapel stands next to the original college buildings and is still in use today, making it the oldest building in Great Britain in continual use by a school.
There was once a castle at the western end of town, but no visible evidence of it remains. Brackley Castle was to be where King John and the barons signed Magna Carta, but this eventually occurred at Runnymede.
St Peter's church at the eastern end of the town boasts an impressive 11th century Norman doorway.
In the centre of town the market is held every Friday morning in the market square. Further up the high street is a large town park owned by the National Trust. The town centre underwent a number of improvements in 2006. The piazza was rebuilt in York stone.
Winchester House School is one of the most prestigious private schools in England for children aged from 3-13.
[edit] Industry
Brackley is close to the Silverstone racing track, and has some industry related to Formula One racing, notably Honda (formerly British American Racing) which is based in the town. Another Formula 1 team (Spyker F1) also uses a wind tunnel located in Brackley. On the east outskirts of the town is Bronnley, suppliers of hand-made soaps to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. Their products are bestowed with Royal Honours for Excellence.
[edit] Sports and leisure
The local rugby club is the Brackley Rugby Union Football Club.
The Brackley Athletic Football Club is a junior football club affiliated with the Northamptonshire Football Association. They play in three leagues - the under 7s - 10s are in the Milton Keynes & District Junior Sevens League, the Under 11s - 16s are in the Milton Keynes & Border Counties League and the girls team is in the Oxford Girls Football League.
Brackley Sports FC plays in the North Bucks League Premier Division.
Tennis facilities are available at the Brackley Tennis Club and Martial Arts training at the Brackley Freestyle Martial Arts Academy. The Brackley Leisure Centre and Swimming Pool and the Brackley Health Centre provide other local health-oriented facilities.
[edit] The Future
In early 2007, residents have witnessed a decline in the number of retail outlets in the Market Place, considered to be the hub of the town. The patient optimism created by the approval of the College Place development has been shattered by the continuous closures of stores and services along the High Street (West). The optimistic minority hold the belief that the development and ever-growing population has increased retail ground rent, sparking sales to larger chains.
Brackley's expansion possibilities are huge, but the town's potential - with locality to the major cities - is not being met by development or transport. No longer having the convenience of a train service, public transport commuters are forced to rely on buses. Links with Oxford, Northampton and Milton Keynes continue to decline steadily, with a further cut announced by Stagecoach in August 2007.
More recently, the towns larger Co-op store, situated behind the high street will be closing in June 2008, and will be making way for the towns first Waitrose store. Larger well known stores such as this will hopefully bring in more businesses to the area, which will take up retail outlets previously left closed.
[edit] Other Historic Info
Brackley
BRACKLEY, an incorporated market-town, a parish, and the head of a union, in the hundred of King'sSutton, S. division of the county of Northampton, 20 miles (S. W. by S.) from Northampton, and 64 (N. W. by W.) from London; containing 2121 inhabitants, of whom 887 are in the parish of St. James, and 1234 in that of St. Peter, which includes the hamlet of Halse. This place derives its name from the Anglo-Saxon Bracken, signifying fern, with which the neighbourhood formerly abounded: it was a Saxon burgh of considerable importance, but was greatly injured by the Danes. In the reign of John, Saher de Quincy, Earl of Winchester, joined the confederate barons at Stamford, and marched with them to Brackley, whence they sent a remonstrance setting forth their grievances to the king, who was then at Oxford. In the reign of Henry III. two splendid tournaments were held on a plain called Bayard's Green, near the town. Edward II., who conferred many privileges upon Brackley, made it a staple town for wool; and in the reign of Edward III., having become famous for its trade, it sent three representatives, as "Merchant Staplers," to a grand council held at Westminster. In the time of Henry VIII., the plague raging violently at Oxford, the fellows and scholars of Magdalen College removed to this town, and resided in an hospital founded by Robert le Bossu, Earl of Leicester, about the middle of the twelfth century, and of which there are considerable remains; the chapel, with a broad low tower on the north-west side, being still entire.
Seal and Arms. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/image-thumb.aspx?compid=50818&pubid=445&filename=fig43.gif
The town, which was formerly of much greater extent, is on the border of Buckinghamshire, and is situated on the declivity of a hill, near a branch of the river Ouse, whose source is in the immediate vicinity: it is divided into two portions, New and Old; the latter, which is the smaller, is without the limits of the borough. The principal street, nearly a mile in length, extends from the bridge up the acclivity of the hill, and contains many good houses, mostly built of stone; there is an abundant supply of water. The inhabitants are chiefly occupied in the making of bobbin-lace, and boots and shoes. The market is on Wednesday; the fairs are principally for horses, horned-cattle, and sheep, and are on the Wednesday after Feb. 25th, the second Wednesday in April, the Wednesday after June 22nd, the Wednesday after Oct. 11th (a statute-fair), and Dec. 11th, which is a great fair for cattle and wearing-apparel. The inhabitants are supposed to have received their first charter of incorporation in the reign of Edward II., and subsequent charters were granted in the 2nd and 4th of James II., by which the government is vested in a mayor, six aldermen, and twenty-six burgesses. The elective franchise was conferred in the 1st of Edward VI., the borough from that time returned two members to parliament, but was disfranchised by the 2nd of William IV., cap. 45. The powers of the county debt-court of Brackley, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Brackley. The town-hall, a handsome building in the centre of the town, supported on arches, under which the market is held, was erected in 1706, by Scroop, Duke of Bridgewater, at a cost of £2000.
Brackley comprises the parishes of St. Peter and St. James, which, though ecclesiastically united, are distinct as regards civil affairs; the former consists of 3716 acres, and the latter of 430a. 3r. 36p. The living is a consolidated vicarage, valued in the king's books at £19. 1. 6.; net income, £359; patron, the Earl of Ellesmere. Under an inclosure act, in 1829, land and a money payment were assigned in lieu of tithes; and under the recent act, impropriate tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £167. 10., and vicarial for one of £238. 6. 10. The church of St. Peter is an ancient building, with a low embattled tower, and contains a Norman font of curious design: St. James', formerly a parochial church, is now a chapel of ease. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. The free grammar school was founded about the year 1447, by William of Wainfleet, who endowed it for ten boys, with £13. 6. 8. per annum, which sum is paid by the society of Magdalen College, Oxford, to whom the site of the ancient hospital was granted at the time of its dissolution. A national school is supported by subscription; and a school-house, of Bath stone, for an infants' school, has been built by the Earl of Ellesmere, at a cost of £400. Almshouses for six aged widows were founded by Sir Thomas Crewe, in 1633, and endowed with a rent-charge of £24, which was increased, in 1721, by his descendant, Lord Crewe, Bishop of Durham, to £36. The poor law union of Brackley comprises 30 parishes or places, of which 25 are in the county of Northampton, 3 in that of Buckingham, and 2 in that of Oxford; and contains a population of 13,508. The site of a castle built by one of the Norman barons, is still called the Castle Hill. Samuel Clarke, an eminent orientalist, and one of the coadjutors of Walton in publishing the Polyglot Bible, was born here, in 1623; and Dr. Bathurst, Bishop of Norwich, who died in 1837, was also a native. Brackley gives the title of Viscount to the Earl of Ellesmere. --Davethegeek (talk) 10:54, 28 May 2008 (UTC)
[edit] References
- ^ Online 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica entry for Brackley
- ^ Brackley Poor Law Union and Workhouse 1835 onwards
- ^ Record of Brackley's disused train station
[edit] External links
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- Music and Dance
- Community and Business
- Churches, schools and other local information for Brackley
- Brackley Rotary Club
- Brackley and District Round Table 1037
- Brackley Business Information from Northamptonshire Chamber
Brackley is boring.Very boring indeed.Especially if you're under 90 years of age.That's Brackley for ya.
