A Short History of Tiffield

A Short History of Tiffield Tiffield is mentioned in the Domesday Book as a settlement called Tifelde. It was formed by the combination of two Saxon settlements, administered by Ralph and William for the Earl of Moreton. Even in the time of Ralph and William (around 1086) there would have been a wooden church on the site of the present church but in 1250 work began on a stone church, under the direction of the Master of the Hospital of St John at Northampton, who now owned a good proportion of the land. The nave and the north aisle are the oldest parts of the building. By the time of Edward II (1307-1327) the Master of the Hospital had been declared Lord of the Manor of Tiffield and Rector of the Church. A Manor House existed on the site of Manor Farm. With the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII, the possessions of the Knights Hospitallers were granted to Sir Nicholas Throckmorton of Paulerspury. When the Throckmorton line died out, the Manor passed to Bartholomew Keeling in 1760, who built the Rectory in 1762. At the start of the twentieth century most of the population would have worked in the Parish - on farms, for the wheelwright/builder, the blacksmith, the brickyard, in domestic service, on the railway or at the reformatory Within 50 years, increasing mechanisation of farming and the motor car greatly reduced the work available. Only the farms and the wheelwrights survived as employers. Farming has always been the predominant industry in Tiffield. As far back as Saxon times there are records of grazing rights being granted by Ralph and William. From about Victorian times to the 1950's there were at least six working farms in the village, mostly dairy, which would have been a major source of employment for the villagers. The Tiffield Quarries, often referred to as Easton Neston Quarries, being on the Easton Neston Estate were located on the east side of the Towcester/Northampton Road and the first iron ore quarry opened in 1873. On the west side of the road there was a claypit on higher ground where a Brickworks was built. A narrow gauge railway connected the Brickworks and Quarry with the main Northampton and Banbury Junction Railway, joining it at The Towcester Ironworks, close to Brickyard Farm and Williams Barns. Here there were blast furnaces and a loco shed. In 1891 the Towcester - Ravenstone Wood Junction Line was opened and so it was removed . There were four railway lines radiating out of Towcester all built by separate companies from about 1866, with Towcester Station itself opening in 1869. This was located just north of the present Tesco store. The four lines were:- 1) The Midland Railway carrying mineral traffic to Olney via Ravenstone Wood Junction 2) The Northampton and Banbury Junction Railway to Banbury via Helmdon and Wappenham 3) The East and West Junction Railway to Stratford upon Avon via Blakesley and Byfield 4) The Blisworth Arm via Tiffield and Gayton The Banbury and Stratford lines together became the Stratford and Midland Junction Railway (SMJ) often referred to as the Slow, Miserable and Jolty. Tiffield was for many years the winter quarters for Robert Fossett's Circus. A variety of animals were kept at Upper Farm, just outside the village towards Blisworth. , but it was a common sight to see a procession of animals coming down into the village to drink at the stream including elephants and camels. The school was built in 1872 at a cost of £593. Initially there were 48 children, looked after by Miss Fanny Foster who lived in the schoolhouse attached to the school Kelly's Directory for 1898 states that there was a Post Office run by Miss Emma Perkins. There was also a beer retailer (Mrs Emma Collins), a grocer (Mr Richard Jolley) and a butcher (Charles Kingston) In the 1950's there was a shop at 5 High Street North, run by Miss Jones. Between 1954 and 1958, the shop burnt down twice. Miss Jones was attacked and stabbed by a Mr Anderson from Milton and sustained stab wounds to her back, hands and arms. The Eyden family came from Holland in the sixteenth century. With their expertise in land drainage they originally came to drain the Fens, but later settled in Stoke Bruerne, and then at Forge House in Tiffield. For centuries they carried on their work as blacksmiths and wheelwrights here. An interesting feature of the Eydens' garden was a rotating nursing hut, to enable patients to convalesce in the sunshine without infecting anyone else. .

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