Irchester


Irchester is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Wellingborough in Northamptonshire, two miles south-east of the town of Wellingborough and two miles south-west of Rushden. The population at the 2011 Census was 4,745. Little Irchester and Knuston also lie in the parish.

Toponym

Irchester was spelt Yranceaster in 973 and Irencestre in the 1086 Domesday Book. A. D. Mills wrote that name was formed from the Old English personal name Ira or *Yra with the suffix ceaster denoting a Roman station, but another theory is that Iren Ceastre was an Anglo-Saxon name meaning "iron fortress". In the 11th century, it was spelt Erncestre or Archester and had evolved to Erchester by the 12th century.

History

Chester Farm is one mile north of the village of Irchester, with the A45 road to its south and the River Nene to the north. The area "represents a unique piece of historic landscape of high importance... preserving in a small area a wide range of historic features spanning several thousand years" and is a scheduled monument protected by law. Mesolithic flints have been found, with signs of later prehistoric settlement and a "nationally important" walled Roman town.
The Roman name of the settlement has been lost, but evidence has been found of many buildings, a cemetery, occupation outside the town walls, and a causeway across the Nene floodplain. A Romano-Celtic temple was recorded inside the town boundary. Square-shaped, it faced south-east; its outer portico measured 38 feet square and the inner cella about 17 feet square. The walls were around two feet thick. The tombstone of a Strator Consularis – 'a transportation officer of the consular governor' – was also found at the town, and an inscription found at Irchester suggests evidence of an organised horse-breeding operation.
A road running north–south through the middle of the site and three rectangular buildings to the west of the road have been identified. As only one Roman road has been found leading away from the site, to the south, it is "highly likely" that the river was used as a means of transport and communication with other Roman settlements at Duston, to the south-west, and Thrapston, to the north-east.
Next to the Roman walled town, there are remains of the medieval hamlet of Chester by the Water and the later Chester House and Farm which had gardens and parkland. In the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, ironstone quarrying took place to the south-west of Chester, but most of the site avoided serious damage. The tramways and other industrial artifacts have since become "historically important" in their own right.
In 2004, Northamptonshire County Council received a grant of £1.2 million from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and purchased Chester Farm, including the walled Roman town and the deserted medieval village of Chester on the Water. Wellingborough's Local Plan states that "planning permission will be granted for a heritage park in association with the archaeological remains of the Chester camp ancient monument." as part of the planned River Nene Regional Park. The aims in developing the park are to make Chester Farm accessible to the public and provide opportunities for education, leisure and recreation. However, the park plan stalled, for want of "a viable business plan and subsequent pressure on resources." A county council report of November 2007 stated, "In order to safeguard the heritage asset, Cabinet is asked to... declare Chester Farm surplus to the operational requirements of the Council and to approve its sale." Subsequently, in 2010, the farmhouse was gutted by fire.
In 2013, the Chester Farm site, owned by Northamptonshire County Council, received £4 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund to open it to the public. The project was to include an archaeological resource centre. The 17th-century farmhouse on the site was badly damaged by the fire in 2010. The council received a £1.9 million insurance payout for repairs. The lottery money was used to build a classroom, a conference space and an archaeological resource centre. The site is partly open to the public, with car parking to the west of it.

Possible medieval identification

The 12th-century English historian Henry of Huntingdon mentions a Roman "town on the river, in Huntingdonshire, which is entirely destroyed" as one of his interpretations of the 28 cities of Britain. The town is again mentioned by William Lambarde in his Dictionarium Angliae Topographicum & Historicum.
Henry names this town as Dormchester a name that he translates from the Celtic Kair-Dorm. The '-Dorm' element may translate as water, if so, there is a possible continuation of the name into English as Chester-on-the-Water. Currently however, no modern study has entirely rejected or accepted this hypothesis.

Governance

Irchester Parish Council meets at the village hall once a month. The parish is represented on Borough of Wellingborough Council by three councillors for the ward of Irchester, and on Northamptonshire County Council by one councillor. It is in the parliamentary constituency of Wellingborough; the current Member of Parliament is Peter Bone MP.

Geography

Irchester lies to the south-east of the town of Wellingborough and to the south-west of Rushden, in the east of the county of Northamptonshire. It is north-east of the county town of Northampton and a beeline north-west of central London. The border of the parish is formed by the River Nene in the north and west; adjacent parishes are Wellingborough, Great Doddington, Wollaston, Podington in Bedfordshire, and Rushden. The height above sea level ranges from 40 metres in the river valley to 91 metres south of Irchester village.

Demography

At the 2001 census, the population of Irchester parish was 4,807, living in 2,020 households: 2,397 male and 2,410 female, with a mean age of 41 years. Of those aged 16–74 and economically active, 2,352 were employed and 80 unemployed. Most of the employed travelled to work by motorcycle, car or van; 126 used public transport. The population at the 2011 Census had fallen to 4,745. The mean distance travelled to a fixed place of work was. In 1851, the parish population was 960 and in 1861, 1,168; writing in 1872, John Marius Wilson ascribed the increase to "the opening of the railway and... the discovery of iron stone."

Transport

The nearest motorway is the M1 – junction 15 is 13 miles away. The nearest railway station is at Wellingborough, about 2 miles from the village. Places served by direct East Midlands Railway trains include London, Luton, Bedford, Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield. Irchester itself had a station to the east of the village until 1965. The Association of Train Operating Companies and some locals have argued that it should be reopened.
The main bus service to the village is Stagecoach Group's X46, which connects with Wellingborough, Rushden, Northampton, Earls Barton, Higham Ferrers and Raunds. Luton Airport, 30 miles south, is the nearest passenger airport, although there is an aerodrome at Sywell, 10 miles north-west.

Education

A playgroup meets at the village hall in School Road. Irchester Primary School in nearby School Lane has some 330 pupils aged 4–11. The nearest secondary school is in Wollaston.

Amenities

The village has a health centre, car repairs, a car sales garage, a pharmacy, a library and a post office. Shops include a Co-operative supermarket. A former gift shop and estate agent have closed. There is a fish and chip shop and Chinese and Indian takeaways. Of the two pubs in the village, the Red Lion closed a few years ago, leaving only the Carpenters Arms.

Sport and leisure

The local football team, Irchester United, known as The Romans, plays in the United Counties League Premier. The ground is in Alfred Street. Irchester Bowls Club on the High Street, also known as The Romans, has a county-standard class "A" Green. Irchester Cricket Club was founded in 1897 and plays at Alfred Street, in the Northamptonshire Cricket League.
Irchester Players is an amateur dramatic society. It puts on plays, shows, musicals and pantomimes, at Parsons Hall in the village.

Country park

The village has a large country park managed by Northamptonshire County Council, created after local opencast ironstone quarries were allowed to revert to the wild, having been worked out some decades after the war. The removal of the ironstone and some limestone that overlaid it has lowered the land around the working face by several metres, though this is not apparent except near the vehicle entrance. The park has an unusual ridge-and=furrow topography with several metres' relief, marking the movement patterns of the machines that stripped the overburden to expose the ironstone. The park offers maturing woodlands and grassy meadows with surrounding trails. There is also a children's play area and a café.
Irchester Narrow Gauge Railway Museum in the country park shows working steam and diesel locomotives among more than 40 items of rolling stock. A 250-metre demonstration track can be seen.
Since November 2019, Irchester Country Park has hosted a free, weekly parkrun or timed 5-km run/walk, every Saturday morning at 9 a. m.

Notable residents