Hardingstone, Northamptonshire

Description
Hardingstone, a parish in Northamptonshire, on the river Nen, the Grand Junction Canal, and the L. & N.W.R., 2 miles S by E from Northampton, but containing the Northampton station of the L. & N.W.R. It includes the hamlets of Cotton End, Far Cotton, and Delapre Abbey, and has a post and money order office under Northampton; telegraph office. Far Cotton. Acreage, 2964; population of the civil parish, 3016; of the ecclesiastical, 764. The abbey, which stands in a beautiful park of 346 acres, was founded in the reign of Stephen, and some portions of the original building still remain. A Queen Eleanor's cross, of three stones, octagonal, and on 8 steps, is near Delapre Abbey, and was built by Edward I., and restored in 1887. A circular camp, enclosing upwards of 4 acres, and supposed to have been formed by Sweyn, the father of King Canute, is on a commanding eminence to the SW of Eleanor's cross. A battle, commonly called the battle of Northampton, between Warwick the Kingmaker and Henry VI., was fought, in 1459, at Hardingstone Fields. There are paper-mills at Far Cotton, and wharfs and warehouses on the canal at Cotton End. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Peterborough; gross yearly value, £555 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Peterborough. The church is an ancient building of stone, in mixed styles. It was thoroughly restored in 1869, and it contains some interesting tombs and monuments. There is a Baptist chapel, and there are several useful charities. James Hervey, M.A., author of " Meditations among the Tombs," was a native.