In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Holdenby like this:
HOLDENBY, or HOLMBY, a parish in Brixworth district, Northamptonshire; 3 miles WSW of Spratton r. station, and 6½ NW of Northampton. Post town, Northampton. Acres, 1,855. Real property, £3, 237. Pop., 184. Houses, 33. The property all belongs to Lord Clifden. Holdenby House was built by Sir Christopher Hatton, lord high chancellor, in the time of Elizabeth; was a magnificent edifice, in florid Tudor, after designs by Thorpe; was sold to James I. by the great nephew of SirHatton; became a royal palace; was, for a short time, the prison of Charles I. ...
in 1647; was, in great measure, taken down in 1652; and the remains of it were given, with the title of baron, by James II., to the French Marquis of Blancfort, and are now a farmhouse. SirHatton, the builder of it, was a native of Holdenby; and the poet Gray said of him, - "His bushy beard, and shoe strings green, His high crowned hat, and satin doublet, Moved the stout heart of England's queen, Though Pope and Spaniard could not trouble it" The living is a rectory in the diocese of Peterborough. Value, £670.* Patron, the Crown. The church consists of nave, chancel, and aisles, with embattled tower.
Holdenby through time
A Vision of Britain through Time includes a large library of local statistics for administrative units. For the best overall sense of how the area containing Holdenby has changed, please see our redistricted information for the modern district of Daventry. More detailed statistical data are available under Units and statistics, which includes both administrative units covering Holdenby and units named after it.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Holdenby, in Daventry and Northamptonshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/8023
Date accessed: 23rd May 2013
Not where you were looking for?
Click here for more detailed advice on finding places within A Vision of Britain through Time, and maybe some references to other places called "Holdenby".
