Everdon

Everdon
Entering Everdon Village
Population
OS grid reference	SP595575
District	Daventry (District)
Shire county	Northamptonshire
Region	East Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Daventry
Postcode district	NN11
Dialling code	01327
Police	Northamptonshire
Fire	Northamptonshire
Ambulance	East Midlands

Everdon is a village in the Daventry district of the county of Northamptonshire in England some two miles south of Daventry.

Nearby The Stubbs is a wood belonging to the Woodland Trust, a UK conservation charity. The village's former school is now a activities centre for conservation studies.

To its north is the hamlet of Little Everdon and to its south the shrunken village of Snorscombe.

History

Domesday entry: Bishop of Bayeux’s fief. William held half a hide in Great Everdon. Soke of land lies in Fawsley. Land for 1 plough. 2 villans and 2 bordars and 6 acres of meadow.

After the conquest a cell of Monks from Bernay Abbey in France were based in Everdon, and subsequently Henry VI endowed the land in Everdon to the newly founded Eton College in 1440. A junior branch of the Spencer family from Badby took up the lease of the Eton College Manor house around 1500. A separate manor existed in Little Everdon.

The land was inclosed by Act of Parliament in 1764:

1801 111 houses 585 inhabitants

1811 116 houses 578 inhabitants

1821 122 houses 640 inhabitants

A charity school was established in Everdon in 1813, and in the same year an independent meeting house opened.

Everdon Stubbs

Everdon Stubbs is a deciduous woodland covering an area of approximately 100 acres and was once a famous hunting covert. The land now covered by the woods was originally grazing land for Wild Boar, through which Everdon gets its name ('Ever Don' means 'Boars Hill' in old English). In the spring the area is covered with its famous carpet of bluebells, extremley well known throughout the County. Everdon Stubbs is currently open to the public and has recently had a large amount of conservation work, mainly carried out by a local business, E M Pell Ltd.

St. Mary's Church

Located at the centre of the village, the church dates from the 14th century, and was built in the decorated style. It has been suggested that an earlier structure may have sat at this site prior to the current building. The list of incumbents reveals that a rector, Eias Capellinus de Everdone, was appointed in 1218 and the font certainly predates the current church.

Local ironstone was used in the construction of the church and it is believed that the Bernay Monks were involved in the work, importing their own stone mason from France to complete the work. The parts of the building still visible, which date from the 14th century, include the north doorway, the north aisle and east windows which are detailed with unusual tracery.

Some say that it was the Churchyard of St Mary’s and not St Giles, Stoke Poges that was the inspiration for Thomas Gray’s famous elegy “In a English Churchyard”. This theory suggested by Rev. H. Cavalier, the rector of Great Brington in 1926 is based on observations comparing the two churchyards and the lines in the poem.

Village Events

The village has a very good community spirit and regularly holds several annual functions, one of which is the Grand Feté, usually held on the bank holiday Monday in August. In more recent times, the Everdon Bonfire and Fireworks party, which began in 2006, has become a very succesful event, raising funds for the church restoration fund.

To coincide with the bluebells of Everdon Stubbs in the spring, a team of village residents host the 'Bluebell Teas' in the village hall, with the hope that people visiting the woods will drop by. It is well supported by many villagers.

External links

• Everdon.com and Everdon.info are both websites with more information about the village.
• Google Map of Everdon
• Map sources for Everdon