The history of Badby through the ages

Contents:  Saxon Badby  |  Norman Badby  |  Evesham Abbey & The Grange  |  Post-mediaeval Badby  |  18th and 19th Century Badby  |  20th and 21st Century Badby  |  A Badby timeline  |  Back to History Section overview 

Saxon Badby

Badby is found spelt in various ways since Saxon times, through the Norman period, until printing stabilised it in the present form.  Badby, Badbye, Baddebi, Baddeby, Badebi and Badeby are all found.  Baddanbyrg or Baddan Byrig were used in the 944 AD charter, but these more likely refer specifically to Arbury Hill in the south west of the parish, which at 734ft. is the highest land in the county.

There are several mediaeval charters referring to the area around Badby, but some are suspect. The land around Badby and Newnham changed hands frequently as the swirling forces of Mercia and the invading Danes ebbed and flowed across middle England.  Charters record that the land was given by a Saxon sheriff (or shire reeve), Norman, to the Abbey of Croyland around the year 726 AD. To fund defence against the invading Danes around 871, Beorred seized it back and gave it to his army officers in order to secure their services.

In a charter dated 944, King Edmund I of England gave an estate comprising Dodford, Everdon and all of Badby with Newnham to Bishop Aelfric of Hereford.   After Edmund’s murder in 946, the estate was returned in 948 to Croyland by his brother, King Edred (or Aedred, Ædred, Edric)  on the advice of Turketul (or Turketulus), his chancellor. Abbot Godric II of Croyland, again to buy protection against the threatening Danes, leased Badby in 1006 for 100 years to Norman, son of Leofwine, earl of Leicester (or Chester), a great military officer under King Edred.

The Danes attacked and prevailed in 1013 under their King Sweyn (or Sveyn), who died in 1014.  He was eventually succeeded by his son Canute (or Cnut, Knud, Knut).   In 1016 Norman was killed and in 1017 Edred was executed by King Canute.  Canute thus acquired Badby and later transferred it to Norman’s brother, the Earl Leofric of Mercia, who had supported Canute and was married to the famous Godiva (or Godgifu).  In turn, Earl Leofric gave the lordship of the manor of Badby and Newnham to the Benedictine Abbey of Evesham, for the remainder of the 100-year lease supposedly granted by Abbot Godric II of Croyland.  This was ratified by King Canute in 1018. The fire which burned down Croyland Abbey in 1091 destroyed any deeds, if they actually existed.

Norman Badby

In the Domesday Book of 1086, Badby is listed under the lands owned by Croyland Abbey, ignoring the lease to Evesham.  The Badby entry reads:

II Land of Crowland Church.
…in Budby 4 hides. Landfor 10 ploughs; 8 male and 5 female slaves; 12 villagers and 8 smallholders with 6 ploughs. A mill at 2s; meadow 28 acres; woodland 4 furlongs long and 2 furlongs wide. Value was and is £8

The £8 value for Badby in the Domesday Book is high compared with other entries for the County. While King William held estates of high value (Fawsley £15), only 1 in 20/25 other estates had a value of £8 or over. The Woodland, from its measurement, is likely, but not certainly, Badby Wood.

Evesham Abbey

The church benefice has always been Badby with Newnham (or Badby-cum-Newnham), Newnham being a chapel of the parent church at Badby in the initial times, but for a few years was recorded as the main church.  (The current-day shared rector or vicar is no modern arrangement here, it goes back 750 years.)  In the ninth century, the parish had been in the Diocese of Dorchester (Oxon), a safer location adopted by an earlier Bishop of Leicester to avoid the invading Danes.  The seat was moved to Lincoln in 1073 by Bishop Remigius.

From the twelfth century to 1539 Evesham Abbey was the greatest influence in Badby.  Around 1124, as the 100-yr lease had ended, elderly Abbot Joffrid of Croyland set about resolving with Evesham the ownership of Badby.  Abbot Reginald of Evesham convinced Joffrid that Croyland had no claim. The retention by Evesham was confirmed in 1246 in a charter by King Henry III and again in 1330 by King Edward III after a court hearing.

Evesham Abbey built a grange or farm headquarters in the village.  The noble, almost regal, moated house was built by the notorious Abbot Roger Norreys in 1189.  There are several references to the building of the grange in the The Evesham Chronicle, referring to the building of noble, almost regal, houses “at Badby, where he [Norreys] feasted on delicacies with some of his brethren, and sometimes for a quarter of the year, and sometimes longer he would be staying”. Recent (1960s) excavations showed that a large “hall” existed. Oyster shells were also found.  The Chronicles had worse to report: “He lived in a most courtly and sumptuous style, with a magnificent table, overflowing with food and drink in plenty, which he lavished liberally and generously, for he was more drunken and excessive than any other English monk, and did not consider simple fornication to be a deadly sin, thus seducing women, unless adultery and incest were added, and it is said he showed no moderation in either of these.”

In 1246 King Henry III granted free warren within Badby Wood and authorised the formation of a deer park for hunting and food, the enclosing embankments and ditches of which still exist to the east of the village.

In 1316, King Edward II appointed Thomas de Evesham, one of his Chancery clerks, as rector of the benefice.  The licence, which moved more control of, and finance from, Badby and Newnham to the Abbot of Evesham, was effected through Pope John XXII with Henry Berghersh, Bishop of Lincoln. It was in 1343 that the endowment for a vicar was laid down in a Lincoln diocesan document (Ordinacio Vicarie in Ecclesia de Baddeby; 1343), and Reginald Musard became the first vicar.

The Evesham Chronicle also mentions other periods of building at the moated site, which can be matched with other levels of the excavation – three bakehouses were added to the grange in the 1350s and its hall and chapel were renovated in the 1380s.

From 1539, Henry VIII carried through the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Since its foundation in 709, Evesham Abbey had successfully developed an independent existence but it could not avoid being dissolved in November 1539. Lincoln Diocese was itself split on 4^th September, 1541 and Badby church, in Daventry deanery, came within the new but poorly endowed Diocese of Peterborough, in which it remains.  (It is now closer to six other cathedrals of the Church of England, which are, in order of distance: Coventry, Leicester, Oxford, Birmingham, Lichfield and Worcester.)  In 1546 the rectorship and patronage of Badby and Newnham were passed to Christ Church Oxford.  It remained with Christ Church Oxford, except for disruption by the Commonwealth, until 1919 when the Bishop of Peterborough became the patron.

Following the Dissolution of Evesham Abbey, the Grange continued in a variety of uses until its ruins finally tumbled down in 1722.  Its remains lie hidden in a thicket at Ordnance Survey reference SP562592, 500 yards north east of the church and the site is now a Scheduled Monument (List Entry Number: 1009844: Remains of a moated monastic retreat house, manorial courthouse and inn). It was the subject of archaeological excavations undertaken in 1965–69. Importantly, the pottery from the site is one of the major chronological dating series in the County.

Post-mediaeval Badby

With the decline of the Monastic life in the 14th century it had became the practice for Evesham Abbey to lease out land in Badby. The Spencer family rented the “Manor” from 1451–71 and may well have carried out renovations marked on the plan. In 1530 they still held a lease on part of the Manor lands. This family is now associated with Althorp. The second family, the Knightleys, who purchased Fawsley in 1416, was to influence Badby for the next five hundred years; they took over land in Badby and the use of the Deer Park which they joined to Fawsley.

A Royal Commissioners document from 1540 lists the tenants of both Badby and Newnham and gives the values of rents for: houses, cottages, wind and water mills, meadows, strips of land in the open fields and bake houses. It shows that the Knightley family rented Badby Wood at £6 per annum before the Dissolution.

King Henry VIII granted the manors of Badby and Newnham in 1542 to Sir Edmund Knightley and his wife Ursula and their heirs. Badby and Newnham manors were treated as one until the Knightleys sold Newnham manor to the Thorntons of Brockhall in 1634.

The dower house in Fawsley Park, last inhabited in 1704 and now in ruins, was built for Lady Ursula after Sir Edmund died.  It is Listed, Grade 2 (Historic England, List Entry Number: 1343554).

There was considerable unrest in the parish in the last 20 years of the 16th century, when Valentine Knightley attempted to transfer much acreage of arable to pasture and to restrict tenants’ rights to woodland.  Several tenant families, despite being puritans like Valentine, used aggressive action as well as national legal arbitration to protect their rights. The manor lands and courts were dissolved in the early 20th century.

18th and 19th century Badby

The 18th century was a time of great change throughout Britain, no less in Badby. Two Parliamentary Acts particularly changed the course of Badby’s development – the Banbury to Lutterworth Road Act of 1765, upgrading the road past Badby (now the A361) from Banbury to Daventry (and onwards to Lutterworth) as a Turnpike Road, and the Enclosures Act in 1779, which changed the way that land was used throughout the parish.

Privately-owned Turnpike trusts, set up by Acts of Parliament in the 18th century, charged carrier and coach services using these turnpikes to finance their maintenance and improvement, the road system having become neglected by local parishes which had been responsible for their upkeep. A petition to Parliament was made in February 1765 for the creation of the Banbury to Lutterworth Turnpike stating that: “the public road leading from the bridge, at or near the east end of Banbury in the County of Oxford, through the hamlets of Grimsbury in the parish of Chalcombe, the town of Wardington, Chipping Warden, Byfield and Cherwellton in the Parish of Fausley and Badby, the hamlet of Drayton and town and parish of Daventry and thence through the parishes of Welton, Ledgers Ashby and Kilsby to the Watling Street Road, at or near the north-east corner of Kilsby open fields, and thence along the same road about three miles to a place called The Gibbet, through the town and parish of Cottesbatch, through part of the parish of Lutterworth in the County of Leicester, are in many parts thereof in a founderous condition and, in the winter season in particular, almost impassable…”. The road was divided into two districts: Lutterworth to Badby and Badby to Banbury. A toll house was to be built at Badby where the road crosses the Nene, but it was changed to Badby Gap (a point that is near the entrance to Badby Park, just south of Daventry Southern Bypass). Note: claims that the Lantern House on the A361, just south of Badby, was a toll-house are incorrect. The Lantern House was built as a Lodge to the Fawsley Estates in the late 19th/early 19th Century, probably designed by James Wyatt who designed the Old School House, Badby, in similar style.

The Enclosures Acts. In the 17th and 18th centuries, landowners and farmers were looking for more efficient farming practices, including mechanised techniques which reduced manual labour and boosted crop yields. Agricultural land previously based on the mediaeval ‘Open-Field System’ of large, open fields (often owned by, but not being used by, the manorial lord) in which individuals or tenant farmers cultivated scattered strips of land, was being enclosed and consolidated into individually-owned or rented fields. A commission visited Badby to formalise this change, leading to the Parliamentary Enclosure Act of 1779 for Badby with its associated Enclosures Map and Lists of fields and properties with names and other details.

From a social perspective, while enclosure greatly improved the agricultural productivity of farms by bringing more land into effective agricultural use, it also brought considerable change to the local landscape and to working conditions and opportunities. Land was hedged and fenced off, old boundaries disappeared and it was a factor leading to those at the lowest end of rural society, agricultural labourers, leaving the land to seek work in the towns.

In the 19th century, Britain saw a continuing shift from a largely agricultural society to an urbanized, industrialized global power. The population of the UK doubled between 1801 and 1871, with over half the populace migrating to industrial cities by the 1850s. Education and public health measures were introduced. Political representation was enlarged by the Reform Acts, drastically expanded the voting franchise for adult men, and the seeds of women’s emancipation were sown which would come to fruit early in the next century. Such changes were reflected in Badby – the population dropped significantly in the second half of the century, a Congregational chapel was built in 1873, and the Dowager Lady Knightley brought in schooling for young children as early as 1812.

20th and 21st century Badby

Since the 1400s, much of Badby’s history had revolved around the Knightley family of Fawsley, whose estates covered the majority of land in and around Badby. After Sir Rainald Knightley, the 3rd Baronet, died childless in 1895 the title passed to his cousin, Sir Valentine Knightley. Sir Rainald’s wife, Louisa Mary, remained at Fawsley Hall, the last Knightley to live in the Hall, until her death in 1913. Louisa was active in politics and in in social movements for women’s rights, and her diaries covering the periods 1856–1884 and 1885–1913 provide a vivid account of her life at Fawsley and her involvement with Badby, especially education. She befriended John Merrick, ‘the Elephant Man’, providing him with a cottage on the estate.  On Louisa’s death the estate was in a parlous state and the Hall was shut up and the contents auctioned in 1914. The 5th and 6th Baronets – respectively Sir Charles Valentine Knightley and his wife Lady (Juliet) Knightley, and Sir Henry Francis Knightley (unmarried) – both lived in the Stewards House near to Fawsley Hall. Large amounts of the Fawsley Estates were sold off over the following 20 years, notably in auctions in 1921 and 1932. Fawsley Hall was sold in 1975 and is now a privately-owned hotel.

In common with most rural areas, the 20th century was a period of expansion in Badby, with new houses being built both to provide better accommodation for those living in the villages, their children and new arrivals. In 1927, seven Council houses were built on Pinfold Green, extended by a further five in 1930 and nine in the 1940s. Thirteen Council houses were built on Pound Lane in 1947 and a further four in 1952. Nene Side Close (28 houses) was built starting in 1956, followed by Park Close (18 houses, 1963), Stoneway (8 houses, 1973) and The Glebe (27 houses, 1974). Some infill has taken place since then (and is now the only development allowed within the Village Confines) – a terrace of houses on the corner of Main Street and Chapel Lane where the farmhouse had burnt down, Orchard Close off Pound Lane, two houses at the bottom of Pound Lane where garages had been, Manor Cottages and an extra house on Pinfold Green, etc. By 1980 the basic map of Badby looked very much like it does today.

With expansion came more services. A small Co-op was opened in 1902. Electricity arrived in the village in 1932 and mains drainage in 1948. Public standpipes were installed in the 1940s on Vicarage Hill, Church Green, Church Hill, Brookside, Bunkers Hill and Main Street, linked to a reservoir opposite the Church. The reservoir was initially fed by springs, later a small windmill was erected, to be replaced by a diesel pump when the windmill blew down. It was not until 1956 that mains water was provided to all houses. Gas was made available to those who wanted it in 1992. But later services were being lost – the Co-op closed in 1992, the Post Office in 2008 and the Youth Hostel, beloved by many hikers passing through Badby, closed in 2005.  Of the three pubs are marked on maps of 1900 only one remains – The Maltsters’ Arms on The Green opposite Court Yard Lane. The Windmill Inn on Main Street was closed 2019, and the White Lion which was on the A361 by the bridge over the Nene also closed; both are now private houses.

Development is inevitably controversial – the challenge of meeting the needs of more people who wish to live in the village while retaining the character and history of the village. Recognising the losses of features and services, efforts were made to ensure the character of the village was defined and retained. A Conservation Zone was defined in 1993 by the then Daventry District Council and the Friends of Rural Badby (FORB) produced a series of quarterly magazines in the mid- to late-1990s. Of particular importance was the ‘Parish 2000 Badby Appraisal’ providing a rich source of information on Badby and its history at that time. More recently, a group appointed by Badby Parish Council prepared a Neighbourhood Plan which was accepted by Daventry District Council in 2019 and adopted alongside the Council’s longer-term planning documents. As part of that, new Village Confines were defined, with strict rules on what could be developed inside and outside those confines. The 1993 Conservation Zone was reviewed and revised in 2020.

Sources:
1. A History of Badby Church (2018). A5, 48 pages including 26 photographs, available price £3, from the Church in aid of church restoration funds.
2. Parish 2000 Badby Appraisal 
3. A Short History of Badby & Fawsley, AE Ivens, 1933
4. The journals of Lady Knightley of Fawsley 1856-84, Northamptonshire Records Society
5. Politics & Society – The Journals of Lady Knightley of Fawsley, 1885 to 1913, Northamptonshire Records Society

Amended 27 March 2021, updated 10 August 2026