Radstone

{{Short description|Hamlet in Northamptonshire, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2014}} {{Use British English|date=March 2014}} {{infobox UK place |official_name= Radstone |static_image_name= St Lawrence, Radstone - geograph.org.uk - 131594.jpg |static_image_caption= St Lawrence's parish church |coordinates = {{coord|52.0598|-1.1482|display=inline,title}} |os_grid_reference= SP5840 |london_distance= |label_position= top |population= 54 |population_ref= (2001 Census)<ref name=ONS>{{cite web |url=http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/viewFullDataset.do?instanceSelection=03070&productId=779&$ph=60_61&datasetInstanceId=3070&startColumn=1&numberOfColumns=4&containerAreaId=790474 |title=Area selected: South Northamptonshire (Non-Metropolitan District) |work=Neighbourhood Statistics |publisher=Office for National Statistics |access-date=22 November 2013 |archive-date=21 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120921221701/http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/viewFullDataset.do?instanceSelection=03070&productId=779&$ph=60_61&datasetInstanceId=3070&startColumn=1&numberOfColumns=4&containerAreaId=790474 |url-status=dead }}</ref> |civil_parish= Radstone |unitary_england= West Northamptonshire |lieutenancy_england= Northamptonshire |region= East Midlands |country= England |constituency_westminster= Daventry |post_town= Brackley |postcode_district= NN13 |postcode_area= NN |dial_code= 01280 |website= [http://modgov.southnorthants.gov.uk/mgParishCouncilDetails.aspx?ID=301 Radstone Parish Meeting] }}

'''Radstone''' is a hamlet and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, about {{convert|2|mi|0}} north of Brackley. The 2001 Census recorded a parish population of 54.<ref name=ONS/> At the 2011 Census the population of the hamlet remained less than 100 and was included in the civil parish of Whitfield.

==Geography== The land of the parish mostly falls from west to east from a hill whose highest point, about {{convert|520|ft}} above sea level, is in Greatworth parish just beyond the field boundaries that form the western boundary of Radstone parish.

A stream forms much of the northern boundary or Radstone parish, flowing east to join the Great Ouse. Another tributary of the same river forms part of the parish's southern boundary. A third flows west–east across the parish and joins the first about {{convert|3/4|mi|adj=on}} east of Radstone hamlet. The parish is open farmland apart from Shortgrove Wood, which is in the northeast part next to the boundaries with Helmdon and Syresham.

The present hamlet of Radstone is a shrunken village, formerly called Upper or Over Radstone.<ref name=RCHME>{{harvnb|RCHME|1982|pp=124–126.}}</ref> There was a Lower or Nether Radstone about {{convert|4/5|mi|adj=on}} to the east, just downstream of the confluence of the two streams. It is now a deserted village.<ref name=RCHME/>

==Roman archaeology== Before 1900 an urn containing coins, presumably Roman, was found in the parish and placed in Northampton Museum.{{sfn|Adkins|Serjeantson|1902|p=220}} By the 1980s it had been lost.<ref name=RCHME/>

==Toponym== The Domesday Book of 1086 records the toponym as ''Rodestone''. Pipe rolls record it as ''Rodestona'' in 1163, ''Rodestūn'' in 1167 and ''Rudston'' in 1198. A ''Curia regis'' roll from 1201 records it as ''Rodestan''. The name comes from the Old English words ''rōde'' meaning "cross" (see "Rood") and ''stān'' meaning "stone".{{sfn|Ekwall|1960|loc=Radstone}}

==Manor== In the Norman era the manor was assessed at two hides.<ref name=Adkins332>{{harvnb|Adkins|Serjeantson|1902|p=332.}}</ref><ref name=Adkins369>{{harvnb|Adkins|Serjeantson|1902|p=369.}}</ref> The Domesday Book of 1086 records Robert of Rhuddlan holding it;<ref name=Adkins332/> in the 12th century it was in the fee of Chester.<ref name=Adkins369/> In 1260 cultivation covered 22 virgates of land at Upper Radstone and 2{{fraction|1|2}} virgates at Lower Radstone.<ref name=RCHME/>

==Parish church== The earliest parts of the Church of England parish church of Saint Lawrence are 12th-century.<ref name=EH-church>{{NHLE |num= 1190302 |desc=Church of St Lawrence |date=4 February 1969 |accessdate=23 November 2013}}</ref> The Baptismal font is Norman.<ref name=Pevsner/> The gable-roofed west tower has characteristic Norman features including a round-headed arch to the nave.<ref name=Pevsner>{{harvnb|Pevsner|Cherry|1973|p=381}}</ref> The chancel is Early English Gothic of the early 13th century, with single lancet windows in the north and south walls<ref name=EH-church/> and a double lancet window to the east.<ref name=Pevsner/>

The west tower has two sets of bell-openings. The first set is early 13th-century and is now blocked; the second set is Decorated Gothic.<ref name=EH-church/> Also Decorated Gothic are the north and south aisles added to the nave early in the 14th century, each with two- and three-light windows with reticulated tracery<ref name=EH-church/> and a three-bay arcade with octagonal piers.<ref name=Pevsner/> Near the east end of the south aisle is a cusped and ogeed piscina for a side altar that would have been there before the Reformation.<ref name=EH-church/> In the chancel is a monument to a John Blencow, who died in 1666.<ref name=EH-church/> The church is a Grade I listed building.<ref name=EH-church/>

St Lawrence's is now part of the parish of Helmdon with Stuchbury and 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 |year=2010 |access-date=22 November 2013}}</ref> which in turn is part of the Benefice of the Astwell Group of Parishes.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.astwellparishes.org.uk/parishes/ |title=Parishes |publisher=Astwell Benefice |access-date=12 June 2019}}</ref>

St Lawrence's church has been closed for worship since June 2015 because Natterer's and other bats use it as a seasonal summer roost. The Astwell Benefice calls the colony an "infestation" and is seeking a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant to have the bats permanently "excluded" from the building.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.astwellparishes.org.uk/content/pages/documents/1539898834.pdf |title=The Astwell Benefice Profile |publisher=The Astwell Benefice |page=11 |year=2018 |access-date=12 June 2019}}</ref>

==Economic and social history== thumb|Cottages in Radstone Faint earthworks show the sites of former cottages in (Upper) Radstone: at the west end of the hamlet (now almost erased by ploughing),<ref name=RCHME/> and on the southwest side of the main street<ref name=RCHME/> opposite the former parish school and houses 15–20.

The remains of Lower Radstone are about {{convert|1/4|mi|m|adj=on}} northeast of Coldharbour Farm.<ref name=RCHME/> Earthworks show a north–south main street with an east–west one branching off it to the west, and stonework almost {{convert|1|ft|1}} high from former buildings.<ref name=RCHME/> Medieval pottery ranging from the 12th to the 15th century has been found.<ref name=RCHME/> At the southeast corner of the former village is a fish pond that cuts through the closes of some of the former cottage sites, and may have been created after the village was abandoned.<ref name=RCHME/> Lower Radstone was abandoned some time between the 15th and 18th centuries: in the latter it was recorded that ''"the footsteps of the old demolished town are still remaining"''.<ref name=RCHME/>

In the southeast of the parish by Fox Covert is a low mound, about {{convert|72|ft}} across and {{convert|2+1/2|ft|1}} high, with an indication of a pit or post-hole at its centre.<ref name=RCHME/> This indicates that the mound was created as the base for a medieval post mill.<ref name=RCHME/> 12th- to 13th-century pottery has been found at the site.<ref name=RCHME/>

The parish has some ridge and furrow traces of cultivation, many of them in the reversed S-shape characteristic of ox-ploughing.<ref name=RCHME/> However, much of the parish is still arable and as a result much of the ridge-and-furrow has been degraded and is now detectable only by aerial archaeology.<ref name=RCHME/> It is not clear whether Radstone had separate open field systems for each of its two villages or one for the whole parish.<ref name=RCHME/> Nor is there a surviving record of when the common lands were enclosed.<ref name=RCHME/>

In 1720 the parish was estimated to have a population of about 100.<ref name=RCHME/> The 1801 Census counted 128 inhabitants.<ref name=RCHME/>

===Railway=== In the late 1890s the Great Central Main Line from Manchester and Sheffield to {{rws|London Marylebone}} was built through the parish, passing just east of the hamlet. It opened in March 1899 with Radstone equidistant between its two nearest stations at {{rws|Helmdon}} and {{rws|Brackley Central}}. British Railways closed Helmdon station in 1963 and closed the railway and Brackley Central station in 1966.

==References== [[File:Disused Railway bridge - geograph.org.uk - 326353.jpg|thumb|Bridge carrying the disused route of the former Great Central Main Line over the minor road southeast of Radstone]] {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== *{{cite book |editor1-last=Adkins |editor1-first=WRD |editor1-link=Ryland Adkins |editor2-last=Serjeantson |editor2-first=RM |year=1902 |title=A History of the County of Northampton |volume=1 |series=Victoria County History |location=Westminster |publisher=Archibald Constable & Co |pages=220, 332, 369 }} *{{cite book |last=Ekwall |first=Eilert |author-link=Eilert Ekwall |orig-year=1936 |year=1960 |title=Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names |edition=4th |place=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0198691033 |at=Radstone }} *{{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 |location=Harmondsworth |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=0-14-071022-1 |page=381 }} *{{cite book |editor=RCHME |year=1982 |chapter=Radstone |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 |pages=124–126 |url= http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=126578 }}

{{Commons category|Radstone|position=left}}

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