Place:Ecton, Northamptonshire, England

Watchers
NameEcton
TypeAncient parish, Civil parish
Coordinates52.265°N 0.787°W
Located inNorthamptonshire, England
See alsoHamfordshoe Hundred, Northamptonshire, Englandhundred in which it was located
Wellingborough Rural, Northamptonshire, Englandrural district 1894-1974
Wellingborough District, Northamptonshire, Englanddistrict municipality 1974-2021
North Northamptonshire, Northamptonshire, Englandunitary authority covering the area since April 2021
the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Ecton is a village and civil parish now in the unitary authority of North Northamptonshire. From 1974 until April 2021 it was part of the East Northamptonshire District of Northamptonshire, England. The village is just east of Northampton, just off the A4500 road. The parish is to the west of Earls Barton. The 2011 UK census recorded 466 people living in the parish.

Ecton is a place of pilgrimage for many Americans. Benjamin Franklin's ancestors lived here for over 300 years, many generations of them being the village blacksmiths. There are still headstones for members of the Franklin family in the village churchyard.

Ecton is served by the A4500 which runs east-west past the north end of the village. The road connects Ecton to Northampton and Wellingborough, as well as a number of other villages. To the south of the village is the A45 major road. There are no public transport services that run through the village itself, although a bus company provides regular bus services that stop on the A4500.

The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary Magdalene is just off the High Street. It dates from the 13th century. Graves of the Sotheby family of Ecton Hall and the Franklin family are in the churchyard. The church is in the Diocese of Peterborough.

The village has also been home to many different trades, including a baker, blacksmith, tailor and a bell founder, but none of these survive.

The Victoria County History for Northamptonshire has an article for Ecton in Volume 4, pp 122-127.

Research Tips

A Vision of Britain through Time

A Vision of Britain through Time describes parishes and former parishes from a gazetteer of 1871; provides an outline of the historic administration links for parishes. The OS map of 1900, the OS map of 1935, and the OS map of 1965 all show parish boundaries and settlements within parishes. These maps are all expandable to show individual parishes and are useful for inspecting changes occuring over the 20th century.

Archive Centres

  • Northamptonshire Archives is located at Wootton Hall Park, Northampton, NN4 8BQ, Telephone from the UK: 01604 767562 (from overseas replace the "01" with "44"). The website gives opening times and facilities available.
  • Northampton Central Library, Abington Street, Northampton, NN1 2BA (Telephone from the UK: 01604 26771 (from overseas replace the "01" with "44").

Northamptonshire Family History Society

The NFHS website describes the activities of the society. The Society is presently transcribing the deposited Marriage Registers for the period 1754 through 1837. These transcriptions may provide more details than can be found on other databases where subscriptions are charged.

GENUKI

The main GENUKI page for Northamptonshire lists a number of topics for research.

Victoria County History

  • the Victoria County History of Northamptonshire produced online by British History Online (founded by the Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust in 2003) contains only some of the Hundreds of Northamptonshire in its collection. Articles that do exist will be referenced under the relevant hundred and parish.

Online Databases

FindMyPast includes (list checked July 2018)

  • Northamptonshire Parish Records (Baptisms, Marriages, Burials, and Probate Index)
  • Northamptonshire Freeholders 1795-1797
  • Northamptonshire Hearth Tax, 1674
  • Northamptonshire Military Tribunals 1916-1918
  • Northamptonshire Militia Lists 1771
  • Northamptonshire, Northampton General Hospital Admissions 1774-1846

While Ancestry offers (list checked July 2018)

  • Census & Voter Lists 1841-1911.
  • Northamptonshire Birth, Marriage & Death
  • Northamptonshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1532-1812
  • Northamptonshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1912
  • Northamptonshire, England, Church of England Marriages, 1754-1912
  • Northamptonshire, England, Church of England Burials, 1813-1912
  • Other Birth, Marriage & Death collections related to Northamptonshire. (32)
  • Northamptonshire, England, Church of England Confirmations, 1870-1911
  • Other Schools, Directories & Church Histories collections related to Northamptonshire. (34)
  • A calendar of wills relating to the counties of Northampton and Rutland : proved in the court of the archdeacon of Northampton
  • Other Wills, Probates, Land, Tax & Criminal collections related to Northamptonshire. (23)
  • Reference, Dictionaries & Almanacs collections related to Northamptonshire. (21)
  • Maps, Atlases & Gazetteers collections related to Northamptonshire. (7)
  • Northamptonshire Stories, Memories & Histories
Genealogy of the descendants of Thomas French: who came to America from Nether Heyford, Northamptonshire, England and settled
Works of Reverend James Hervey, 1713-1758
The Orlebar Chronicles in Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire, 1553-1733, or the Children of the Manorhouse
Descendents of Thomas Chichele of Higham-Ferrers, Northampton, England
Rockingham Castle and the Watsons
Other Northamptonshire Stories, Memories & Histories (14)

FamilySearch also has an extensive database online. It is free, but may not always provide the original images provided by the services one pays for.

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Ecton, Northamptonshire. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.