Mears Ashby

Mears Ashby is a village in the county of Northamptonshire, England.[1] It lies between the county town of Northampton and Wellingborough and is in the West ward of borough council of Wellingborough area which also includes Sywell. At the time of the 2011 census, it had a population of 473.[2]

Mears Ashby
Mears Ashby
Location within Northamptonshire
Population473 (2011 census)
OS grid referenceSP838666
District
  • Wellingborough
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townNORTHAMPTON
Postcode districtNN6
Dialling code01604
PoliceNorthamptonshire
FireNorthamptonshire
AmbulanceEast Midlands
UK Parliament

Mears Ashby Hall and Estate

Located to the south of the village is Mears Ashby Hall, a fine Grade II* listed Jacobean Manor House.[3] The Hall was built in 1637 and was owned by the Stockdale family (Stockdale Baronets),[4] who descend from the Yorkshire landowning family of the same name.[5] In 1859 the East Wing by Anthony Salvin was added by Henry Stockdale.[6] During the 1980s the Hall became known for performances of Operatic Music organised by Frederick Stockdale. The long association of the Stockdale family at Mears Ashby Hall ended when in the 1990s when the house was sold and Hoddington House became the principal family residence. There are a number of windows in the village church commissioned by Sir Edmund Stockdale by noted stained glass artist Lawrence Lee which depict the family's links to the village.[7]

Witchcraft

According to Westwood and Simpson in their book, The Lore of the Land, the county in general and Mears Ashby, in particular, has a long tradition of witchcraft and accusations of witchcraft. In their book they recall that as late as 1785 a local inhabitant, Sarah Bradshaw, was so accused. We learn from the Northampton Mercury on 1 August 1785 that:

Thursday last, a poor woman, named Sarah Bradshaw of Mears Ashby...who was accused by some of her neighbours of being a witch, in order to prove her innocence, submitted to the ignominy of being dipped (on a ducking-stool); when she immediately sunk to the bottom of the pond; which was deemed an incontestable proof that she was no witch!

Further reading
  • Northampton Mercury 1 August 1785
  • The Lore of the Land - Westwood & Simpson - 2005 - ISBN 0-14-100711-7

References
  1. Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 152 Northampton & Milton Keynes (Buckingham & Daventry) (Map). Ordnance Survey. 2014. ISBN 9780319231715.
  2. Office of National Statistics: Mears Ashby CP: Parish headcounts
  3. "Mears Ashby Hall | History". mearsashbyhall.com. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  4. Sawbridge. Stockdale family of Mears Ashby Hall. Northants: Northamptonshire Archives. pp. 1–5.
  5. Burke, Bernard (1871). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great ..., Volume 2. London: Burkes. p. 1322.
  6. https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/domesday/dblock/GB-480000-264000/page/13. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. "All Saints, Mears Ashby". www.mearsashbygroup.org.uk. Church of England. Retrieved 3 May 2019.



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