Chelveston is a small village in

North Northamptonshire North Northamptonshire is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England, and was created in 2021. The council is based in Corby, the district's la ...

. It is about east of

Higham Ferrers Higham Ferrers is a market town and civil parish in the Nene Valley in North Northamptonshire, England, close to the Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire borders. It forms a single built-up area with Rushden to the south and had a population of 8,82 ...

and east of

Wellingborough Wellingborough ( ) is a market town in the North Northamptonshire, Unitary Authority area, England, from London and from Northampton, north of the River Nene. Originally named "Wendelingburgh" (the stronghold of Wændel's people), the Anglo ...

on the B645 (former

A45 road The A45 is a major road in England. It runs east from Birmingham past the National Exhibition Centre and the M42 motorway, M42, then bypasses Coventry and Rugby, Warwickshire, Rugby, where it briefly merges with the M45 motorway, M45 until it ...

) from Higham Ferrers to

St Neots St NeotsPronunciation of the town name: Most commonly, but variations that ''saint'' is said as in most English non-georeferencing speech, the ''t'' is by a small minority of the British pronounced and higher traces of in the final syllable ...

. To the south is the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

of Caldecott and the settlement of Chelston Rise which together comprise the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Chelveston cum Caldecott. The population is now included in the

of Chelveston cum Caldecott.

History

The villages name means 'Ceolwulfs farm/settlement'. At the time of the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

, 1086, Chelveston came under the manor of

and later was awarded by the crown to different noble families. In the 1550s the manor of Chelveston was acquired by the Ekins family, who passed it down by inheritance until 1694. The last

lords of the manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

of Chelveston were the Disbrowe family, and the last lord, Lt. Col. Henry Edward Disbrowe Disbrowe-Wise CBE, who had inherited the title from his mother, sold off the last of the family's estate properties in Chelveston at auction in July 1919. Disbrowe-Wise moved to other family properties in South Derbyshire. Disbrowe Court in the village is named after them.

Parish Church

The parish church is dedicated to Saint John the Baptist and is mostly 13th century. The north arcade is 1849-50 by Edmund Francis Law, a

Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...

architect. It is a Grade II* listed building. Notable burials include Pollie Hirst Simpson.

Village Hall

Formerly the village's two room school with adjacent schoolmasters house, the school was closed in 1967 and was re-opened in 1972 as the Village Hall. In 2014 it was refurbished and extended with new toilets, shower and kitchen facilities.

Heritage assets

The following buildings and structures are listed by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

as of special architectural or historic interest. *Poplar Farmhouse (Grade II) 17th century *Manor Farmhouse (Grade II) 18th century *Manor Farmhouse, Barn (Grade II) 18th century *Duchy Farmhouse (Grade II) 17th century *Church of St John The Baptist (Grade II*) 13th century *The Cottage (Grade II) 18th century

RAF Chelveston

Nearby is the former airfield of RAF Chelveston. A new memorial to the 305th Bombardment Group (Heavy) who operated out of the airfield, was unveiled in the centre of the village on 26 May 2007.

Demography

*In 1801 there were 266 persons *In 1831 there were 332 persons *In 1841 there were 288 persons *In 2011 there were 566 personsOffice for National Statistics, Census

Chelston Rise

Beyond Caldecott is a settlement of 50 houses which were formerly used by the

US Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

to house families working at nearby bases. The site was owned by Area Estates Ltd. Some of the houses were rented out and others sold privately. This community has been renamed Chelston Rise (from the old name for Chelveston). A resident run management company took control of the private estate in 2015 when the last house was sold and has continued to run as a private estate since then.

Nearby Settlements

* Ringstead, Keyston, Stanwick,

Rushden Rushden is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Northamptonshire district, in the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England, around east of Northampton. The parish is on the border with Bedfordshire, north of B ...

Thrapston Thrapston is a market town and civil parish in the North Northamptonshire unitary authority area of Northamptonshire, England. It was the headquarters of the former East Northamptonshire district, and at the time of the 2021 census, had a pop ...

, Hargrave, Irthlingborough, Newton Bromswold,

Raunds Raunds is a market town in North Northamptonshire, England. It had a population of 9,379 at the 2021 census. Geography Raunds is situated north-east of Northampton. The town is on the southern edge of the Nene Valley and surrounded by a ...

and

References

External links

Chelveston-cum-Caldecott Parish Council website
Villages in Northamptonshire North Northamptonshire {{Northamptonshire-geo-stub