Woodford, Northamptonshire

Woodford is a large village and civil parish in East Northamptonshire, England. At the time of the 2011 census, the parish's population (including Woodwell) was 1,461 people.

Contents

• Map of Woodford UK
• Heritage assets
• Demography
• References

Map of Woodford, UK

It is in two distinct parts, the easterly, lower, part being alongside the River Nene and the westerly, upper, part is on the through road out of the Nene valley. Its parish church is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin and has the nickname "the Cathedral of the Nene".

Inside the church can be found a couple of curiosities. Within a niche cut into a pillar, there is a mummified human heart wrapped in coarse cloth. This was discovered during restoration work in 1867. There is also a framed newspaper cutting; this concerns a photograph of an alleged ghost taken in the church in 1964.

Woodford House, an early 19th-century mansion, was the home of the Arbuthnot family and scene of the death of the diarist Harriet Arbuthnot in 1833. The property was purchased in 1880 by Charles Henry Plevins from Arthur Arbuthnot, son of General Charles Arbuthnot. The house was altered between 1899 and 1910 and had a new garden created in 1909. The Arbuthnots owned iron ore quarries on the estate which were dug from circa 1851, an early date for what was later to become a large industry in Northamptonshire.