# Helmdon

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Helmdon
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Helmdon.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmdon
> Source revision: 1307574742
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|Village in Northamptonshire, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2014}}
{{Infobox UK place
 | country                  = England
 | official_name            = Helmdon
 | static_image_name        = Helmdon Church - geograph.org.uk - 1338375.jpg
 | static_image_caption     = St Mary Magdalene parish church
 | coordinates              = {{coord|52.089|-1.148|display=inline,title}}
 | os_grid_reference        = SP5843
 | london_distance          = {{convert|72|mi|0}}
 | population               = 899
 | population_ref           = ([2011 Census](/source/United_Kingdom_Census_2011))<ref name=ONS>{{cite web |url=http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11124450&c=Helmdon&d=16&e=62&g=6452234&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1385058309234&enc=1 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20131121183823/http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11124450&c=Helmdon&d=16&e=62&g=6452234&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1385058309234&enc=1 |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 November 2013 |title=Area: Helmdon (Parish); Key Figures for 2011 Census: Key Statistics |work=[Neighbourhood Statistics](/source/Neighbourhood_Statistics) |publisher=[Office for National Statistics](/source/Office_for_National_Statistics) |access-date=21 November 2013 }}</ref>
 | civil_parish             = Helmdon
 | unitary_england          = [West Northamptonshire](/source/West_Northamptonshire)
 | lieutenancy_england      = [Northamptonshire](/source/Northamptonshire)
 | region                   = East Midlands
 | constituency_westminster = [Northamptonshire South](/source/Northamptonshire_South_(UK_Parliament_constituency))
 | post_town                = [Brackley](/source/Brackley)
 | postcode_district        = NN13
 | postcode_area            = NN
 | dial_code                = 01295
 | website                  = [http://www.helmdon.com/ Welcome to Helmdon]
}}

'''Helmdon''' is a village and [civil parish](/source/Civil_parishes_in_England) about {{convert|4|mi}} north of [Brackley](/source/Brackley) in [West Northamptonshire](/source/West_Northamptonshire), England. 
The village is on the [River Tove](/source/River_Tove), which is flanked by meadows that separate the village into two. The parish includes the hamlets of [Astwell](/source/Astwell) and [Falcutt](/source/Falcutt) and covers more than {{convert|1550|acre}}.<ref name=RCHME>{{harvnb|RCHME|1982|pp=80–88}}</ref> The [2011 Census](/source/United_Kingdom_Census_2011) recorded a parish population of 899.<ref name=ONS/>

The villages name means 'Helma's valley'. Alternatively, 'Helma (= helmet)' may be the name of a nearby hill. Early spellings also reflect confusion with [Old English](/source/Old_English) 'hamol' meaning, 'maimed'.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Northamptonshire/Helmdon|title=Key to English Place-names}}</ref>

==Manor==
Helmdon's [toponym](/source/Toponymy) is probably derived from [Old English](/source/Old_English) ''Helman denu'' "Helma's valley"; ''Helma'' is an unrecorded Old English masculine name.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Watts |editor-first1=Victor  |title=The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names |date=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, England |isbn=0-521-36209-1 |page=295}}</ref> In the reign of [Edward the Confessor](/source/Edward_the_Confessor) two Saxons, Alwin and Godwin, held the manor "freely", ''i.e.'' without a feudal over[lord](/source/lord).<ref name=Adkins322>{{harvnb|Adkins|Serjeantson|1902|p=322}}</ref> They were dispossessed after the [Norman Conquest of England](/source/Norman_Conquest_of_England) and the [Domesday Book](/source/Domesday_Book) of 1086 records that [Robert, Count of Mortain](/source/Robert%2C_Count_of_Mortain) held a [manor](/source/Manorialism) at ''"Elmedene"''.<ref name=Adkins322/> In the 12th century on William de Torewelle ([Turville](/source/Turville)) held the manor of ''"Helmendene"'' of the [fee](/source/Fief) of [Leicester](/source/Earl_of_Leicester).{{sfn|Adkins|Serjeantson|1902|p=369}} On both occasions the manor was assessed at four [hides](/source/Hide_(unit)).<ref name=Adkins322/>{{sfn|Adkins|Serjeantson|1902|p=369}} The toponym continued to evolve: in about 1340 it was recorded as ''Helmydene''.<ref name=Parry/>

William's descendants continued as the lesser lords of Helmdon until the 16th century. In 1317 Nicholas de Turville granted 97{{fraction|1|2}} [acre](/source/acre)s at Helmdon to his daughter Sarah and her husband Robert Lovett.<ref name=Mawson>{{harvnb|Mawson|Moody|2001|pp=177–184}}</ref> In 1562 George Lovett sold Helmdon to Lancelot Wilton of Brackley, who 16 months later sold it on to [Magdalen College, Oxford](/source/Magdalen_College%2C_Oxford).<ref name=Mawson/> The college remained Helmdon's largest landowner until at least the 18th century, by which time [Worcester College, Oxford](/source/Worcester_College%2C_Oxford) also held a significant estate in the parish.<ref name=Mawson/>

Helmdon's main [manor house](/source/manor_house), Overbury, seems to have been at the southern end of the village, south of the parish church.<ref name=RCHME/> Slight earthworks suggest the position of not only the manor house but also other houses and three former ponds<ref name=RCHME/> that may have been manorial [fish pond](/source/fish_pond)s.

==Church and chapel==

===Church of England===
The [Church of England parish church](/source/Church_of_England_parish_church) of Saint [Mary Magdalene](/source/Mary_Magdalene) is predominantly [Decorated Gothic](/source/English_Gothic_architecture).<ref name=EH-church>{{NHLE |num= 1371508 |desc=Church of St Mary Magdalene |date=9 February 1969 |accessdate=22 November 2013}}</ref> [English Heritage](/source/English_Heritage) dates the earliest building work to the 14th century<ref name=EH-church/> but local opinion holds the [nave](/source/nave) and [aisles](/source/Aisle) to be 13th century.<ref name=Parry>{{harvnb|Parry|1986–87|pp=258–269}}</ref><ref name=Spendlove>{{cite web |last=Spendlove |first=Jean |year=2008 |orig-year=1988 |title=Saint Mary Magdalene, Helmdon – A History |url= http://www.helmdon.com/parishchurch/church_history.htm |access-date=22 November 2013}}</ref> It is a [Grade II* listed building](/source/Listed_building).<ref name=EH-church/>

Until the [English Reformation](/source/English_Reformation) the church was dedicated to [Saint Nicholas](/source/Saint_Nicholas).<ref name=Spendlove/> The oldest parts are the nave and three-[bay](/source/Bay_(architecture))<ref name=Pevsner>{{harvnb|Pevsner|Cherry|1973|p=253}}</ref> south aisle, which may be early 13th-century.<ref name=Spendlove/> The south aisle includes a tomb recess<ref name=Pevsner/> with a [Purbeck Marble](/source/Purbeck_Marble) slab and foliated cross.<ref name=EH-church/> The [arcade](/source/Arcade_(Architecture)) of the north aisle is of a different style that suggests a later date, possibly late 13th-century.<ref name=Spendlove/> Authorities agree that the chancel is 14th-century.<ref name=EH-church/><ref name=Spendlove/> It has an ornately cusped, [ogee](/source/ogee)d and [crocket](/source/crocket)ted [piscina](/source/piscina) and three-bay [sedilia](/source/sedilia),<ref name=EH-church/> plus a low-side window on each side.<ref name=Pevsner/>

The clerestory of the nave was added later, possibly in the 15th century.<ref name=EH-church/><ref name=Spendlove/> The clerestory's timber roof ties and [purlin](/source/purlin)s may be 15th-century originals.<ref name=EH-church/> The original west tower was probably 14th-century,<ref name=Spendlove/> but was rebuilt in 1823<ref name=EH-church/><ref name=Pevsner/> reusing elements of the original Decorated Gothic masonry.<ref name=Spendlove/> The church was [restored](/source/Victorian_restoration) in 1841, and again under the direction of [EF Law](/source/Edmund_Francis_Law) in 1876.<ref name=EH-church/> During the restoration an [Early English Gothic](/source/English_Gothic_architecture) piscina was found under some pews in the north aisle, and was set in the wall near the north door.<ref name=Spendlove/>

Small sections of [Medieval stained glass](/source/Medieval_stained_glass) survive in the heads of some of the windows.<ref name=Pevsner/> One in the north-east window of the north aisle depicts a stonemason at work.<ref name=EH-church/> It gives his name, William Campiun, and has been dated to 1313.<ref name=Spendlove/> This suggests that he was a benefactor, at least paying for the window and probably contributing to the building of the north aisle.<ref name=Spendlove/> Such a medieval representation of a craftsman or tradesman is unusual, and one giving his name and so precisely datable is particularly rare.<ref name=Spendlove/> However, stone-quarrying was by then a significant industry in Helmdon, it supplied most or all of the stone for the church, and leading local masons would have had considerable economic standing.<ref name=Parry/>

Taxation records show that in 1291 the Hospital of St John Baptist and St John Evangelist, Northampton held the rectory of Helmdon.{{sfn|Serjeantson|Adkins|1906|pp=156–159}} It is now part of the parish of St Mary Magdalene, Helmdon with [Stuchbury](/source/Stuchbury) and [Radstone](/source/Radstone),<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.achurchnearyou.com/helmdon-stuchbury-radstone-st-mary-magdalene/ |title=St Mary Magdalene, Helmdon w Stuchbury & Radstone |author=Archbishops' Council |author-link=Archbishops' Council |publisher=[Church of England](/source/Church_of_England) |year=2010 |access-date=22 November 2013}}</ref> which in turn is part of the [Benefice](/source/benefice) of the Astwell Group of Parishes.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.achurchnearyou.com/benefice.php?B=28/008BM |title=Benefice of The Astwell Group of Parishes |author=Archbishops' Council |author-link=Archbishops' Council |publisher=[Church of England](/source/Church_of_England) |year=2010 |access-date=22 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203012046/http://www.achurchnearyou.com/benefice.php?B=28%2F008BM |archive-date=3 December 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The tower has a [ring](/source/Change_ringing) of six bells. Henry II Bagley of [Chacombe](/source/Chacombe)<ref name=DoveFounders>{{cite web |url= http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/founders.php |author=Dovemaster |title=Bellfounders |date=31 October 2012 |access-date=22 November 2013}}</ref> cast the fourth, fifth and tenor bells in 1679.<ref name=Spendlove/><ref name=DoveDetails>{{cite web |url= http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?searchString=Helmdon&Submit=+Go+&DoveID=HELMDON |last=Dawson |first=George |title=Helmdon S Mary Magd |date=11 December 2009 |access-date=22 November 2013}}</ref> John Briant of [Hertford](/source/Hertford)<ref name=DoveFounders/> cast the treble bell in 1797.<ref name=DoveDetails/> The [Taylor](/source/John_Taylor_%26_Co) family of [bellfounders](/source/Bellfounding) of [Loughborough](/source/Loughborough) cast the third bell in 1834, the second bell in 1855 and recast the fourth bell in 1890. [Gillett & Johnston](/source/Gillett_%26_Johnston) of [Croydon](/source/Croydon)<ref name=DoveFounders/> recast the fifth bell in 1951.<ref name=DoveDetails/> The church has also a [Sanctus bell](/source/Church_bell) that was cast by an unidentified founder in about 1816.<ref name=DoveDetails/>

The old Rectory may have been 16th-century or earlier. In 1856 the then Rector, Rev. Charles Milman Mount, had it demolished and replaced with a new one (now Helmdon House).{{sfn|Parry|2008}} In the porch of the 1856 rectory is the wooden [lintel](/source/lintel) of a [Tudor](/source/Tudor_architecture) fireplace bearing a carved dragon, the year 1533 (or 35) and a set of initials.<ref name=Pevsner/>

===Baptist===
Helmdon [Baptist](/source/Baptist_Union_of_Great_Britain) chapel in Wappenham Road opened in 1841.<ref name=Baptist>{{cite web |url= http://www.helmdon.com/trail/tier1/baptistchapel.html |title=Baptist Chapel |work=Helmdon Trail |access-date=22 November 2013}}</ref> In 1953 a schoolroom was added.<ref name=Baptist/> The building became unsafe and was closed as a place of worship in 2004.<ref name=Baptist/> Baptists from Helmdon now worship at [Weston](/source/Weston%2C_Northamptonshire) Baptist chapel,<ref name=Baptist/> about {{convert|2|mi|0}} away.

==Economic and social history==
thumb|18th-century cottages in Wappenham Road

===Building stone===
Helmdon Stone is a pale [limestone](/source/limestone) of the [Middle Jurassic](/source/Middle_Jurassic) [Taynton Limestone Formation](/source/Taynton_Limestone_Formation).{{sfn|Anonymous|2011|p=16}} It is a [freestone](/source/Freestone_(masonry)), ''i.e.'' it can be sawn in any direction to make [ashlar](/source/ashlar).<ref name=Parry/> The quarries were on the north side of the Tove Valley, on the low ridge just beyond the northern edge of the village.{{sfn|Parry|1986–87|loc=Fig. 1}} There were either side of the minor roads to Weston and [Sulgrave](/source/Sulgrave), extending about {{convert|1000|yd}} east–west from just east of the footpath to Weston Farm to the boundary of what became the course of the [Great Central Main Line](/source/Great_Central_Main_Line).{{sfn|Parry|1986–87|loc=Fig. 1}}

Stone may have been quarried in the parish since the late 13th century.<ref name=Parry/> Finely-carved stone used to build the [Eleanor Cross at Hardingstone](/source/Hardingstone) (started 1291) and to face the west front of the priory church of [Canons Ashby Priory](/source/Canons_Ashby_Priory) resembles that from Helmdon.{{sfn|Anonymous|2011|p=17}} In about 1340 ''Helmydene'' supplied stone to repair the [Church of St James the Less, Sulgrave](/source/Church_of_St_James_the_Less%2C_Sulgrave).<ref name=Parry/>

Helmdon stone gained fame in the late 17th century. For a century it was included in the building of some of the region's finest [stately home](/source/stately_home)s. The first was [Stowe House](/source/Stowe_House), whose builders used Helmdon stone from 1677, and especially from 1710 to 1777.<ref name=Parry/> This was followed by [Easton Neston](/source/Easton_Neston_house) House near [Towcester](/source/Towcester), completed 1702; [Blenheim Palace](/source/Blenheim_Palace) in the period 1705–10; and [Woburn Abbey](/source/Woburn_Abbey) from 1749 to 1780.<ref name=Parry/> Helmdon may also have supplied stone to build [Brackley Town Hall](/source/Brackley_Town_Hall) in 1705–06 and to remodel [Canons Ashby House](/source/Canons_Ashby_House) in 1708–10.<ref name=Parry/> In 1739 Helmdon supplied some of the stone for [Shalstone](/source/Shalstone) House in Buckinghamshire.<ref name=Parry/>

Blenheim is {{convert|26|mi}} from Helmdon, and most of its stone was supplied by much nearer quarries in [Oxfordshire](/source/Oxfordshire): either [Burford](/source/Burford) and [Taynton](/source/Taynton%2C_Oxfordshire)<ref name=Parry/> or [Cornbury Park](/source/Cornbury_Park) and [Glympton](/source/Glympton).{{sfn|Arkell|1948|p=53}} Woburn is {{convert|31|mi}} away and most of its stone was supplied by nearer quarries at [Ketton](/source/Ketton_stone) and [Totternhoe](/source/Totternhoe_Stone).<ref name=Parry/> The inclusion of Helmdon stone in these prestigious projects shows how highly it was regarded at the time.<ref name=Parry/> Early 18th-century writers praised it as some of the finest building stone in England.<ref name=Parry/> However, after 1780 Helmdon stone ceased to be of more than local importance.<ref name=Parry/>

===Lace===
thumb|18th-century barn at Priory Farm
The trade of making lace by hand was a well-established [cottage industry](/source/Putting-out_system) in the [East Midlands](/source/East_Midlands) by the late 16th century, and the earliest record of it in Helmdon dates from 1718.{{sfn|Harwood|1997}} Makers around [Towcester](/source/Towcester) and [Buckingham](/source/Buckingham) had a reputation for the finest lace,{{sfn|Harwood|1997}} and although mechanised competition began with [Heathcoat's bobbin net machine](/source/John_Heathcoat) in 1808, quality lace-making by hand thrived for several more decades. Helmdon had lace-making schools that taught girls the trade from an early age.{{sfn|Harwood|1997}} Lace-making in the parish peaked in the middle of the 19th century, when the [1851 Census](/source/United_Kingdom_Census_1851) recorded that 94 women and girls — more than 30% of all Helmdon's female inhabitants — worked in the trade, and the youngest workers were under 10 years old.{{sfn|Harwood|1997}} Thereafter mechanical lace-making did reduce the market for hand-made lace. The [1891 Census](/source/United_Kingdom_Census_1891) recorded only six women in Helmdon employed in the trade, and only one of those was aged under 40.{{sfn|Harwood|1997}}

===Agriculture===
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Helmdon Inclosure Act 1757
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of Great Britain
| long_title            = An Act for dividing and enclosing the Open and Common Fields, Common Meadows, Common Ground, and Waste Ground, in the Manor and Parish of Helmdon, in the County of Northampton.
| year                  = 1758
| citation              = [31 Geo. 2](/source/31_Geo._2). c. ''33'' {{small|Pr.}}
| territorial_extent    = [Great Britain](/source/Great_Britain)
| royal_assent          = 9 June 1758
| commencement          = 1 December 1757{{efn|Start of session.}}
| expiry_date           = 
| repeal_date           = 
| repealing_legislation = 
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = Current
| original_text         = 
| collapsed             = yes
}}
Traces of traditional [ridge and furrow](/source/ridge_and_furrow) ploughing survive in much of the parish, and particularly in the south.<ref name=RCHME/> They are evidence of the [open field system](/source/open_field_system) of farming that prevailed in the parish until 1758, when [Parliament](/source/Parliament_of_Great_Britain) passed an [inclosure act](/source/inclosure_act) for Helmdon, the '''{{visible anchor|Helmdon Inclosure Act 1757}}''' ([31 Geo. 2](/source/31_Geo._2). c. ''33'' {{small|Pr.}}).<ref name=RCHME/>

===Leisure===
A few 17th-century records name Helmdon victuallers in 1630, 1673 and 1692, but none says where there alehouses were or what they were called.{{sfn|Harwood|1998}} Helmdon's earliest [public house](/source/public_house) to be recorded by name was the Cross in Cross Lane.{{sfn|Harwood|1998}} It was built late in the 17th century,<ref name=EH-Cross>{{NHLE |num= 1371511 |desc=The Old Cross |date=22 June 1987 |accessdate=22 November 2013}}</ref> and takes its name from the Cross family that ran it from then until late in the 18th century.<ref name=Harwood-Cross>{{harv|Harwood|1998|loc=http://www.helmdon.com/trail/tier2/THECROSS.HTM}}</ref> Early in the 19th century Hopcroft and Norris's brewery in Brackley acquired it as a [tied house](/source/tied_house).<ref name=Harwood-Cross/> The Cross closed on 15 August 1914,<ref name=Harwood-Cross/> just a fortnight after the [outbreak of the First World War](/source/World_War_I). It is now a private house called the Old Cross.<ref name=EH-Cross/>

Publicans of the Cross included James Campin (in 1884–1909) and Edward Campin (in 1913),<ref name=EH-Cross/> who share the same local surname as the stonemason William Campiun commemorated in the parish church in 1313. The last Campin in Helmdon died in 1969.<ref name=Spendlove/>

The Chequers opposite the parish school was trading by 1758 and possibly much earlier.<ref name=Harwood-Chequers>{{harv|Harwood|1998|loc=http://www.helmdon.com/trail/tier2/thechequers.htm}}</ref> In 1872 it was taken over by Hopcroft and Norris, which in 1945 merged with the [Chesham](/source/Chesham) Brewery to form the Chesham and Brackley Brewery.<ref name=Harwood-Chequers/> By 1960 it had passed to [Phipps Northampton Brewery Company](/source/Phipps_NBC), which in 1970 sold it to [Charles Wells Ltd](/source/Charles_Wells_Ltd) of Bedford.<ref name=Harwood-Chequers/> It was closed in 1992, demolished and replaced by four new houses.<ref name=Harwood-Chequers/>

The [King William IV](/source/William_IV_of_the_United_Kingdom) was trading by 1841,<ref name=Harwood-Bell>{{harv|Harwood|1998|loc=http://www.helmdon.com/trail/tier2/THEBELL.HTM}}</ref> just four years after the death of its namesake. In about 1884 it became a tied house of the [Leamington](/source/Royal_Leamington_Spa) Brewery Company and its name was changed to The Bell.<ref name=Harwood-Bell/> After 1934 a dance hall with a [sprung floor](/source/sprung_floor) was built behind the pub.<ref name=Harwood-Bell/> Also in the middle of the 20th century the Bell diversified as a [filling station](/source/filling_station), with a single hand-operated petrol pump outside.<ref name=Harwood-Bell/> The dance hall was demolished and replaced with a bungalow before 1970 but the petrol pump remained well into the 1970s.<ref name=Harwood-Bell/> The Bell continues to trade today.<ref name=TheBell>{{Cite web |url=http://www.thebellhelmdon.co.uk/ |title=The Bell at Helmdon |access-date=23 November 2013 |archive-date=3 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203003843/http://www.thebellhelmdon.co.uk/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The Cock and Magpie in Wappenham Road opposite the Baptist chapel was trading by 1861.<ref name=Harwood-Magpie>{{harv|Harwood|1998|loc=http://www.helmdon.com/trail/tier2/themagpie.htm}}</ref> Its name was later shortened to the Magpie.<ref name=Harwood-Magpie/> When the [Great Central Main Line](/source/Great_Central_Main_Line) was being built in the second half of the 1890s, the landlord added a wooden building behind the pub in which he lodged some of the [navvies](/source/Navvy).<ref name=Harwood-Magpie/> The Magpie closed down in 1909,<ref name=Harwood-Magpie/> giving it the shortest trading life of Helmdon's four known pubs. It is now a private house, Magpie Cottage.<ref name=Harwood-Magpie/>

thumb|Helmdon Reading Room, built in 1887
A Charles Fairbrother had the Reading Room built in 1887 as a men's meeting place as an alternative to the pubs.<ref name=Folgham>{{cite web |last1=Folgham |first1=Audrey |last2=Spendlove |first2=Jean |title=Reading Room |series=Helmdon Trail |url= http://www.helmdon.com/trail/tier1/readingroom2.html |access-date=22 November 2013}}</ref> Newspapers and magazines were donated and until 1930 a small annual subscription was charged.<ref name=Folgham/> Women were not admitted until 1921, when the local [Women's Institute](/source/Women's_Institutes) started meeting there.<ref name=Folgham/> It was run by the parish Rector and [churchwarden](/source/churchwarden)s until the 1970s, when it was transferred to the [parish council](/source/Parish_councils_in_England).<ref name=Folgham/> Throughout its history the Reading Room has been the meeting place of many of Helmdon's activities, serving in effect as the [village hall](/source/village_hall).<ref name=Folgham/>

===School===
Helmdon School was planned in 1852 as a [National School](/source/National_school_(England_and_Wales)) and built and opened in 1853 on land given by Worcester College, Oxford.<ref name=Ipgrave>{{harvnb|Ipgrave|1999|pp=116–145}}</ref> The original building included a house for the schoolmaster, which was sold as a private house in 1970.<ref name=Ipgrave/> In 1872 more land was acquired and an additional classroom was built.<ref name=Ipgrave/>

After [Parliament](/source/Parliament_of_the_United_Kingdom) passed the [Elementary Education Act 1870](/source/Elementary_Education_Act_1870), control of the school was transferred from the [Church of England](/source/Church_of_England) parish to the local [School Board](/source/School_boards_in_England_and_Wales).<ref name=Ipgrave/> The school was refurbished in 1933 and extended in 1975.<ref name=Ipgrave/> It is now a [primary school](/source/Primary_school).<ref name=School>[http://www.helmdonprimaryschool.com/ Helmdon Primary School]</ref>

===Railways===
[[File:Helmdon Station - geograph.org.uk - 1341903.jpg|thumb|Bridge carrying Station Road over the dismantled [Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway](/source/Stratford-upon-Avon_and_Midland_Junction_Railway) next to the site of the former SMJR station]]
[[File:Helmdon Viaduct - geograph.org.uk - 22122.jpg|thumb|Helmdon Viaduct, part of the dismantled [Great Central Main Line](/source/Great_Central_Main_Line)]]
In 1872 the Northampton and Banbury Junction Railway (from 1910 part of the [Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway](/source/Stratford-upon-Avon_and_Midland_Junction_Railway) (SMJR)) was opened between {{rws|Blisworth}} and {{rws|Farthinghoe}}. It passed roughly east–west along the Tove Valley through the middle of the village, where its [Helmdon station](/source/Helmdon_Village_railway_station) was opened.

In the 1890s a [civil engineering](/source/civil_engineering) contractor, Walter Scott and Company of [Newcastle upon Tyne](/source/Newcastle_upon_Tyne), built the section of the [Great Central Main Line](/source/Great_Central_Main_Line) (GCML) between {{rws|Woodford Halse}} and {{rws|Brackley Central}}.{{sfn|Boyd-Hope|Sargent|Newton|2007|p=10}} From 1894 to 1898 Scott had a construction yard in the Tove Valley at Helmdon with a network of sidings connected to the SMJR.<ref name=BoydHope>{{harvnb|Boyd-Hope|Sargent|Newton|2007|p=100}}</ref> It was next to where the company built Helmdon Viaduct, a nine-arch structure of [Staffordshire blue brick](/source/Staffordshire_blue_brick) that carried the GCML main line across the valley.<ref name=BoydHope/>

The main line linked northern England with {{rws|London Marylebone}} and opened in 1899. It ran roughly north–south through the parish, passing just west of the village. There the [Great Central Railway](/source/Great_Central_Railway) (GCR) opened its own {{rws|Helmdon}} station, causing some confusion with the SMJR's existing Helmdon station. In the 1920s [Sulgrave Manor House](/source/Sulgrave), about {{convert|2+1/4|mi|0}} from Helmdon, was restored as a museum to the family of [George Washington](/source/George_Washington), whose ancestors held that manor from 1540 to 1659.<ref>{{NHLE |num= 1001040 |desc=Sulgrave Manor |date=25 June 1984 |accessdate=11 November 2013}}</ref> In response the [London and North Eastern Railway](/source/London_and_North_Eastern_Railway), which had succeeded the GCR in 1923, renamed its main line station "Helmdon for Sulgrave" from 1928.

[British Rail](/source/British_Rail)ways closed the SMJR station and line in 1951, the GCML main line station in 1963 and the main line in 1966. Helmdon Viaduct survives.

===Shops===
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Helmdon a dozen or more shops.<ref name=Vicars>{{harvnb|Vicars|2005|pp=202–210}} {{Dead link|date=May 2021}}</ref> By the 1930s they included a post office, three grocers, a butcher, an egg-dealer, a fruiterer, a baker, a newsagent, a tailor and a shoe repairer.<ref name=Vicars/> Other local tradesmen included two coal merchants, a wheelwright who also made coffins, a builder who was also the parish undertaker, and even a maker of boot polish.<ref name=Vicars/> Butchers from Brackley and [Syresham](/source/Syresham) delivered to customers in Helmdon, and some Helmdon traders sold their goods beyond the parish.<ref name=Vicars/> Helmdon's last [village shop](/source/General_store) was Bungalow Stores in Station Road,<ref name=Vicars/> which closed in 2011.{{citation needed|date=November 2013}}

==Amenities==
The Bell continues to trade as both a pub and an hotel.<ref name=TheBell/> Helmdon has a [nursery school](/source/nursery_school) for children aged 2–4 years<ref>[http://www.helmdonacorns.org.uk/ Helmdon Acorns Pre-School]</ref> as well as the primary school for children aged 4–11 years.<ref name=School/> There are more than 30 community groups.<ref>[http://www.helmdon.com/Villagegroups.html Group Directory]</ref> The village has two ponds, and a public park with play equipment and benches. Helmdon won the Northamptonshire [Village of the Year](/source/Calor_Village_of_the_Year) competition in 1969, 1996, 1999, 2002 and 2011.{{citation needed|date=November 2013}}

[[File:Helmdon noticeboard and postbox - geograph.org.uk - 449374.jpg|thumb|[Pillar box](/source/Pillar_box) and community noticeboard in the part of the village north of the [River Tove](/source/River_Tove)]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book |editor1-last=Adkins |editor1-first=W.R.D. |editor1-link=Ryland Adkins |editor2-last=Serjeantson |editor2-first=R.M. |year=1902 |title=A History of the County of Northampton |volume=1 |series=[Victoria County History](/source/Victoria_County_History) |location=Westminster |publisher=[Archibald Constable](/source/Archibald_Constable) & Co |pages=322, 369 }}
*{{cite book |author=Anonymous |year=2011 |title=Strategic Stone Study; a Building Stone Atlas of Northamptonshire |publisher=[English Heritage](/source/English_Heritage) |url= http://www.bgs.ac.uk/downloads/start.cfm?id=1614 |pages=16–17 }}
*{{cite journal |last=Arkell |first=W.J. |author-link=William Joscelyn Arkell |year=1948 |title=The building-stones of Blenheim Palace, Cornbury Park, Glympton Park and Heythrop House, Oxfordshire |journal=Oxoniensia |publisher=[Oxford Architectural and Historical Society](/source/Oxfordshire_Architectural_and_Historical_Society) |volume=XIII |issn=0308-5562 |pages=49–54}}
*{{cite book |last1=Boyd-Hope |first1=Gary |last2=Sargent |first2=Andrew |last3=Newton |first3=Sydney |year=2007 |title=Railways and Rural Life: S W A Newton and the Great Central Railway |location=Swindon |publisher=[English Heritage](/source/English_Heritage) and [Leicestershire County Council](/source/Leicestershire_County_Council) |isbn=978-185074-959-2 |pages=99–101 }}
*{{cite journal |last=Harwood |first=Audrey |year=1997 |title=Lace Making in Helmdon |journal=Aspects of Helmdon |volume=1 |url= http://www.helmdon.com/trail/tier1/lacearticle.html }}
*{{cite journal |last=Harwood |first=Audrey |year=1998 |title=The Public Houses Of Helmdon |journal=Aspects of Helmdon |volume=2 |url= http://www.helmdon.com/trail/tier2/pubsintroduction.htm }}
*{{cite journal |last=Ipgrave |first=Geoff |year=1999 |title=Helmdon School |journal=Aspects of Helmdon |volume=3 |pages=116–145 |url= http://www.helmdon.com/ }}
*{{cite journal |last1=Mawson |first1=Kate |last2=Moody |first2=Danny |year=2001 |title=The Manorial History of Helmdon |journal=Aspects of Helmdon |volume=4 |pages=177–184 |url= http://www.helmdon.com/history/helmdon_parish_council_history.htm }}
*{{cite journal |last=Moir |first=Valerie |year=1998 |title=Helmdon Enclosure Act |journal=Aspects of Helmdon |volume=2 |url= http://www.helmdon.com/ }}
*{{cite journal |last=Parry |first=Edward |year=1986–87 |title=Helmdon Stone |journal=Northamptonshire Past and Present |volume=VII |issue=4 |publisher=Northamptonshire Record Society |pages=258–269 |url= http://www.helmdon.com/history/stone_article.htm }}
*{{cite journal |last=Parry |first=Edward |year=2008 |title=Helmdon Buildings - Continuity And Change |journal=Aspects of Helmdon |volume=6 |url= http://www.helmdon.com }}
*{{cite book |last1=Pevsner |first1=Nikolaus |author-link1=Nikolaus Pevsner |last2=Cherry |first2=Bridget |orig-year=1961 |year=1973 |title=Northamptonshire |series=[The Buildings of England](/source/Pevsner_Architectural_Guides) |location=Harmondsworth |publisher=[Penguin Books](/source/Penguin_Books) |isbn=0-14-071022-1 |page=253 }}
*{{cite book |editor=RCHME |year=1982 |chapter=Helmdon |title=An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the County of Northamptonshire |volume=4 – Archaeological sites in South-West Northamptonshire |location=London |publisher=[Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England](/source/Royal_Commission_on_the_Historical_Monuments_of_England) |pages=80–88 |url= http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=126560 }}
*{{cite book |editor1-last=Serjeantson |editor1-first=R.M. |editor2-last=Adkins |editor2-first=W.R.D. |editor2-link=Ryland Adkins |year=1906 |chapter=The Hospital of St. John Baptist and St. John Evangelist, Northampton |title=A History of the County of Northampton |volume=2 |series=[Victoria County History](/source/Victoria_County_History) |location=Westminster |publisher=[Archibald Constable](/source/Archibald_Constable) & Co |pages=156–159 |url= http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=40249 }}
*{{cite journal |url= http://www.helmdon.com/history/shops_in_helmdon.htm |last=Vicars |first=Ross |year=2005 |title=Shops in Helmdon |journal=Aspects of Helmdon |volume=5 |access-date=22 November 2013}}

{{commons category|Helmdon}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Civil parishes in Northamptonshire
Category:Villages in Northamptonshire
Category:West Northamptonshire District

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Helmdon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmdon) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmdon?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.