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Irthlingborough is a small town on the River Nene in Northamptonshire, England. It had a population of 8,535 at the 2011 UK census. The parish is now in the unitary authority of North Northamptonshire. From 1974 until April 2021 it was part of the East Northamptonshire District of Northamptonshire, England. It was an urban district from 1894 until 1974. The parish church, St Peter, has a lantern tower, unusual for Northamptonshire churches, which was built to guide travellers across the Nene valley in foggy weather. It also has doors at the four cardinal points and has eight misericords in the chancel. The A6 major road used to pass through the town, but was bypassed to the north in the 1930s. The former route is now named the B5348. Irthlingborough Viaduct was built in 1936 because the foundations of the old 13th century bridge were too unstable for motor traffic. It connects the town to Higham Ferrers and the busy A45. The A45 (former A605) is a more dependable road than the A6, being less twisty and with fewer tractors in the traffic. [edit] History and IndustryIn 1375 John Pyel, the mayor of London in 1372 and believed to have been born at Irthlingborough circa 1310, obtained a royal licence to found the college of St. Peter, Irthlingborough, by upgrading the parish church of St Peter. The college was to have six secular canons, one a dean, and four clerks, but he died before his intention was actually carried out. The design was eventually accomplished by his widow, Joan, in 1388. In the past, ironstone was mined near Irthlingborough, and as part of the local ironstone mine, a tunnel was bored between Irthlingborough and nearby Finedon. The tunnel still exists, but the Irthlingborough end has been landscaped over, and the Finedon end sealed with concrete. Irthlingborough railway station closed in 1964 to passengers. Iron ore was mined at Irthlingborough from 1918. The mine was owned and operated by Richard Thomas & Baldwin’s Ltd., the ore being sent to RTB’s Redbourne steelworks in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire. The ore was extracted from a system of underground tunnels approximately 80-100ft below the surface. The mine was closed down as no longer economic on 30th September 1965. More recently, the River Nene floodplains between the town and its neighbour, Higham Ferrers, have been quarried for gravel. Quarrying in the area was extensive, stretching to Northampton in the west (upstream) and Thorpe Waterville in the north-northeast (downstream). The quarries were later left to fill with water to produce artificial lakes. Other 20th and 21st century industries include Whitworths, a company making home baking and snack products, has been based in the town since 1886 and currently employs 310 people. Sonifex, a manufacturer of radio broadcast products, has its research and manufacturing base in the town since its beginning in 1969. Dr. Martens, the shoe- and boot-making company, has a long history with the town but production moved to China in 2003. The Victoria County History for Northamptonshire has an article for Irthlingborough in Volume 3, pp 127-129. [edit] Research Tips[edit] A Vision of Britain through TimeA 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. [edit] Archive Centres
[edit] Northamptonshire Family History SocietyThe 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. [edit] GENUKIThe main GENUKI page for Northamptonshire lists a number of topics for research. [edit] Victoria County History
[edit] Online DatabasesFindMyPast includes (list checked July 2018)
While Ancestry offers (list checked July 2018)
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