East Farndon is a small

linear village In mathematics, the term ''linear'' is used in two distinct senses for two different properties: * linearity of a '' function'' (or '' mapping''); * linearity of a ''polynomial''. An example of a linear function is the function defined by f(x)= ...

and

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 ...

about one mile south of

Market Harborough Market Harborough is a market town in the Harborough District, Harborough district of Leicestershire, England, close to the border with Northamptonshire. The population was 24,779 at the United Kingdom census, 2021, 2021 census. It is the ad ...

West Northamptonshire West 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. It contains the county town of Northampton, as wel ...

, England. The village is close to the border with

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

, and has a Leicestershire post code and telephone dialling code. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish's population was 258 people, increasing to 307 at the 2011 census. The villages name means '

Fern The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

y hill'. The village is mentioned in 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 ...

of 1086. In a field on the west side of the parish is the Judith Stone. This is a

glacial erratic A glacial erratic is a glacially deposited rock (geology), rock differing from the type of country rock (geology), rock native to the area in which it rests. Erratics, which take their name from the Latin word ' ("to wander"), are carried by gla ...

, brought from probably hundreds of miles away during an

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

. It is thought to take its name from the Countess Judith, niece of

William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...

. She is recorded in the Domesday Book as holding land in the parish, so perhaps the stone marked a boundary of some kind. The church stands at the top of a hill and the village street runs down the hill quite steeply from there towards the town of

. The church dates mainly from the 13th and 14th centuries and has a fine tower which can be seen for some miles around. King Charles's army came through the village and occupied the ridge to the south of the church before its defeat at the

Battle of Naseby The Battle of Naseby took place on 14 June 1645 during the First English Civil War, near the village of Naseby in Northamptonshire. The Roundhead, Parliamentarian New Model Army, commanded by Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, Sir Th ...

in 1645.

Notable buildings

The Historic England website contains details of a total of six listed buildings in the parish of East Farndon, all of which are Grade II apart from St John the Baptist's Church, which is Grade I. They include: * St John the Baptist's Church *East Farndon Hall, Back Road *Home Farmhouse, Back Road *Kiln Yard, Marston Lane *The Manor House, Back Road

References

External links

Village website
* Villages in Northamptonshire West Northamptonshire District Civil parishes in Northamptonshire {{Northamptonshire-geo-stub