OS grid reference SP670440 District South Northamptonshire Region East Midlands | Civil parish Silverstone Shire county Northamptonshire | |
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Population 1,989 (2001 census)
2,176 (2011 Census) | ||
Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England, perhaps best known for its race circuit. It is about 4 miles (6.4 km) from Towcester on the former A43 main road, 10 miles (16 km) from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about 12 miles (19 km) from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and Banbury. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 2,176. The A43 now bypasses to the south-east of the village, between the village and the race circuit.
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History
The village is listed in the Domesday Book.
In the Middle Ages, the village trade was primarily in timber from the surrounding Whittlewood forest through the use of coppicing. Linnell Brothers still operate a woodyard to this day.
On the north side of the parish churchyard are the remains of medieval fish ponds.
Parish church
Silverstone had a chapel by AD 1200. In about 1780 the mediaeval building was replaced by a Georgian one, which was enlarged by the addition of a chancel in 1841 and a north aisle and vestry in 1852. The entire church was demolished in the 1880s and replaced by the present Church of England parish church of Saint Michael, which is a Gothic Revival building designed by JP St Aubyn and completed in 1884.
Facilities
The village has one public house: the White Horse Inn.
About 0.5 miles (1 km) south of the village is the Silverstone Circuit, a former Royal Air Force World War II bomber base and now the traditional home of the British Grand Prix, a Formula One race that attracts more than 300,000 visitors each year.
Silverstone University Technical College opened at the circuit in September 2013.