Coordinates: 52°06′11″N 1°11′02″W / 52.103°N 1.184°W
| Sulgrave | |
 Sulgrave Manor |
|
  Sulgrave
Sulgrave shown within Northamptonshire |
|
| Area | 8.3 km2 (3.2 sq mi) |
|---|---|
| Population | 410 [1](2001 Census) |
| - Density | 49 /km2 (130 /sq mi) |
| OS grid reference | |
| - London | 73 mi (117 km) |
| Parish | Sulgrave |
| District | South Northamptonshire |
| Shire county | Northamptonshire |
| Region | East Midlands |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BANBURY |
| Postcode district | OX17 |
| Dialling code | 01295 |
| Police | Northamptonshire |
| Fire | Northamptonshire |
| Ambulance | East Midlands |
| EU Parliament | East Midlands |
| UK Parliament | Daventry |
| Website | www.sulgrave.org |
| List of places: UK • England • Northamptonshire | |
Sulgrave is a village and civil parish in South Northamptonshire, England, about 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Brackley.
Contents |
Parish church
The Church of England parish church of Saint James is part of the benefice of Culworth with Sulgrave and Thorpe Mandeville and Chipping Warden with Edgecote and Moreton Pinkney.[2]
Sulgrave Manor
Sulgrave Manor, near the village, is famous for having been the home of the ancestors of George Washington. Washington Old Hall in Washington, Sunderland is the original ancestral home of the Washington family and was occupied by the family from 1100s to 1539.[3] There is also an area of Washington, close to Washington Old Hall, named Sulgrave. Sulgrave Manor has a road named after it: Sulgrave Court, situated in a housing district of Milton Keynes called Great Holm.
The original building
Leaving Wharton, Lancashire (now Cheshire), to which the family had spread in the 14th century, Lawrence Washington bought the Priory of St. Andrew, Northhampton, from the Crown in 1539, following Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries and turned it into Sulgrave Manor.[4]
The house was built of local limestone, with a wide south frontage, a kitchen and buttery, a Great Hall, and above it a Great Chamber and two smaller private chambers. All these parts survive and can be seen today. Finds of what appear to have been Tudor period foundation stones as much as 50 ft (15 m) west of the current house suggest that the original dwelling was considerably larger than the surviving house. The Great Hall has a stone floor, and its Tudor fireplace contains a salt cupboard carved with the initials of Lawrence Washington.[5]
The Washingtons held it for over one hundred years.
'ER' and stars and stripes
Lawrence added an entrance porch to the house's south front after 1558. Over the doorway set in plaster the royal arms of England and the letters 'ER', to indicate 'Elizabeth Regina' in honour of Henry VIII's daughter Elizabeth I, who had ascended to the throne. The doorway spandrels were decorated with the Washington family arms: two stripes and three stars.[5]
Later alterations
A north wing, set at right angles to Lawrence Washington's manor, was added circa 1700 by then owner, John Hodges. It contains the Great Kitchen and the Oak Parlour, on the ground floor, beneath two sleeping chambers, now known as the White Bedroom and the Chintz Bedroom. Another extension, the west wing, was built in 1929 when the house was being restored.[6]
Village amenities
Sulgrave has a 300 year old public house, the Star Inn,[7] that belongs to the Hook Norton Brewery.[8]
Sulgrave Village Shop Association Limited (SVS) was incorporated in July 2004 as an Industrial and Provident Society, owned by the residents of Sulgrave, with the object of operating a shop and Post Office. Under its constitution, profits are not for distribution to its members but must be reinvested in the enterprise for the continuation and development of its services to the community. The shop began trading in September 2004 under the direction of a management board employing a full time shop manager and supported by some 50 volunteers. As part of a newly established Rural Enterprise Network, SVS, by selling locally grown and sourced products, seeks to provide a focus for other producers and suppliers to develop and expand locally-based businesses.
References
- ^ Neighbourhood Statistics - Parish Headcounts Retrieved 2008-03-10.
- ^ A Church Near You: Benefice of Culworth with Sulgrave and Thorpe Mandeville and Chipping Warden with Edgcote and Moreton Pinkney
- ^ Branscombe, Arthur (April 1907). "Washington's Ancestral Farm: The Manor Farm, Granted To Laurence Washington By Henry VIII". The World's Work: A History of Our Time XIII: 8722–8726.
- ^ H. Clifford Smith, Sulgrave Manor and the Washingtons, London, 1933, p. 48
- ^ a b Phillips, p. 104
- ^ Phillips, p. 105
- ^ Star Inn
- ^ Hook Norton Brewery
- "Sulgrave Manor. The ancestral home of the Washingtons in Britain". Retrieved 10 November 2005.
- Phillips, Charles. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Castles, Palaces & Stately Houses of Britain & Ireland. Hermes House. London, England. 2007
External links
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