Page 18 - Oundle Life Issue 7 May 2021

WOODNEWTON
History Group
For many lucky enough to live in a Northamptonshire village, its history and development are an important part of their sense of place, and Woodnewton is no exception. In 1992, when our Village Hall was opened, there was increased interest in trying to get a group together to research just how we came to be where we were, and who had contributed over a thousand years towards making the village what it had become.
Like so many projects full
of good intentions it had an
erratic beginning. Two efforts
in 1992 and 2000 petered out, although both contributed a body of basic information. In September 2012, largely due to the interest
and energy of Marilyn Jenner an amateur genealogist, a new group got together to discuss whether it had sufficient material to publish a book, but quickly decided that there was far
too much still to record. They instead began
to write a series of short articles for the Village Newsletter on topics of interest.
The main effort was to concentrate on the human story of village life - those who lived
in the older houses which form its picturesque Main Street, the farmers, the traders, the village’s four pubs, the school and its pupils, and the many who were born, baptised, married and finally came to rest in the churchyard.
As more information accumulated it became clear that the only way forward was to embrace the modern era. With the financial support of the Parish Council and a donation from an ‘Open Gardens’ event, the group designed a website which was implemented by Simon Jenner and launched in January 2019 at a well attended Village Hall event: www. woodnewtonhistory.co.uk
This has proved to be a huge success, linking many families with roots in Woodnewton back to their past and generating sources
of anecdotes, postcards and memorabilia previously not known. In return the group can offer family records - a win-win situation.
If any reader has connections to Woodnewton and can contribute, or needs information please let us know via our website.
Geoff Darnell
Woodnewton History Group
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