Faxton

Faxton is an abandoned village and

It is believed that the name Faxton comes from the Scandinavian Fakr and the

The

Archaeological evidence has been found of settlement at Faxton as early as around 1200.[2]

It has been said that in an attempt to escape the plague in London in 1665, a family relocated to Faxton with their servants, one of whom carried the fatal disease which spread and almost wiped out the village. However, this tale is disproved by comparing the number of householders recorded in the hearth tax lists for Faxton in years before and after that date. 30 householders were listed in 1662,^[3] but 34 were recorded for the year ending 25 March 1674.^[4]

Former residents have recalled that Faxton could only be reached by horse-drawn vehicles, as none of the roads leading to it were made up to accommodate motor vehicles; they considered that to be a major factor in the decline of the village.^[5]

The parish church of

The Northamptonshire Record Office in Wootton holds the christening, marriage and burial registers for the parish.^[7]

Sir Augustine Nichols (1559-1616)

Faxton's most famous resident was

In 1610, the Manor of Kibworth, Leicestershire was jointly granted to Augustine, Anthony Shugborough and John Smith after Ambrose Dudley, the Earl of Warwick, died without an heir.^[8] It is not clear what happened to the manor immediately after this, but by 1632 the manor was being held by the Berrige family.

Judge Nichols had a clerk working for him. He was Thomas Dudley, a relation of the Nichols family. In 1627 Thomas Dudley, with his wife, daughter Anne, and her husband Simon Bradstreet, sailed for America. Dudley became Governor of Massachusetts as did Bradstreet later. Anne Bradstreet became America's first female poet and is still thought to be one of its finest. Her poem To my dear and loving husband was set to music by Leonard Bernstein and performed at the inauguration of President Jimmy Carter.

A memorial to Augustine was positioned inside the parish church but it was smashed during the church's demolition in 1958. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London retrieved the pieces and spent three years restoring it to its former splendour.

References

External links

• An 1887 map of Faxton from British History Online. ^{[dead link]}
• When is a Village? - an article on the history of Faxton.
• New Book on Faxton - Bryan Holden's new book about Faxton.

52°22′09″N 0°51′00″W / 52.369249°N 0.849925°W / 52.369249; -0.849925