Woodford Short History
Nineteenth Century
In 1801, according to the census, Woodford-cum-Membris had a population of 629. By 1831 it had risen to 827 but from then fell back until in 1891 it had fallen to 527.
The population changes reflect the rise and fall of English agriculture during the 19th Century with competition from imported goods. In 1851 of the 480 inhabitants of working age many were not employed outside the home but there were 170 farm labourers and farmer’s boys. At this time there were 16 farms totalling almost 2400 acres. Other occupations, reflecting the needs of a rural community, included four blacksmiths, a wheelwright, four carpenters and two sawyers. There were two stone masons, a stone breaker and two lime burners. By 1881, only 12 farms were recorded and the acreage being farmed had fallen by 17%.
We have a few snapshots of life in Woodford at this time. Richard Walter, for example was curate at St Mary’s from 1823 to 1846, but the tithes of the parish were being paid to Reverend Shirley in Derbyshire, Walter only apparently receiving a pittance for his work. Richard Walter was only installed as vicar following the appointment of his predecessor as Bishop of Sodor & Man and as a result of the intervention of Major General Sir William Napier, who wrote to the then Lord Chancellor pleading Walter’s cause. Napier's letter mentions that Walter had been wounded as a lieutenant at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, a curious connection for a village like Woodford Halse almost as far as it is possible to be from the sea in England. Richard Walter and his wife, Mary Ann, together had 10 children between 1822 and 1833 managing on what Napier calls “a very small stipend”. Richard Walter died at the age of 66 in 1851 only 5 years after being appointed.
An insight into the concerns of the wealthier folk of Woodford comes from the story of Caroline Hunt a local landowner who owned several farms and lived at Ivy Cottage / Woodford House (in Parsons Street). When (at the age of 71) she purchased Rectory Farm in 1882 she became “lay-rector” of Woodford, a role she shared with the Hinton lay-rector George Hitchcock of Hinton House. In November 1882, the Churchwardens complained about her to the Bishop of Peterborough, claiming that she had sent labourers to the church to remove pews. The Bishop ruled that the lay-rector could not do this, only being responsible for keeping the chancel in repair. The vicar, H.H. Minchin, evidently not expecting Miss Hunt to comply took legal advice and then arranged for this to be published in the Northampton Herald. Miss Hunt and the Reverend Minchin chose to conduct their debate on the matter through the newspapers in spite of living almost opposite one another (he lived in what is now “The Old Vicarage”). From her letter to the Herald it seems she was only too aware of her rights as lay-rector but had overlooked the fact that her rights came with responsibilities.
Disputes around the village were not only related to the Church. In 1860, Edward Hughes the miller at Farndon Mill, was involved in a dispute with one of his largest customers Henry Messenger the farmer at Farndon Manor. The disagreement centred on £50 (about £2500 today) for work done and goods sold. It developed into a court case before Daventry magistrate and the Northampton Herald reported on “the angry spirit in which the discussion was approached”. It was not apparently the first time that the men had brought a case to court.
The 1800s also saw the arrival of formal education for children. In 1851 a survey showed 250 children in Woodford were getting no education. This encouraged local landowner Sir Henry Dryden (of Canons Ashby) to sponsor the building of a school. Other local landowners seem to have had little interest in the project and Sir Henry’s own resources were taxed by the project which suffered delays before finally opening in 1867. Sir Henry, an architect, designed the building himself. The original building now makes up the Dryden Hall, part of the Village Centre. Nearby “School House” was given by Dryden as accommodation for the schoolmaster’s house. By 1879 the school master could report 114 children enrolled with a third of children having a better than 90% attendance record. It was only in 1891, though, that the school-pence contribution was abolished by the Government and children could attend school free of charge.
The church was still very much at the centre of village life. The Reverend Henry Herbert Minchin was vicar of St Mary’s for 17 years. He campaigned to restore the church, leading a committee that raised £3,000 (£130,000 today) over five years. The restoration took place in 1878, rebuilding much of the church in its original style and retaining many of the original features. Minchin was an enthusiastic builder having already constructed what is now the Old Vicarage in 1868 using a mortgage on the glebe land and, after swapping a piece of land with Henry Dryden for the Vicarage Cottage, restoring that building with a second mortgage on the glebe. A plaque on Vicarage Cottage reading “HHM Rebuilt 1877” probably exaggerates the amount of work done as original internal features remain. The cottage was used by Minchin to accommodate divinity students that he tutored for university entrance.
In 1894, Woodford had four shops, two inns, a bakery and a smithy listed in the local Kelly’s Directory mainly on High Street and Parsons Street. In 1891 there had been 597 residents in the parish. Ten years later that figure had more than doubled.