Maidwell is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire in England. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish had 325 inhabitants,[1] including Draughton, and this increased to 429 at the 2011 census.[2]
Maidwell | |
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Looking across the churchyard at Maidwell Hall with its interesting cupolas | |
Maidwell Location within Northamptonshire | |
Population | 429 (2011) |
OS grid reference | SP7476 |
• London | 78 miles (126 km) |
Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Northampton |
Postcode district | NN6 |
Dialling code | 01604 |
Police | Northamptonshire |
Fire | Northamptonshire |
Ambulance | East Midlands |
UK Parliament | |
The villages name means 'Maidens' spring/stream'.[3]
The A508 road runs through its western end and the village is about halfway between the market town of Market Harborough, Leicestershire, and the county town of Northampton which is about 7 miles (11.3 km) south. It is about 1 mile (1.6 km) south of junction 2 of the major A14 road.
The Historic England website contains details of a total of nine listed buildings in the parish of Maidwell, all of which are Grade II apart from St Mary the Virgin's Church, which is Grade II*.[4] They include the following:
Lamport railway station on the Northampton and Market Harborough railway opened on 16 February 1859 serving Maidwell as well as other nearby villages. The line closed to passenger traffic in 1960, and later completely closed to all traffic.
Maidwell Hall is an independent boys and girls boarding and day preparatory school for children from 4–13 years old.[11] The school was founded in 1911 and moved to its current location in 1933. The school opened to girls in 2010.[12] The school was later revealed to have been abusive to pupils in the 1970s.[13] Notable alumni include Adam Butler, the politician, Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer,[13] a landowner, nobleman historian, businessman and John Ailwyn Fellowes, 4th Baron de Ramsey a landowner, agriculturalist and first chairman of the Environment Agency.[citation needed]. Earl Spencer spoke of his loathing of the place following sexual abuse at the hands of a matron there in the 1970s[14]