Ringstead History.Ringstead school.Ringstead Heritage Center.

A Look into Ringstead History

The aim of the new Ringstead Heritage Group, which formed in September 2014, is to research, gather and record information about the history of the village and make it available to anyone interested.I began building this website in July 2014 and because I was born in the village and went to the school there I still have a deep connection & passion for the place i grew up even though i live in Kettering now,there is so much history lays in the village and so much more to bring out ,every week i find new interesting finds and add them to this site.
If you have stories or photographs from the village and think they would be of interest to this site please contact me on this email address-ringsteadheritage@gmail.com
This website is dedicated to the people of Ringstead.

Heritage group members below. - 07736049971 is my contact number.

John Abbott-Chairman & Researcher
Roger Kinsey-secretary
Bob & Jane Linnet-Archivist
Guy Slack-parish council
Simon Conway-Treasurer

Heritage Centre opening times TBA for 2020


Below shows  Cotton mill memorial stone close to the River where Ringstead mills once stood ..Producing paper one side of the mill and bone crushing the other side... In 1814 this watermill supplied paper to Jane Austen.....more details on this site.

Above- Helen Norman-Jon Abbott-Lucy Derby-Jane Linnell-Janice Morris-Helen Aird-Roger Kinsey

Our second Event In 2015 down the village hall and couldn't of asked for more,even Bbc Radio Northants turned up.

The 3 Mills walk leaflet-please pick up at Willy Watt mill

Ringstead Heritage Center open's 15-07-2018-Station road Ringstead

How the Heritage center started was when I enquired to the tenant of the Station road Chapel way back in 2013 about using the Chapel as a Heritage center, at the time it was just used once possibly twice in a year for a service.It must be added inside the chapel wasn't a pretty site.
Abbotts the Funeral director's must of had some thought on my Idea and finally after a little more persuasion they handed over the lease back to Ringstead Parish council.which then after a vote the group were given the keys in July 2018 to use as a Heritage center.-JA

Shop Street Old postcard.
1910- postcard of Mr Sydney John Bull the draper standing outside his shop on the right.The old post office can be seen on the left whilst horse & cart is coming into view up shop street.

Steve and Kristie Tuttle
Mary and Mike Perushek
The 2019 Tuttles Family Visit.

The Tuttle family from Minnesota USA arrived at Ringstead on 19th July 2019, their aim was to see where their ancestors grew up and lived before their perilous journey in 1635 to Boston USA on their ship voyage on the "Planter".
A gentle car ride from Wellingborough railway station through and onwards to Ringstead village taking in the sights of The Waterloo roundhouse monument then passing by the grand historical Woodford house where the Duke of Wellington stayed on many occasions then onward to Ringstead where a slow wander walking down the High street where the Tuttle residents in the 1600's would have walked the very same footsteps as on the day of the visit.
A relaxing but exciting visit to St Marys Church taking in the beautiful 12th Century Church building architecture with lots of photo's to cherish from their visit. A Browse through the headstones at the rear of the church didn't give away any clues to any of their Ancestors names just thoughts of who of their long-ago family lay where and what spot they lay hidden under many of the weather-beaten headstones face. Just being around the headstones must have posed many questions in their heads.
From the Church to the Beautiful Tithe farm cottage to see where it all started where a past family Tuttle member once lived with a family photoshoot again took place.
Then on down to the Heritage centre to see a little more up to date Ringstead history but a couple of the Heritage group had a surprise waiting for the Tuttle family, a prepared Tuttle history stand explaining how the Village Gift all came about involving members of the long-ago Tuttles. A moving moment, even from me, and much appreciation from the kind Americans. They simply adored their surprise!
Lastly, the history tour ended at Willy Watt mill tea room for a refreshing very pleasant breakfast & tea, even the Mill was in place in the 15th century when their descendants were living close by and a very good chance that the long-ago farming Tuttle family would have exchanged or dealt with corn to be turned into flour.
So historically the Yeoman Tuttle family of the past made their mark on the village before their journey to Boston took place and now 400 years later they return to our wonderful Ringstead Hamlet if only for a couple of hours. Mission accomplished perfectly and a day they will never ever forget they all remarked.

William Tuttle from Ringstead has a connection with New York. Without too much detail, he and another led an expedition to extend the colony of New Haven. At the time the Dutch were settled in New Amsterdam (New York) on Long Island. The English colonies and the Dutch had some sort of treaty that caused the expedition to presume their journey could be made in peace. Tuttle and a fellow named Crayne, working on this peaceful presumption, landed on Long Island with papers informing the Dutch governor of their intentions to seek new land, more as an act of courtesy than anything else. The governor proceeded to arrest them and a few others. After some negotiation they were released but not before the governor took their goods and warned of battle if they were caught coming that way again. There is record of their complaint in court, seeking retribution and complaining that they lost much of there own money in the expedition. Nothing really came of it and Tuttle and Crayne lived the rest of their lives in New Haven. The Dutch settlement on Long Island was fortified with a large wall. Today that street is Wall Street. So in a sense the first person to lose money on Wall Street was a Tuttle from Ringstead!
Rich Tuttle.

Ringstead 1885-1900 OS map

OS Map of 1900 land owners

Boundary map of 1557

Romans in Ringstead

"The name “Ringstead” or "Ryngestead" is more than likely derived from the Round field, one of our ancient parish fields;the anglo saxon”h ring”,meaning a circular place with the present church street and high street built in a long circular or oblong fashion.

Ringsteads oldest building is the 13th century church of St Mary, The Baptist chapel has had a church Church since 1714 although the present chapel was built in 1848 and previous to this there was a black smiths shop on this site.
There is also a possibility that the inhabitants of the lost hamlets of the Cottons up rooted and moved more inland to form Ringstead possibly due to much flooding from the Nene or even to the plaque or even the black death, these may have been factors contributing the demise.

Deserted settlement of Mill Cotton lies in the West of the parish alongside the R. Nene on River Gravel at 110 ft. above OD. The remains comprise the site of the northernmost of three medieval settlements, each known as Cotton, which lay alongside the River. Nene for Mallows and West Cotton. Nothing is known of the population or period of desertion of Mill Cotton but more than likely a mixture of both flooding and the plaque, It is variously recorded as Mill, Parva, or Little Cotton in documents, and its existence can be traced as early as the 12th century. Bridges recorded that the village had been largely abandoned by the early 18th century and certainly by 1840 nothing but the mill, mill house, one farm and a cottage remained. The remains of the village are now very fragmentary as a result of disturbance by the railway, gravel-digging and modern ploughing.

At the bottom of Station road and just behind where the Railway Station house was a Roman camp , not as big as Stanwick but just a small garrison these were guarding the Ford over the River which was a very important river crossing in the Roman period.

The Romans are believed to be here from 350 AD to 505 AD.

The Roman road known as "ROMAN WAY" (Cotton lane) which came from Chester via Stanwick,Ringstead,Thrapston -Titchmarsh then joined the Durobrivae way to Castor.

Another Roman road which was from Chester (Irchester) to Addington then Woodford and onto Lowick then on to Titchmarsh and beyond this was across the river from Ringstead towards Little Addington on the same position as Addington flour mill,, some flag stones are still visible but difficult to find.
Excavations at nearby locations in the Nene Valley give some indication of the area's past and there are a number of prehistoric and Roman remains in the west part of the parish.
The Nene Valley has been populated from the Bronze Age and there are various long and round barrows near the site of West Cotton, including Beaker burials with skeleton, dagger and pottery finds.
There was an Iron Age Fort at Crow Hill, Irthlingborough, a Roman villa at Stanwick, and other remains near Mallows Cotton plus Ringstead camp.

During gravel-working in 1971 part of a complex of buildings was discovered and excavated and consisted of a Roman corridor with at least five rooms along one side and a circular stone building 10m in diameter with tessellated flooring.
Pottery of the 3rd century and coins were discovered plus skeletons of a horse and dog as well as shallow ditches, again with Roman and Iron Age pottery.

This area lies west of the parish alongside of the River Nene and has the remains of Mallows Cotton (one of the three Cotton settlements). Nothing is known of the population or period of the desertion of any of the Cottons but Mallows comprised of a chapel and a group of houses, gardens, streets, paddocks according to Northamptonshire Records Office. There are over 2000 other deserted villages in the UK but not a great deal is known of these hamlets or villages.
Below is a map showing a large area of land representing a moat, water surrounded this and fed by the once ugg dyke which ran from below Willy Watt mill to Cotton mill area.
Archaeologist have found remnants of a Saxon church stone window openings.Other buildings close to the church have also been excavated and logged and all findings taken to Northampton museum.

Deserted settlement of Mill Cotton lies in the W. of the parish alongside the R. Nene on River Gravel at 110 ft. above OD. The remains comprise the site of the northernmost of three medieval settlements, each known as Cotton, which lay alongside the R. Nene (see Raunds (19) and (20) for Mallows and West Cotton). Nothing is known of the population or period of desertion of Mill Cotton. It is variously recorded as Mill, Parva, or Little Cotton in documents, and its existence can be traced as early as the 12th century. Bridges recorded that the village had been largely abandoned by the early 18th century (J. Bridges, Hist. of Northants., II (1791), 190), and certainly by 1840 nothing but the mill, mill house, one farm and a cottage remained (Tithe Map and Enclosure Map, 1840, NRO). The remains of the village are now very fragmentary as a result of disturbance by the railway, gravel-digging and modern ploughing. Judging from the Tithe Map of 1840, the original settlement was centred on a roughly rectangular 'green' lying between the mill house and the present railway crossing. Its boundary can be traced as a modern hedge on the N. side and a shallow ditch on the S. The sites of the mill and mill house, both abandoned in this century, can still be seen. There are no remains of house platforms on either the N. or S. of the presumed 'green', but certainly one house stood on the S. side in 1840. To the E. of the 'green' a low scarp may represent a building platform and immediately to the E., in the modern arable, are dense spreads of limestone rubble and cobbles, associated with medieval pottery. E. of the railway, the hollowed bridleway to the S.E., destroyed in 1971, separated two further areas of arable land each containing patches of cobbles and rubble; these areas were also once bounded to the S.E. by a low bank, 0.5 m. high, and are largely ploughed away. To the N. the site of the farm, still in existence in 1840, has been destroyed by gravel working; it had already been abandoned by the late 19th century. N. of the 'green', and completely destroyed by 1964, was a rectangular enclosure bounded by shallow ditches with an internal bank on the S. side . Air photographs taken before destruction indicate that the internal bank also extended along the E. and W. sides

Ringstead moat , water was supplied from a dyke which ran from one part of the river to further down below Willy Watt mill area back into the river.Known locally as the Ugg Dyke.

A JP from Great Addington Sydney Levison writes in the Mercury newspaper in 1910 about a Roman camp at Mill Cotton area.

The Ringstead dig in 1970-1 where Archeoligests

Below shows artifacts found by Peter Finchley & Clive Bottoms whilst out with metal detectors. Many roman coins were found.

Timeline of events

Neolithic and Bronze Age -Tools/bones found Station rd=From c 5000 BC to the early 1st millennium
Roman period in our area,many coins found=350 AD
Saxon finds at Mill cotton.tools found=650-700AD
Danish invasion-pottery found local=800-1042
Invasion of the Normans/pottery found=1084
Doomsday book=1086
The Cottons were inhabited=1100
Church built=1200-50
Poll tax=1377
1525=lay tax
1618-The Ringstead Gift
1670=Hearth Tax
1781=Assessment of oversee's of the poor
1801=Natinal Census
.

General history.
Ringstead has some attractive old limestone and ironstone buildings.
Changes in the local economy over the last two centuries have been
reflected in the development of the village. Agriculture was the main
employment for centuries and is still in evidence. Several of the older
houses retain the names of former farms and Tithe Close, Pound Close,
Cherry Street and Northfield Avenue suggest agricultural links. The
production of animal feedstuffs by the firm of Dodson and Horrell,
established in 1933, Previously the site
was occupied by a heel making factory from Burton Latimer namely Albert Fox & Co.. Today there are business units and a
Country Store, with a local produce section
.
Boot & shoe.
Like many nearby villages and towns Ringstead became involved in boot
and shoe making. Before factories were built in the late 1800s
shoemakers worked from home. As mechanisation increased they collected
leather from the factory and returned the finished footwear. The
out-workers ‘shops’ were either above the family’s kitchen or at the
bottom of the garden. There is still an example of the latter in the
village. The Ringstead Britannia Co-operative Society boot factory,
built in 1895 on Denford Road, is a three storey building typical of
such factories. It retains its hoist on the upper storey. It was
modernised and used as offices for a number of years. In late 2014 work
began to convert the building into apartments, retaining its exterior features.

In the early 1900s footwear manufacturers were undercutting one another
and workers wages fell. In 1905 Raunds boot and shoe makers marched to
London to try to get better prices from the Government. Thirteen
Ringstead men walked in the main group, including one who walked the
whole way on crutches, and six were in the band. Mr John 'Crutchy' Pearson
was the man on crutches and he is buried in the cemetery.
The protest achieved its aims.

Today we take for granted the arrival of a fire engine at a fire, but
in the 1920s fire appliances were often simple manual pumps, or
steamers, pulled by horses. The responsibility for fire fighting rested
with local towns and villages. When the Unity boot and shoe factory on
the corner of Cherry Street caught fire the two nearest brigades could
not provide any assistance. Raund’s engine was being repaired and
Thrapston had no horses for their engine. Ringstead was outside
Kettering’s area and they would not come.

The village had no mains water until 1933, only wells, and even had firemen attended
the fire had no water because it had been a very dry summer and the wells were dry.

The Boot & shoe factory burnt down. It was rebuilt and later was used by Paul Seddon.
Later still it was used as a recycling firm. This went out of business and not too long
after that the land was bought, the factory was pulled down and is now awaiting a housing site.

In the 1920s the village had a variety of shops including Ringstead
Co-operative shop and bakery's , barber's, butcher's and fish and chip
shop. There have been four public houses and a Working Men’s Club, now
the Social Club. The four pubs were The New Inn, The Axe & Compass,The Black Horse
and The White Swan.
Today Ringstead retains its Post Office and The Axe
and Compass public house and has a hairdresser's. The enterprising owner of the
supermarket-newsagent's has opened a fish and chip shop as well as
selling hot snacks and drinks to take away.

Ringstead’s oldest building is its thirteenth century parish church.
Parish churches have been a focus of village life for centuries.
However, when the Act of Uniformity was passed in 1662 many people were
alienated from the Established Church, including Ringstead’s vicar, who
left the parish. Villagers who could not accept the terms of the Act
had to travel for many years to the dissenting church at Rothwell.
Eventually a Baptist Church was built in Ringstead and then a Methodist
Chapel. Since 1995 those two congregations have used the Baptist
Church, known now as the Shared Church, and the Methodist Chapel has
been converted to a house.

A gravestone by the path in the churchyard records the deaths of three
local teenage quarry workers in February 1877. A hurricane hit the area
and the barn in which they were sheltering collapsed.

The Thrapston –Northampton section of the Nene was made navigable in
the mid 1700s, but remained difficult to control. In the severe floods
of 1998 the Addington Road was impassable and someone had to be rescued
from the river by helicopter. There are remains of raised flood-boards
along the road going towards the limestone and ironstone building of
Woodford Top Mill, usually called Willy Watt Mill. It is one of the
numerous watermills that once stood along the River Nene. In its long
history it has been used as a fuel the process wool to cloth,
pulping rag to produce paper, and bone and corn grinding. Very little
remained of its two water wheels, but in the recent restoration of the mill one
wheel has been rebuilt and the second replaced with an entirely new wheel.
It is now a tearoom-restaurant and holiday flats.

MANOR—Ringstead not being mentioned in the Domesday Survey, appears to have
been comprehended in the manor of Raunds, as a member of Higham. In the
reign of Edward III a portion of it was in the hands of the family of
Broune, and so it continued for several generations; and in the reign of
James I Henry Lord Mordaunt died seized of a manor here. The Tresham family
possessed considerable property here, which in the reign of Henry VIII
passed to the Pyckerings. When Bridges wrote, more than a century since, Mrs
Creed, of Barnwell, was the lady of the manor

Mr George Capron brought Southwick Hall in 1841. He was a wealthy London lawyer. He had brought property in Stoke Doyle prior to coming to Southwick and went on to purchase land in other parishes including Ringstead. Amongst the properties owned at one time by the Capron family were the Manor House (referred to in their documents as the Mansion) in Church Street, plus Willy Watt (Woodford Mill) and the land on which Ringstead school was built.

Peace park

After the end of World War II a Peace Park Committee was formed in the village and Lt-Colonel George T Capron conveyed the land in Church Street to the Parish Council in 1954. A Peace Park Memorial Fund raised funds to level and drain the land and a grant was received from the National Playing Fields Association. In 1955 play equipment was installed

The Peace park or playing field as I'd called It as a youngster once used to hold sheep and cattle and was rented by village farmer Bill Yoemans prior to the 1950's.
At this time Ringstead playing field was a acre of land on the corner of Station road and Addington road but with so many complaints about the distance for the children to go George Capron asked Mr Yoemans to swap his rented land and use the Station road field so from then on wards the playing field was In the village
The children are so lucky these days to have so many items to play on,In my day In the 1960's all what was In the park was one slide, two swings and a roundabout but today as you can see many more amusements have been added.
In 1955 a grant was received from the national playing fields Association to level and install drainage.

Also many years back there was steep banks from the road leading onto the playing field and when It snowed this was ideal for sledging down,and along the side of the Tithe farm buildings wall was a brook, this was was mostly from springs in the above fields towards the direction of Raunds but ran the length of the playing field then turned sharply towards the Axe and Compass then on towards to River going via the meadows.

Below a Image from 1974 show part of the playing field but also showing Cornaways Garage and meadow land which of course is now under water named Kinewell lake.

Ringstead Lock up

Example of strange-looking building above is it not ? not ? Well, this was a Lock-up (kinda jail/gaol).
A similar one built at Ringstead late 18th Century and taken down early 20th Century.A lock up just like the above image stood next to the Brook in Carlow Road.
Two older gents of the village remember exactly where it stood both tell me when they were very young in the 1930s that the footings were still in place and used to play in this area approximately 3 Metres around. Their parents remember it being there and described it as per image, and we know exactly its purpose.
These tiny buildings were prevalent in most rural areas in the late Georgian period towards the end of the 18th century and into the early 19th century although some date further back. They became necessary because of the rise in vagrancy and social unrest in rural areas following the Industrial Revolution which often devastated the rural industry and the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars when men were returning to their localities, many of them disabled and with little prospect of gainful employment, leading to considerable disorder
This unpaid job looking after the building was usually given to an upstanding member of the community for a period of one year and he was sometimes assisted by a paid night watchman., the lock-up was later used by the parish council as a mortuary
Imagine coming out the Axe & Compass completely drunk and disorderly,(trust me it happens I've heard") the local Bobby would have arrested you and thrown in the lock-up for the night to sleep it off. On many cases like the more serious Lydia Attley story that the Butcher William Weekley Ball was thrown into the cellar of the Manor house upon arrest until his trial at Thrapston court. Or you would have been taken before Thomas Wilkins who was the Squire and Lord of the manors of Ringstead & Denford and also a Judge living in the Manor house, back then it was called Ringstead house.

Yard and Cottage names from the 19th Century.

Allens Yard=Behind Sivers row- Carlow rd

Abbotts Yard=yard behind the house on the corner of High st and Chapel street
Agutter's Cottage/Drayton Cottage-Cottage opposite Dodson Horrell
Banhills Yard- high st, left of the new post office
Barnwell Cottage=Cottage which stood close to where Bungalow next to Church is.
Butchers Lane-From Swan Inn to Chapel street, now part of High street.
Bank Cottage-Cherry Hill
Barritts Yard-Yard side of Post office
Church lane.= Opposite School.
Dearlove Cottage-Ringstead House
Leverettes Row-Spring Rise-just off Carlow rd next to Brook
Linnets Row. Carlow walk between Carlow st & Chapel st
Lower street-between the Axe pub and Station Rd
London End-Denford rd entrance to Back Lane up to entrance new estate.
South Cottage-Next to High st car park.
Spendlove Yard-Off Cherry hill
Sawfords Gardens-Chapel st, next to where Tom Bridge Butchers were
Station rd Lodge-Fosters farmhouse.
Sivers row/Buildings=Opposite Swan Inn-end of high st
Ringstead Lodge=Top of Denford rd, the farmhouse on the corner.
The Grove=where prefabs once stood.
Pearces Yard/yard=Behind ex-police house
Whyman's Road-Slade farm entrance
Upper Carlow St-top end of Carlow st
Ringstead House-The present Manor house.
Friar's Path- from the church to Raunds Church.

Below is a 1820 OS map of our area showing all the cart roads

Os map

Whelan's Directory 1874
Village History : Ringstead

The name “Ringstead” or "Ryngestead" is more than likely derived from the Round field, one of our ancient parish fields;the anglo saxon”h ring”,meaning a circular place with the present church street and high street built in a long circular or oblong fashion
Ringstead Parish - The boundaries of this parish are formed by Denford on the N.E., the river Nene on the W., and Raunds on the S.E. It contains 1929 acres of the rateable value £4494, and the gross estimated rental is £5290. The population in 1801 was 454; in 1831, 620; in 1841, 640 ; in 1851, 640; in 1861, 831; and in 1871, 875 souls. The soil varies from a strong clay to a red clayey earth. The executors of Thomas Burton, Esq., are lords of the manor, and George Capron Esq., and Mrs Stopford Sackville, are the principal landowners. "Here," writes Bridges, "are good pits of red and white building stone, of which the red will best endure the weather. The pits are scarce three feet asunder." Ironstone is found here in abundance, and worked by Messrs Butlin, Bevan, & Co., of Wellingborough, since 1871. The workings extend about 1½ mile in length up to the parish of Raunds. About 70 hands are employed, who turn out an average of 1000 tons weekly, yielding from 35 to 40 per cent, of iron.
Manor—Ringstead not being mentioned in the Domesday survey, appears to have been comprehended in the manor of Raunds, as a member of Higham. In the reign of Edward III a portion of it was in the hands of the family of Broune, and so it continued for several generations; and in the reign of James I Henry Lord Mordaunt died seized of a manor here. The Tresham family possessed considerable property here, which in the reign of Henry VIII passed to the Pyckerings. When Bridges wrote, more than a century since, Mrs Creed, of Barnwell, was lady of the manor.
The Village of Ringstead, which is large and irregularly built, is seated about 2½ miles S. by W. of Thrapston. The inhabitants are principally occupied in shoe making and agriculture. The Peterborough branch of the London and North Western Railway passes through, and has a station about a mile from the village.

The Church, dedicated to St Mary, consists of nave, chancel, north aisle, chantry, north and south porches—the latter being beautifully arched—vestry, tower, and spire containing six bells. It was thoroughly restored in 1863 at a cost of about £2000; the Incorporated Society for the Building, &c., of Churches contributed £80 towards the re seating. The sittings, which are open, are of varnished deal, and the roof is also open and of the same material. The flooring of the body is of plain tile, and that of the chancel of the mosaic pattern. On the north side is the clerestory, extending the length of the chantry. The east window of five lights, of handsome design, is in the Early Decorated style. The chancel stalls are of the same design as the old ones. At the west end are several mural tablets, but possessing no particular historic interest. The spire is a very pretty object from the opposite side of the river, forming one of a series, embracing Thrapston, Denford, Raunds, Stanwick, and Higham Ferrers, all visible at the same time.
Here is a Baptist Chapel, a stone building, erected in 1848, on the site of an old one, built in 1720, at a cost of £300, and will seat about 300. Here is a mural tablet erected by the congregation to the memory of the Rev. Leonard Joseph Abington, twelve years pastor of the mission. Rev. William Kitchen is the present minister.

The Wesleyan Chapel, of brick with stone dressings, was built in 1857 at a cost of £416, and will seat 250.
The National School, with master's house attached, was erected in 1867, at a cost of £860, and is now (1874) being enlarged at a further cost of £160. It is a handsome building, capable of accommodating 200 pupils, and is attended by an average of 100.
The Temperance Hall, a brick building, was erected in 1861 by subscription, at a cost of about £200. It will accommodate 200.
The Charities of Ringstead are the charity estate, consisting of 27 acres of land, which lets for £51, and a lime-kiln, which lets for £7, 12s., making a total of £58, 12s., two-thirds of which go to the support of the school, and the remainder to the aged poor.

COTTONS. There were formerly three several enclosed innships, or demolished hamlets, in the liberties of Raunds and Ringstead. In Raunds was West Cotton, and a part of Mallows Cotton, and in Ringstead is Cotton House, or Mill Cotton, and the other part of Mallows Cotton. At Mill Cotton are some remains of an entrenchment, consisting of a high bank of earth, enclosed within a deep ditch. From an urn which was found within the ditch, and which contained ashes, it is supposed to have been a Roman work. Several Roman coins have been found in the fields above Mill Cotton; and at Mallows Cotton is a knot of small closes on the bank of the river, where are vestiges of a town as appears from fragments and foundations which have been discovered. The family of Chamberleyn formerly possessed the manor of Cotes and from them it passed to the Pickerings. There was a chapel at Cotton, in which the minister of Shelton, in Bedfordshire, officiated once a month.

1868 Whellans village Directory.

Post-Office—William Bradshaw, sub-postmaster. Letters arrive from Thrapston 7.15 A.M. and 2 P.M., and are despatched 4.35 P.M. on week days only.
Trades of 1874 upwards

Abbot Miss Elizth. milliner
Abbot Joseph, shopkeeper
Abington Herbert Joseph, chemist & druggist
Abington Mr Samuel
John Austin Thomas, butcher, baker & grocer
Balderson Joseph, p. constable
BannisterJohn, master Nat.Sch.
Barritt John, shoe agent, china and marine store dlr.
Bradshaw Fred. blacksmith
Bradshaw Wm. shopkeeper, parish clerk, post-office
Bull Andrew, baker
Bull Mrs Eliza, shopkeeper
Bull Wm. tailor, shopkeeper
Bull Wm. Saml. tinner & shopkeeper
Childs John baker
Clark Elijah, wheelwright
Dearlove Mr. Jph Ringstead Ho.
Dicks Hy. marine store dealerDing Wm. Exton, grocer & draper
Eldred George, fireman
Figgis Mrs Maria, vict. New Inn
Green Noah, tax collector
Green Mr Thomas
Kitchen Rev. Wm. (Baptist)
Knight Thos. Grant, butcher
Leveratt Wm, station-master
Mason Amos, vict. Swan
Mayes John, coal-dealer
Mercer Mr Thomas
Mundin James, poulterer
Peacock Richard, shopkeeper
Roberts Alfred, shopkeeper
Robinson Chas. shoe agent
Robinson Elijah, carrier & beerhouse
Sharman Mrs Hannah
Sivers Fred, carpenter & shopkeeper
Smith George, slice agent and assistant overseerWarner George, shoe agent
Warren Wm. parish constable
Weekly Mrs Elizabeth
Weekly John, cottager
Weekly Mrs Sarah, shopkeeper
Weekly Wm. marine str. dlr.
Whitwell John, vict. Axe and Compass

Farmers and Graziers
Agutter John
Ball John (and butcher)
Beeby David
Beeby William
Brawn James Wright
Childs Robert (and shoe agent)
Dearlove Joseph. Ringstead house
Dearlove Wm. Ralph, Ringstead House
Knight Robert
Peach Ths. (yeoman), Hill Ho

Carriers: Elijah Robinson and Samuel Wilson, to Kettering, Friday; Thrapston, Tuesday;
to Wellingborough, Wednesday; and the latter to Oundle on Thursday.

. In the early

Ringstead Unity co-operative boot & shoe factory

Left-As reported in the Evening Telegraph the Unity factory fire on 3rd June 1921.
By 1902 sales were £6,311 and profit was just £3211.
By 1917 sales were 31103 with profit in that year of £7395.
Below is a picture of Ringstead Unity Co-op Boot & Shoe factory not long after the fire in the High Street.The Unity co operative society boot factory was formed early 1900, the Adjoining bungalow we know was built before this in 1898.
Once the factory was up and running it was full steam ahead but in 1921 it burnt down. The then manager was a Bernard Kemp who lived in the bungalow next door.
As the press recorded at the time in that summer of 1921 it had been very hot and they go on to say it was possibly down to spontaneous combustion .
The building was insured when it was finally re built at a cost of £20,000

Once rebuilt in 1923 the building was taken over by Adams bros of Raunds who already had two factory's in Raunds and in the time of the Boot makers strike of 1925 all 32 men came out on strike and many joined the march to London Including Ringstead man John "Crutchy" Pearson who walked the whole distance and back on crutches,upon reaching London John received brand new spring loaded crutches from London Mayor.
With the lack of boot orders in 1929 we see the factory close down and left empty for some years but kept the Raunds branch of Adams Bros.

After the War (1947) son & father Ted & Paul Seddon of Kettering bought the building to produce cardboard boxes and labeling/printing namely Seddon & Arlidge co ltd.
Seddons are still going to this day and run by Paul Sedons two sons, but this is a very small family run business in Kettering.

A young Mr Edwin Gunn of Chapel Street asked Mr Seddon if he could work for him but using the Britannia Co-op factory at Denford road which was also owned by Seddon. Mr Seddon agreed on a deal that he would supply Edwin with one printing machine and any further machines came later.

Britannia Staff were= A young Richard Hackney/Norman Lamford/Zena Allen nee Abbott/ Eleanor Bradley/Majorie Brown/Aggie Rogers.
Seddons.

The floor manager at Seddon's box factory was Mr Andrews, my own father Len Abbott was the lorry driver who took boxes to London and Birmingham. Below is Father and my brother Peter with Seddon's lorry, parked up the A6 near Bedford.On school holidays Dad would take my elder brothers on trips to London.

At times Bebe dolls ltd rented the factory along with the Britannia factory when Czech family the poppers were at the helm in the Manor house.
Below shows Mr F h Chapman manager of Ringstead Unity co operative boot and shoe factory In the early days.

The factory land was sold in 2014 for £400000 for new housing.

HISTORY OF THE SEDDON FAMILY.
Thomas and John Seddon born at Prestwich Lancashire move to Kettering in the 1880's, they set up business together making cardboard and by 1907 have 3 factories in Kettering and one at Rushden.
By 1947 Ringstead Unity factory was also purchased to make and print cardboard boxes.
Sydney Paul Seddon son of John Seddon is now at the helm but in business with George Arledge a printer from Northampton and now the company is called Seddon and Arledge ltd.
Ringstead branch closes down in the 1980s and moves their work to Field street Kettering.
From the time of this being written in 2019 Seddons are still in business but at Pytchley rd estate Kettering and run two sons of Paul Seddon.

Also Below shows Arthur Ruff one of men who started the Ringstead co-operative movement outside his shop,(not Ringstead) the fourth photo shows how busy inside the factory it actually was.

Ringstead co-operative society was formed in March 1891 by Arthur Ruff pictured below with his wife.
Below pictures show the factory after the fire In 1921 with plooms of smoke still rising the day after.The man on the left is my Grandfather Henry Giddings the newsagent along with others looking over the damage.

Below is John crutchy Pearson the boot maker from Ringstead who walked to London and back on the Bookmakers march in 1925.

.
.

All the names who took place on the walk to London and back in 1905

There was four Boot and shoe factories in Ringstead,one in Denford road,The Britannia -AE Fox ltd Spencer street,and the Unity co op in the High Street.The very first factory was in a Farm yard in Church street, Leather was delivered here from Sharmans of Wellingborough around 1870.

Above is one of the managers of the unity factory F H Chapman an ex farmer whilst below when Seddons packaging took over just after Ww2 .My father Len Abbott was the lorry driver pictured here with brother Peter.who made Many trips to London dockyards from Ringstead delivering cardboard boxes which were undertaken at the factory. Later Seddons became Seddons and Arlidge.

Below in 1970 are Joyce Ferry, Renee Barnett-N/k & Joyce Pentelow-Driver Len Abbott.

Taken in 2012, once the Unity Co-op Boot & Shoe Factory, Seddons Box Factory, then Terimpex Ltd. The building has now been demolished and the site is awaiting new construction.

The Ringstead Britannia co-operative boot factory

The Ringstead Britannia Co-Operative Society Boot Factory at Denford road was built in 1893 and shuts its business in 1897 due to lack of requirement of boots.

Ringstead was part of the boot and shoe producing area of the county and this building was built by a Mr H Lovell of Raunds and this stands on the corner of Gladstone Street and Denford Road.The clip above is taken from the Mercury in 1897.

The Society was formed in 1891 and factory production and home working co-existed for a number of years. Some of the houses up Gladstone Street, built in the late 1800s, have had evidence that their occupants were producing at least some parts of footwear at their houses.They had single storey work shops at the end of their gardens and even some had their back room converted into a workshop.

The production of this factory was not long lived.Starting production in 1893 but By mid 1897 it was shut down and soon advertised in the Mercury that it could be rented out for a sum of £25.00 a year, but since then there has been a variety of companies including a Mr Hall and a Mr Tebutt .There business was also short lived and they moved to Raunds to a bigger factory. Seddon's of Kettering whose business of box printing was carried out at the factory from 1953, Edwin Gunn was the manager, a position given by Paul Seddon.

Between 1935 and 1937 film shows were shown upstairs by Percy Childs and Albert Fox,,these films shows caused so much excitement In the village that when one would go there would be a very long queue outside.

Ringstead co-operative boot and shoe factories

Both Ringstead Britannia and Unity Co-operative Boot & Shoe Factories were members of the Co-operative Productive Federation (CPF). The following information has been taken from annual returns made by each Society to the CPF and published in the Co-operative Year Book.
Ringstead Britannia .
1891   Society was registered and seeking members to invest. By end of the year 11 members had invested £230.
1892   No return was made to CPF so it is doubtful if production had commenced.
1893   11 members had contributed £225. Production had started, sales totalling £875, with £46 profit.
1894   I have no information.
1895   Still 11 members. Sales totalled £3509 with £72 profit.
1897-Britannia close.
Today this factory has been converted into modern day flats.
Below is the emblem which still can be seen on the side of the factory.

Below stands Dodson Horrell corn merchants factory previously AE Fox upper heel factory.To the right stands the Britannia boot & shoe factory which now has been converted into flats

image from Above
RINGSTEAD LOCKS builders In 1937, A E farr contstruction of London built a Series of 6 locks which were built up and down stream of Ringstead at a cost of £37000 and a team of 10 men from Ringstead & Denford who were involved in building these locks and these guys above were the team who built them. Locks were completed in 1941.These men also were the main gang who built Irthlingborough bridge of the Nene which was completed in 1936.
Sam Colson - George Wilson- and Albert Farr -Harry James- Dabber Briggs -Bill Nash are among these men above, image from Reg Hackney.

Ringstead temperance Hall

Built in March 1861 the Ringstead Temperance hall was built the same time as Raunds Temperance hall and they were built to promote Temperance and Intelligence and for the happiness of the people of the village. Used for meetings .play's. concerts and dances all through its time and still now available to hire out for private events.
During the war it was used to stock sugar as everything was on ration whilst at Tithe farm butter was stored there. In the 1950's mini circus were held in the hall with miniature horses were allowed to perform stunts.

Old style lock gates near to the Ringstead.
These locks dating back to 1911 and locally called the Staunch , this was one of two flash flood locks. On low water these would be shut and then water would back up then It a given time would be opened quickly to allow barges to flow down from Irthlingborough as many barges in low water would ground in the river. This lock would be further up stream from Ringstead and called Raunds Addington crossing

Listed buildings in Ringstead

There are presently four listed Buildings which are Grade two in the village which is quite surprising as to compare with the next small village of Denford having at least ten.

The street that nearly was.

Although Harcourt Street, at the top of Tilcraft was on the original plans it never came about because the builders did not have enough funds to progress. The houses that were first built at the turn of the 1900s at Spencer, Roseberry and Gladstone Streets did not sell fast enough at the time and the planned street never came about .
Tilcroft the name of the three streets of Gladstone, Spencer & Roseberry was taken from the Meadow name of the land the streets were built upon.

The village history below and Church street in particular was drawn up by Derrick Simms

Ringstead Water Pumping Station
Ringstead Water pumping station is situated at the top of Ham Lane and is now a luxury converted building. I have met the owner and been shown around this lovely building not long back; a truly nice interior. I never got to see all the machinery inside in its day and imagine it would have been quite complex inside.
Originally the land where this stood and much around it , as seen on the above photo, was owned by a charity from Barnwell called "Parson Latham Hospital Trust" and sold for a princely price of £3800 to the Water Authority.

The land was brought by the charity in 1923 and sold to the Water Board in 1955.
Two brothers of the names Howard & Eddie Freeman, who were bricklayers from Irthlingborough, built the pumping station and I believe to this day one of the brothers still lives in his home town, but his brother sadly passed away.

From the beginning Ringstead had four to six public wells and the nearest lucrative "Wells" were down the first meadow off Carlow Road/one well opposite The Axe & Compass public house, one at the wall area of Pound Close, one on the corner of Denford Road bend where Dodson Horrell factory is, one at the top of Cherry Hill, one at the end of Carlow Street near the children's park and one opposite The Black Horse public house.
There of course were many private wells too. Even the Manor House had its own well and not forgetting a well which was next door to the post office at the rear of the garden.
The deepest well was up Denford Road where the Travellers' site is now but is fully covered over now.
In the hot summer of 1928 there was very little water in any of the wells in Ringstead ,but there was just one well which was providing all the village with water and even this could be used from early morning for a few hours.
It must had been a terrible situation not having enough water to go around for a short period of two weeks.

In 1935 Ringstead first got its piped water from Woodford Water Tower which was pumped up by a water station in the valley beneath Woodford. There were five major springs in this area where the water got pumped up to Woodford water tower feeding Woodford, The Addingtons, Burton Latimer,Ringstead,Denford and later to Thrapston.

Its to be noted that on Willy Watts mill bridge there are two large pipes running across the bridge, one was a water feed to Ringstead the other pipe went to Chelveston Airbase ,this Airbase had one other supply of water but in the event of War required more than one water feed.
These days the water supply comes from Grafham Water reservoir.
Many thanks to Robin Pentelow for contributing Information.

The news in 1934 printed in the Mercury stating Ringstead water supply is Inadequate. (click each thumbnail) Below

Ringstead River Nene locks.

Even as far back as the roman times the Nene river was used to carry goods but
In the second half of the eighteenth century, a great canal building age
began that was to result in a nework of canal and improved river
navigations. This was done to provide a means of bulk transport that could
not be carried by the inadequate roads of that time and provided the
transport system that was to make possible the Industrial Revolution.

This canal building reached its peak in 1793 and led to a major reduction in
transport costs, the price of coal being cut in half in many places. Soon,
thousands of horse-drawn boats carried coal and raw materials to the new
manufacturing centres and brought out the products they made, farm produce
was taken by water right into the heart of major towns and cities.
By the 1830s, 'railway mania' had replaced the 'canal mania' years, and many
of the waterways came under the control of railway companies. Investment in
canals reduced and most of our canals & rivers were not modernised in the way that
other European waterways were.
There were some exceptions to this, such as
the Aire & Calder Navigation, where the waterway was enlarged and still
carried much traffic. In other places, particularly on the narrow canals,
traffic dwindled, navigation channels fell into disuse, boats and locks were
left to rot, structures suffered neglect and started to crumble.
By World War II, freight carrying on all but a few waterways was ending,
pleasure boating on canals was almost unheard of, few visited them and,
except for a small core of canal people, nobody cared.

Origins of the Name
The name in a thousand years has gone through some changes, Nyn,Nine,Nin,
Nenn and settled with the Nene.But the Nine word stems from the 9 springs that run into the Nene at Northampton.
Pronunciation of the river's name varies with the locality. In
Northamptonshire it is usually ˈnɛn or and around Peterborough usually
ˈnin The spelling was "Nenn" or
"Nyn" until the beginning of the 20th century, and the point at which the
pronunciation changes has been moving further inland for many years; the
current edition of the Imray "Map Of The River Nene" suggests that the
cut-off point is Thrapston.

The first recorded attempts to improve the upper river for navigation
occurred in 1567 and 1606, when the people of Northampton commissioned
surveys. In 1653, a printed pamphlet suggested that 33 locks to bypass the
mills could be built for £8,000, to make the river navigable. Eventually, an
Act of Parliament was obtained in 1713, which appointed large numbers of
Commissioners, but stated that work could only proceed if any nine of them
could find someone to make the entire river navigable. No-one was prepared
to take on the task, although it appears from the Act that the river was
navigable from Peterborough to Alwalton at the time. The Act was superseded
by a second one obtained in 1724, which allowed the river to be improved in
stages, the work to be carried out at the contractor's expense, with the
cost to be recouped from tolls. Robert Wright and Thomas Squire agreed to
these terms for the section from Peterborough to the bridge at Oundle North
in September 1726, and completed the work by 1730. Squire then agreed to the
same terms for the next section to Thrapston in 1736, and completed it by
late 1737. This part of the river was then designated as the Eastern
Division.
Traditionally the guillotines were manually operated by turning a large
wheel some 150 times to raise or lower the gate; since the locks have to be
left empty this operation will always have to be done twice to pass through.
In recent years the Environment Agency, who are the navigation authority for
the river, have been installing electric operation of the guillotines
and in some cases replacing them altogether with mitre gates.

In 1936-7 Ringstead locks both upper and lower replaced the old oak wooden
and this is why Ringstead mills & its house (station road)were demolished to make
way for new metal locks Although the house did stay a couple more years untill
It was taken down and if you cared for a walk in the area you would come across
a tiled floor,...if you look hard enough !

And lastly the men who built Irthlinborough bridge which was completed in 1936 went
on to build the locks of Ringstead and seven others in the area which cost £34000. Timbers can be seen which are remnants of Cotton mill.

The lady above is standing next to where the Paper mill once stood and taken down in 1936.This position is where the first lock is now but in the 1950s the metal lock was upgraded once again and the water channel which spilt of from the main course of the river was dug out by hand to supplement the water for the mill.
Just yards up from this point was an eel trap and once captured the eels were then thrown in to a nearby well. Each day these were then in turn sold off to the nearest butchers or wet fish shop at either Addington or Ringstead.

                                                         Ringstead village wells

There have been wells in the village for hundreds of years, but in 1900 there were between 4 to 6 public wells in the village and many houses too had their own wells. Take for instance Gladstone Street, where I was born, the first houses were built in 1899, this can be seen clearly inscribed on a stone usually high up on the house and as your walk or drive up Gladstone Street and the first houses were in two blocks of four terrace but had at least 6 in the street.

Each block had their own "well" and as more houses were built each had their own.  The depth was anything from 20 feet to 30 feet on average depending where the water table was on that part of land.

Building one of these wells took on average two weeks to complete, again depending on its depth, and usually the "well" digger or builder had his own labourer or apprentice working with him.
In the hot summer of 1932 all but one of the village "wells" dried up and many people caught typhoid because of its bad water. Only one good"well" was safe to use and this was stationed opposite the pub the Axe and compass.

The first four to six feet of the "well"was dug then a special frame was made up to allow bricks to be inserted using the dry brick method (no cement or mortar) and as earth was dug below this frame the brick courses were dropped down.

You must remember the bricklayer stood in a cradle with just a foot board for either leg then he would begin digging foot by foot, one hoist for himself and one for the earth to be bucketed away. It was no easy task for any well builder.
In Thrapston in 1905 a well builder dug to a depth of 30 feet when the ground collapsed above him and he died instantly.

Once the builder reached the water table he wasn't to stop there.  He must dig a further two feet, to allow a bucket   to retrieve enough water, and so the well can reach decent water level and the water be easily drawn.

Ringstead Institute

Friday 14th of September 1908 was the date Ringstead Institute opened and like so many other Institutes before television and radio in the early 20th century it was a vital source of entertainment and social life in the village. The sum of £250 was given by a Rennie Wilkingson towards the cost of £320 for its construction. In its former years it held village social gatherings and meetings and reading sessions. In the early 1930s had a full-size billiard table and soon Ringstead Billiard Club was in full swing, playing other villages and towns in their own billiard league in the county.
When billiards went out of fashion(it was quite short-lived) there were youth clubs held at the Institute in the 1960s. The main problem was finding a person who would open up the hall then lock it up again after a club session.
In the 1933 Ringstead WI started and held many meetings here.
Many times one youth group would use it and a few months down the line it would shut its door yet again as no one wanted the responsibility of looking after it. This happened it seemed most decades but now its in good use as a Pre-school known as Ringstead Robins.

Ringstead Hill

It was decided by the parish far back as early 1900 that the steep hill out of Ringstead towards Raunds was far too steep for not only horse and cart but for the new motor car, so steps were taken to lessen the angle of the hill towards the New Inn public house.
A building contractor was brought in to lessen the fall of the hill slope in 1907 and work commenced. High explosives were used to take earth and stone away to give it a much more reasonable incline to the village. As you can see on the old photographs the men posed for a picture briefly from their hard work.

Although at first the road was built of crushed stone it did not drain well. When it rained there were deep ruts in the road whether it was horse and cart or motor driven cars and it was very slow going. In the 1930s along came tarmac to our country roads and made life much more bearable for vehicles and especially down this hill.

Rushden & District Electricity

1927 Ringstead got its first electricity sub-station just opposite Tithe Farm in Church Street (just opposite Carlow Road junction). The first person who actually got power was a lady in Carlow Street, the house now long demolished but it was a Mrs Lucy Mayes .The Electric actually went first to but not used at George Feary's & Walter Pitts house,these familys refused to actually have it turned on and just relied on oil lamps.Maybe fearfull of the new fangled electricity.

The Mills

Woodford mill-willey watt mill-Cotton Mill, Try not to get confused which mill is where, Woodford mill, ran by the Allen family of Woodford,was pulled down in the late 1970s,this was situated next to Denford Railway station.
Willy Watt mill- last miller William Dodson.
Cotton Mill-last know owner Samuel Lovell

Willy Watt Mill is situated on the Addington to Ringstead road and now is a Tearoom but in its heyday there were two mills these were called Willie Watt mills.
The Mill itself dates back as far as 1044 as a wooden flour mill and was recorded in the Doomsday Book as a Mill near Woodford. Of course to people living in Ringstead its much closer to the village than it is at Woodford, its just happens that the Parish border lines from Woodford come up to the River Nene at the Mill.
Growing up in Ringstead I have always called it Ringstead Mill, and many others too, even though it isn't politically correct If called Ringstead Mill, but I for one will refer it as Ringstead Mill.

Over the years its had many many owners and the last two millers were the Dodson family who brought it in 1897 then and in the early 20th century a Frank Hart was the last miller there. He died at 99 years old. There is a photo of Frank below.
He stands on the far left at the back. His daughter was a Betty Mcgeorge who had a daughter Fiona. This was taken on coronation day 1953 outside the Swan Inn.

The only owner I have ever known is the present owner is James/William Hawes, or Bill as he is known to his close friends. He still lives in part of the Mill to this day. Bill owned and ran Cornaways Garage, aptly called after the corn mill but the garage was dismantled in 1987

Below and top left standing is Willy Watt's last miller Frank Hart under William Dodson

(1044-Wooden flour Mill
1086-was recorded in the Doomsday book as Woodford Mill
1329-Recorded as Wylewat Mills
1544-Recoded as two mills working on the site
1562-Belonged to Crowland Abbey
1623-Paper was being made at the mill
1782-Owned by the Shuttleworth family
1830-James Fernelly papermaker lived there.
1830-34 William Mitchell paper miller (All three mills)
1835-1840 Geroge Ivens was grinding bones for fertilizer.
1879-Moses Eady ground corn
1906- William Dodson,Miller from Little Addington, Tithe farm owner, post office
1938-James & Vera Hawes lived there , Mill stopped working
1951-Converted into Guest house
1955-Was in full residential use
2005-Clive & Emily Hodgson converted property into holiday flats and tea room.
2015-extra room added-real ale served

History of Woodford Upper Water Mill (Willy Watt Mill).
To begin with, and to avoid any confusion, with what was once called Woodford Mill Tea Rooms, the newly named "Water Mill Tea Rooms" were once known as Willywatt Mill. The largest part of the building is in the parish of Woodford. There is also Ringstead Mill, which once stood below Station Road, Ringstead. (approximately half a mile away).
At various times over past years both Mills were owned by the same person.
Willy Watt Mill is built of limestone with pleasing bands of ironstone blocks and consists of three floors. Under the mill wheel arch is a large undershot water wheel which is made of iron and has wooden paddles.
To the left of the wheel was the usual eel trap where, in times gone by, as much as half a hundred weight of eels would have been caught overnight, at certain times of the year. The eels were deflected into a well, caught then packed and sent to markets in London via Ringstead Railway Station. The eel well/trap was eventually filled in.

The water wheel is connected, by an iron axle, to the pit wheel inside the building; this wheel revolves vertically within a narrow slot for nearly half of its depth.
The cogs engage the "wallower" which turns the main shaft which goes up through the mill and this in turn engages the mill stones thus creating the power to grind corn.
Two types of mill stones were used, two pairs of Derbyshire Peak stone for grinding barley, oats, etc., whilst a pair of French Burr stones were used to grind flour from wheat.
It's been said that that Raunds Windmill "mill stone" stood in the garden as decorative use for many years.
At the bridge end is another water wheel, which once powered two stones for grinding corn and continued as a working flour mill until 1937. The smaller wheel on the end of the building was still in use, to generate electricity, up until the early 1960s after which an electric cable from an electricity supply from Great Addington installed to the building.
Willywatt Mill, as part of the Woodford possessions, has had, as have many other mills, a 'roller coaster' existence over the centuries. The Mill was part of the Abbey of Croyland (now Crowland) in Lincolnshire at the time of the Norman Conquest.
The Mill then came into the possession of the Crown, after the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII. In 1544 Henry VIII granted Willywatt Mills to Lord Parr of Horton, who was the uncle of Catherine, Henry's last wife.
With the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558 Willywatt Mill reverted back to the Crown and in 1560 Elizabeth granted them to miller William Gerrard, but after only two years he surrendered them and they were then granted to two men, Sir Robert Lane and Anthony Thorock-Morton, whose niece married Sir Walter Raleigh.

In 1567 they sell the mill to Henry Clark of Stanwick Mill and when Henry dies in 1574 his two sons William and Gabriel inherited ownership. Gabriel in 1604 decided to re-style the mill layout and renamed it Williat Mills.
In 1723 a house is constructed with 250 tons of Collyweston slate for the roof, along with timbers from the ship Arcadia, which had sunk in 1660 just of the East coast, and these timbers were used for the roof beams.
In 1765 Francis Tidbury, Ringstead’s first paper maker, was now the tenant, not only of Willywatt Mill but also the Ringstead Cottons Mill. Both Mills were now owned by Henry Shuttleworth, who resided in Great Bowden, near Market Harborough.
Francis Tidbury also owned Perio Mill, near Southwick, the oldest water mill on the River Nene.
He also took on the tenancy of Ringstead Windmill, which once stood, behind the farm on Station Road, which is currently owned by the Foster family
.
In the 'History of Northamptonshire' book written in 1720 by John Bridges the Mill was then named as Willywatt Mills although the name differs from Willet Mill & Williat Mill over time.
In 1836 the Mill was advertised in the Northamptonshire Mercury as a newly erected bone crushing Mill house. This is how we know it today.
As mentioned on the enclosure map of Ringstead this new use of a Mill for bone crushing was fulfilling the need for farmers who used the crushed bones as a phosphate fertiliser, for growing crops.
1861 Saw the Mill now producing paper, but this was short lived, as competition from Ringstead Cottons Mill (just half a mile up river) was possibly too great as the cotton rag pulp from Ringstead Cotton Mill was top quality and the cotton rag paper made from this pulp was sold to writer Jane Austen from 1814
By 1874 the Mill was known as Woodford Mill (even though Ringstead was just a short walk away). The millers at this time were Samuel Allen and Moses Irons Eady.
Mr. Eady sold the mill in 1880 for £795 to land-owner George Capron. Eady returned to his birth town of Burton Latimer and worked the towns Windmill whilst Mr. Allen continued tenancy with a new partner Alfred Cockerton.
One story that reached the Mercury newspaper told how Moses Irons also kept livestock and it was recorded at one time kept 48 sheep and 41 lambs on the land surrounding the mill. One day twelve-year-old Great Addington shepherd boy, Freddy Sharp, drove all the livestock to Kettering market to sell. Of course the staff at the market were suspicious and he got found out.
The case went to court but kind hearted Moses didn't want to have the boy prosecuted because of his tender age and he was let off with a stern telling off
.
Over time there have been many deaths connected with both Ringstead Mill & Willywatt Mill, In 1874 a baby was scalded to death after falling from her mother’s tethering into a boiling vat of rag pulp. 20 Ringstead people died from treading bark to make paper causing gangrene via any cuts on their legs or feet.
The bridge outside the Mill during the 19th century was a common place to commit suicide and many people were recorded in the Mercury newspaper as drowning.
In 1897 Little Addington Baker William Dodson bought not only Willywatt Mill but Ringstead Cotton Mill, even though the latter mill was in terrible shape and on its last legs. The extra head of water up stream made it more profitable for William to grind flour at Willywatt Mill.
William then went on to buy Tithe Farm and Ringstead’s Post Office and concentrated on farming, leaving his main miller Frank Hart of Ringstead in charge, who even worked up to the age of 100.
It must be noted that the house got flooded on many occasions, but the worst recorded flood was in 1947 when the flood water reached ceiling height in the ground floor rooms
.
After William Dodson the mill went to James Hawes, a coal merchant from Woodford, James then in turn passes it on to his son William J Hawes.
In 1937 the Mill ceased to work and the many bedrooms in the Mill were let to holiday makers using the rooms as guest chalets.
These days Clive and Emily Hodgson own the Mill and now the new wonderful "Water Mill" Tea Room and run by Iona
Why not pick up a copy of the Ringstead 3 Mills walk leaflet from the dispenser and take a walk along the Millers’ paths! A small donation is appreciated to support the work of the volunteers who organise the Ringstead Heritage Group.
Jon Abbott

The other Ringstead mill known as Ringstead Mills or "Cotton paper Mill" we know was in use from the 9th century and this was used for flour making then paper making took over around 1780 by John Hall, later it was used as a bone mill as per Willy Watts but what made Cotton mill famous is because of its high quality paper making and in 1812 the paper produced got sent to Northampton to a printer who dealt with making bank notes and stamps and in this year it was used to make the penny black stamp.
The stamp was the first ever to have a sticky rear for applying to envelopes & such alike.
In 1845-46 when the Railway reached Ringstead this was the downfall & closure of the working cotton mill,We think the mill stopped around 1880.
The mill house comprised of a 6 bedrooms and the field Windmill stood half a mile away towards Raunds area.(more on the mill in the farming page) as this was last used around 1840
The mill was taken down in 1936 to make way for the new lock but the mill house stayed a further three years before being taken down. Yet another Ringstead trade mark succumbing to progress of the 20th century

Paper was also sent to Jane Austen, we can prove this by water marks on the paper with John Hall the paper maker on,and on some of Jane Austen's work the water mark has Ringstead mills-John Hall

Below is William Muirhead with wife Eliza (both from up north) William a shoe maker who lived in the Mill House and who organised boat party's in the 1900's, Tea party,s, picnics and boat hire, cuttlery hire all from the Mill house.The Muirheads were there from around 1890 to 1915 as stated in the Mercury the house is up for sale.

Ringstead Cotton mill (not willy watt)

FLOODING 1874 above
It has to be mentioned that Ringstead has had four bad flooding events starting with the first one in 1874, then 1925,1956 and 1967.

BROOKS
There are two main brooks running into Ringstead, one runs in from Denford Road and in particular Whittaker's Farm (Ringstead Farm) direction and the other is the brook that runs from the fields behind Slade Farm and between the two buildings of Dodson & Horrell and these two meet on the Dodson Horrell Denford Road bend then goes through the village coming out at Carlow Road next to a small pumping station, then on to the River Nene.

These Brooks had names, firstly Agutter's Brook, this ran down adjacent to Denford road down to where Dodson and Horrell stands,at this point runs into Periwinkle Brook on the corner of the bend.this came from meadow land beyond Spencer street and a field name known as "The Valley"

The 1924 flood was particularly bad on Station Road with water running off the fields behind the cemetery and in that year the flood was so bad the coffins in the cemetery rose to the surface.

This was documented in the Mercury Newspaper and it happened because there was no drainage laid in the cemetery. And as you can imagine the village people were in uproar and soon after drainage pipes were layed to prevent this ghastly event ever happening again.

The other memorable event which was explained to me happened in 1967. Mr Ken Major of Denford Road said the water was gushing down the valley behind his property in Denford Road and coming inside his house up to a level of two feet and then also flooding the old cottages opposite Dodson and Horrell and all down Church Street. Ken did mention that one of his son's wellington boots was found outside the chip shop opposite the church some quarter of a mile away from Mr Major's house. He had marked the inside of the boots with his son's name "D Major" so it was taken back to Ken Major's house by a villager and there was no sign of the other wellington.

In 1981 when there were underground brook works at the junction of Spencer Street and Denford Road a wooden culvert was discovered in very good condition where the two main brooks met. It is thought that this was hundreds of years in age.
Way before any brooks were diverted into pipe work then covered over all the brooks were open and at various parts of the village there were narrow bridges for people to cross over.

Information that has been handed down that young children would play ball kicking from one side of the brook to the other.The North side of the village was the posh side of the village and the South the poor side.

Just to make a brief mention that Ringstead around the 1870-1890 time had a Market Place. This area was where Burnell Close junction is to Wittering's old farm stood, but it was short lived.

Ringstead Hurrricane
February 1877 saw the worst ever hurricane the village had ever seen and resulted in two deaths and damage to houses and the St Marys church in the village.

Ringstead Blacksmith

Ringstead once had a busy blacksmith or smithy as they used to call them, located near the Swan Inn down High Street and opposite the Black Horse beerhouse run by ex New Inn landlord Elijah Clark.

First record of there being one in this particular building on the attached photo was around 1800 as on a advert in the Mercury newspaper the blacksmith work place and house which was up for sale in 1838.
The last known smithy was a Freddie Davis and this was in the 1940's. Before that a David Silas worked as a smithy in the 1910-30s Today its used as a workshop or garage.
The Wesleyan church was at first a black smiths shop but later in the 17th century was converted in the church but now is a private house & used as an recording studio.

Ringstead from Above over the years.

Leveretts Row/Spring Rise
Leveretts Row was a row of houses off Carlow Road Ringstead. It was demolished in the 1960s but it was also known as Spring Rise as at the end of the row of houses was indeed a spring. In the 1940s to 1970s there was a circus and fair that used to visit Ringstead in the field opposite Leverett Row who on the times of visiting used this water from the spring for there steam engines.
Leverett Row was actually named after Ringstead's first railway station master, William Leverett.
Also in the aerial photograph you can see the prefabs which were constructed after the Second World War for the housing shortage.These were demolished in the 1980s. Bramble Close exist on this land now.
Aerial pictues kindly sent in from Sara Sharman.
.

Click the arrows to read the story above.

Ringstead Prefab Houses

From the ending of World war two there was a housing shortage and many towns and villages needed houses and quick.

These prefabricated houses were finished within three days from the concrete slab to decoration but many towns they were taken down and replaced In the sixties but in Ringstead they lasted until 1979 and built opposite the village park of church street.
Leveritts row was first called Spring rise because of a spring next to the houses, and the land where the prefabs were was called The Grove, lots of pine trees stood here and also the location of Ringstead feast & fairs and even a circus for a couple of years.
Below is the construction team who built prefabs.

Ringstead WI or Womens Institute started in the week of third of December 1931 by two ladies, Mrs R Bull and Mrs W Archer,appointing a Mrs W James as treasurer.Other committee of Mrs Forscutt and Mrs Chatman soon joining the new venture.The WI met weekly at the village Temperance hall and held talks on various hobbies Including “fruit bottling” flower arranging,folk dancing just to name a few. Also early in the 20th century a similar group namely “The chapel fellowship” was to do similar hobbies to the WI but more church related items and outings away from the village were undertaken.

The Chapel fellowship above and Ringstead WI below taken in 1965 up Denford road with a Mrs Petitt planting a tree celebrating their Anniversary of the Institute.
The second photo below taken 50 years later in 2015.

Below in the Mothers Union newspaper clip and has my Great Grandmother Eliza Abbott nee Manning,2nd on the right 2nd down,her sister below her.

The Ringstead Gift

Charities - The Ringstead Gift is administered by the incumbents and churchwardens and two other trustees in conformity with the provisions of a Scheme of the Charity Commissioners of 2 August 1864. This charity was formerly called the Charity Estate, but it goes back 400 years to 1618, land left in a Will from John Wells.
The property consists of 27 acres(mostly allotment land in Ringstead and let to various tenants and producing in 1924 £44 16s. 4d. The Scheme directed that three-fourths of the net income should be applied to educational purposes and the remaining fourth for the benefit of the deserving poor. A sum of 16s. a year understood to have been given by a person named Wells is paid out of the Drayton Estate by Mr. William Dodson of Woodford Mill, Ringstead. This is applied as part of the Ringstead Gift.

Ringstead secret role in the cold war

You wouldn't believe it and you certainly didn't know it existed but in between Ringstead & Raunds there was a secret bunker hidden 30 feet below ground at the top of Raunds hill in the shadow of a large Hay barn. Just 5 minutes walk from the New Inn pub and constructed in 1959 a nuclear warhead monitor under ground post had been constructed.
Usually manned by three persons or observers the bunker was used for the purpose of tracking warheads and upon there delivery and impact of a nuclear bomb these posts would detect the pressure wave and the exact position any impact would be. (within 25 miles)
There would be thousands situated all over the Uk and usually about 15 miles apart.There was a probe outside that also measured radioactivity fall out and have two ways of communication back to head quarters via telephone or a coded device similar to Morse code to send data.
On growing up in the village and exploring various parts of the surroundings myself and other young teenagers would often wonder what this 3 foot metal hatch was for built away from any houses, we heard rumour's it was some kind of bunker but never really got down to the nitty gritty of its presence until of its proper use not many years back.
Just 3 miles away In 1952 RAF Chelveston was allocated to the United States Air Force. The USAF planned to use Chelveston as an advanced "Reflex" base for forward deployment of the new Boeing B-47 Stratojet medium range nuclear bomber
.
All what is left over now in the position of the ROC post is just a few concrete posts and a hand full of metal objects of no use what so ever.
Soon as the cold war was over these bunkers were deserted and and in 1991 completely abandoned and filled in.
Some in the county were kept for heritage reasons and one site near kettering is as it was from the late 1950s.
The demise of the Bunker was when It got flooded because of land drainage and the team moved to the Kettering base.
The last photo which you see the men that worked at the station shows them on a photo call and are..Top row:L to R. John Maple, David Thoday. Bottom row. Clive Bottoms, Don Eaton, Alan Thoday, Peter Browning

The Quarries of Ringstead & Surrounding area

The last quarter of the 19th century saw many quarries open In Nothamptonshire, many survived for many years and into the 20th century but others just were short lived. Even now (July 2016) we see Quarry owner Mick George with a lease 15 years operating a quarry just behind Fosters farm down station road Ringstead.
After visiting the quarry in 2017 the depth got to at least 60 feet deep digging for limestone.

The very same area In 1871 were being mined for shallow Limestone digging where men with picks & shovels would put In a very long hard day for a pittance of a wage in all weathers, Even my own family descendants were Involved In this but Limestone and ironstone quarrying had been carried on in the Nene valley since Roman times.
You only need to look at some of the very old cottages In the village such as the row of Iron stone built cottages on the corner of Denford Road and Spencer street where a date stone of 1730 is embedded In the wall.

There is one very sad story of three quarry men who in the year of 1877 were caught out in the open fields not far from top lodge when a Hurricane came into being and the men must had run to shelter in the old barn up Top lodge,Unfortunately during the storm a gable end of the barn came crashing down onto the boys, three were killed and one other badly Injured.The boys are buried at the rear of the Church yard.

The following sketch shows the area where Lime stone was mined, and very close to the same position to where Mick George Is mining today.
The second sketch shows where a railway line was Installed up the side of the valley ,horses were employed to pull the carts.

and was mentioned in the Lydia Attley murder c

The above sketch shows the many quarries In the Ringstead ,Denford ,Grt Addington area. Note the railway crossing at Addington where it came across the bottom of the valley to join up with the main Ringstead Thrapston railway and the Ringstead Quarries where the present Mick George is mining where they were working in 1873.
Image of Denford road Lime kiln below, thank you to Raunds Historical society.
Lime stone kilns would when being loaded have layers of at first coal ,then lime stone then coal again so fourth until roughly 10 tons (average kiln) have been loaded in the kiln.
A fire would be started then the slow process to make quick lime would go ahead and this would take anything up to three days getting up to a temepreture of 900/100 degrees and Toxic fumes of carbon sulfide would be given off so the kiln workers would be possibly dressed in a scarf over there mouth for protection as it was a very hazardous job.
Once the heating up process was finished the slag would then be added to buckets of water so the final process of quick lime would be finished.The end result once added with sand would be plaster or mortar like product used to construct houses but even farmers used quick lime to help crops grow
The two locations of Ringstead Lime kilns were-Top lodge farm buildings and the other was sited up Denford road 50 yards into the second entrance to the allotments,where Colson & Loaring building stands now and was mentioned its position in the disappearance court case of Lydia Attley.

Ringstead House

Ringstead house is situated at the bottom of Raunds hill and opposite the New Inn public house (now private house)
First owner I've found was a wealthy farmer Joseph Dearlove and the house was built approximately 1855.
For a period of time around 1855 Dearlove ran cotton water mill and Cotton farm.

1983-Maggie Thatcher visits Burton Latimer then goes on to Ringstead to pay tribute to her Grand Fathers grave(Benjamin) at Ringstead cemetery then goes to the Church, signs the visiting book and leaves £500 donation to the church itself.No one knew about her impending visit apart from one person. The grave digger at the time who was cutting grass at the Cemetery didn't even recognize the then prime minister and just greeted the small group with his "usual hello" with a lift of his cap.Mrs Thatcher replied to a letter from the Parish magazine which they asked for any memories of her and her sister spending their school holidays in Ringstead.

Even now (Dec 2019) people remember her visit as a youngster..
Even earlier in time Winston Churchill the war time prime minister has decedents come from Ringstead with the Tuttle family 11 generations ago,

Benchmarks
What is a Benchmark ? A benchmark is a point of reference by which something can be measured. In surveying, a "benchmark" is a post or other permanent mark established at a known elevation that is used as the basis for measuring the elevation of other topographical points,even sea level, Here below are points in the village where Benchmarks are or were.

Below is the Benchmark cut out on stone on the Axe & Compass public house

Carnival of 1953
1953 Ringstead Jubilee carnival/ Pageant photograph’s -Right to left a young Alan Mayes-Jonny Coates (Ringstead school head)-Raunds sec Headmaster Hubert Speight-Janice Major-Alan Warren and Air force pilot Cliff Perry.Janice was better known as Shirley Hassledine.
When ever Cliff flew near the village he would sometimes fly fairly low over the school In his Spitfire and waggle his wings.One occasion he even dropped a small parcel in a particular field near the village then his mother would retrieve It.Brian Scrivener who lived at Gladstone street was a Spitfire pilot too.....he to tells me he flew of the School. Top Image from Alan Mayes far right..Shirley Hazzledine nee Major stands in the middle.

Ringstead chip shop
Originally the chip shop In Church street was a outside barn attached to Cottage next door,we have no date for the building but was in place on the Enclosure map of 1840 and wasn't used as a shop until Arthur Yoemans a Butcher used it first as a Wet fish shop, plus sweets were on sale to from accounts of elders of the village..Arthur would had rented this from the cottage owner.
Arthur learnt his trade at Robinson Butcher shop next door to the Black horse public house shop street. Arthur also had a slaughter yard at the back of the pub.
After Arthur moved on to Farming the shop, chip shop owner Walter Petit from Raunds took It over and sold fish & chips In the village.
After this two men Currell & Clayton took on this business.
When they left Wakey Newton took the helm for some years until he retired ans then sold on to Nigel Colson.
Nigel then sold it on to Retired police officer John Simpson.
When John and his wife parted from the shop the business went to a Irthlingborough man but his business failed and quite quickly he sold on to fast food takeaway service and this continued to the present day.

Seen at the doorway of Ringstead chip shop is John & wife Margaret Simpson.

The Derelict Cottage, 5-7 Denford Road

The cottage was built in 1711 according to the date plate on the flank wall but some parts may be older.
It was described as a farmhouse and homestead in the 1840 act of enclosure and included all the land behind it up to Back Lane. It was owned at that time by the Duke of Dorset who also owned Tithe cottage at the far end of church lane and approximately 250 acres of land in the parish. Prior to the enclosure act the land would have been a number of strips of land and grazing rights for livestock scattered all around Ringstead.
After the enclosure act the Duke’s land was consolidated into two large holdings, one to the west of the village encompassing what is now Kinewell lake plus land beyond that and land on the east side which is now largely Whittakers farm.
The duke died without an heir and the land became part of the Drayton house holdings owned by the Stopford-Sackville family whose descendants still live today in Drayton house in Lowick.
By the end of the 19th century it was three cottages rented out by the Stopford-Sackville family and known as Drayton cottages and in the first 40 years of the 20th century they became known as Agutter’s cottages after the Agutter family who were, from approximately 1890 to 1920, the tenants managing the land owned in Ringstead by the Stopford-Sackville family. According to the 1901 census there were eight people living in the first cottage, two in the second and three in the third one. By 1911 it was seven in the first, five in the second and one in the third cottage. It must have been very crowded!
It was sold by the Stopford -Sackville family in 1946 and by the 1980’s it was in a poor state and owned by the council with a plan to demolish it to straighten the road to Thrapston. Fortunately, the bypass was built instead and the plan was abandoned. The house was then bought by a developer who converted it to one home and sold it in 1991 to the present owners who called it the Derelict cottage because they kept getting mail from Anglia water addressed to the derelict cottage

Below is a transcribed document from the 15th century, it tells you the Boundary of Ringstead.

Ringstead Yard names and Cottages before houses were numbered.

Allens Yard=Behind Sivers row- Carlow rd
Abbotts Yard=yard behind the house on the corner of High st and Chapel street
Agutter's Cottage/Drayton Cottage-Cottage opposite Dodson Horrell
Barnwell Cottage=Cottage which stood close to where Bungalow next to Church is.
Butchers Lane-From Swan Inn to Chapel street, now part of High street.
Bank Cottage-Cherry Hill
Barritts Yard-Yard side of Post office
Church lane.= Opposite School.
Dearlove Cottage-Ringstead House
Leverettes Row-Spring Rise-just off Carlow rd next to Brook
Linnets Row. Carlow walk between Carlow st & Chapel st
Lower street-between the Axe pub and Station Rd
London End-Back lane
South Cottage-Next to High st car park.
Spendlove Yard-Off Cherry hill
Sawfords Gardens-Chapel st, next to where Butchers were
Station rd Lodge-Fosters farmhouse.
Sivers row/Buildings=Opposite Swan Inn
Ringstead Lodge=Top of Denford rd, the farmhouse on the corner.
The Grove=whereprefabs once stood.
Pearces Yard/yard=Behind ex-police house
Whyman's Road-Slade farm entrance
Upper Carlow St
Ringstead House-The now Manor house.