120-520: Woodford Halse is a village about 6.5 miles (10.5 km) south of Daventry in Northamptonshire . It is in the civil parish of Woodford cum Membris , which includes also village of Hinton and hamlet of West Farndon . Hinton and Woodford Halse are separated by the infant River Cherwell and the former course of the Great Central Main Line railway. The village was formerly served by
240-680: A Moravian Church . A flight of four lynchets survive south of the village: a rare survival in Northamptonshire. In 1758 the open field system of farming around Woodford Halse was ended by enclosure . The ridge and furrow pattern of the common fields is visible in parts of the parish, and especially just south of the village. Allotments northeast of the village are laid out along the ridges and furrows, and follow their uneven widths and reverse S-curve. In 1848 Woodford Halse's principal landowners included Sir Henry E.L. Dryden, 7th Baronet and Sir Charles Knightley, 2nd Baronet . In July 1873
360-543: A market was first recorded at Daventry. The market benefited from Daventry's location upon the main road (now the A45 road ) linking the important city of Coventry with Watling Street (now the A5 road ) which was the main route from the Midlands to London , which brought in much passing trade. In 1576 Daventry grammar school was founded by William Parker, a woollen draper and native of
480-619: A ring of six bells plus a sanctus bell . One of the Watts family of bell-founders , who had foundries in Bedford and Leicester , cast four of the bells including the tenor in 1613. John Taylor & Co of Loughborough cast a fifth in 1909 and the present treble in 1976. St. Mary's parish is a member of the Benefice of Woodford Halse with Eydon , Byfield, Northamptonshire , Aston Le Walls and Boddington, Northamptonshire . Woodford Halse has also
600-600: A "basic railway". The Marshlink line between Ashford International and Hastings , threatened with closure in the Beeching Report, is now seen as important due to the opening of the Channel Tunnel and High Speed 1 . Traffic on the single-track Golden Valley Line between Kemble and Swindon and the Cotswold Line between Oxford and Worcester has increased significantly, and double track has now been reinstated on
720-468: A Dissenting chapel in the town around 1722 in buildings opposite The Wheatsheaf on the southern end of Sheaf Street. Later in 1752 a Dissenting Academy was moved from Northampton to this site. The chemist and theologian Joseph Priestley studied there from 1752 to 1755. In 1789, the Academy moved back to Northampton. Daniel Defoe described Daventry as a "considerable market town which subsists chiefly on
840-492: A Labour government under Prime Minister Harold Wilson after 13 years of Conservative government. During the election campaign Labour had promised to halt rail closures if elected, but it quickly backtracked, and later oversaw some of the most controversial closures. Tom Fraser was appointed Minister of Transport, but was replaced by Barbara Castle in December 1965. Castle published a map in 1967, Network for Development , showing
960-446: A branch line this did little to revive the town's economy. The only significant industry to develop in the town during this time was shoemaking , which at its height in the 1870s employed around 700 workers. In 1925, the newly created BBC constructed a radio transmitting station on Borough Hill just outside the town. Daventry was chosen because it was the point of maximum contact with the land mass of England and Wales . From 1932
1080-751: A coaching town. There were many coaching inns in the town including the Wheatsheaf the Saracen's Head the Plough and Bell the Dun Cow and the Brown Bear . At the zenith of the coaching era in the 1830s, Daventry had become a major hub of the national network, with more than 250 coaches passing through the town every week, including services between London, Warwick , Birmingham , Liverpool and Holyhead, and Birmingham and Cambridge . Reflecting Daventry's prosperity, many of
1200-675: A day and five passengers on average, earning only 25% of costs. Finally there was the service from Hull to York via Beverley (using part of the Yorkshire Coast Line , which was not closed, and the York to Beverley Line , which was). The line covered 80% of its operating costs, but he calculated that it could be closed because there was an alternative, albeit less direct, route. Out of 18,000 miles (29,000 km) of railway, Beeching recommended that 6,000 miles (9,700 km)—mostly rural and industrial lines—should be closed entirely, and that some of
1320-511: A day, on lines controlled by multiple Victorian era signalboxes (again fully staffed, often throughout the day). Operating costs could have been reduced by reducing staff and removing redundant services on these lines while keeping the stations open. This has since been successfully achieved by British Rail and its successors on lesser-used lines that survived the cuts, such as the East Suffolk Line from Ipswich to Lowestoft, which survives as
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#17328700710451440-472: A few lines where they had been removed. Some lines closed under the Beeching cuts have reopened as private heritage railways. Some examples are East Lancs Railway , Great Central Railway (heritage railway) , Mid Hants Railway , North Yorkshire Moors Railway , North Norfolk Railway and West Somerset Railway . Flanders and Swann , writers and performers of satirical songs, wrote a lament for lines closed by
1560-723: A fire station at Woodford Halse, staffed by retained firefighters . The village's regular social events include the Annual Christmas Street Fair and Summer Boat Races. Television signals in the village are received from the local relay transmitter which is transmitted via the Sutton Coldfield transmitter. However, signals can also be received from the Sandy Heath and Oxford transmitters. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Northampton , Heart East , Inspiration FM and Connect Radio . The local weekly newspaper serving
1680-624: A further 700 miles (1,100 km) a choice of four. In Scotland, only the Central Belt routes and the lines via Fife and Perth to Aberdeen were selected for development, and none were selected in Wales, apart from the Great Western Main Line as far as Swansea. Beeching's secondment from ICI ended early in June 1965 after Harold Wilson 's attempt to get him to produce a transport plan failed. It
1800-479: A good start, and by 1972 more than 1,000 new families had moved to Daventry, along with many new industries. However by the mid-1970s growth had slowed sharply, due to a combination of the faltering national economy and public spending cuts. The planning agreement had originally been intended to last for 30 years (until 1991) however Birmingham City Council decided to pull out of it half way through in 1976, due in part to spending cuts, but also as it had become clear that
1920-437: A lack of patronage, leaving large parts of the country with no public transport. The assumption at the time was that car owners would drive to the nearest railhead (which was usually the junction where the closed branch line would otherwise have taken them) and continue their journey onwards by train. In practice, having left home in their cars, people used them for the whole journey. Similarly for freight: without branch lines,
2040-510: A number of BBC staff and their families moved into the area. At its height by 1990 the station had 43 radio masts , however the station closed in 1992 and all but one of the radio masts was taken down, with most of the land being sold to Daventry District Council who opened it up to the public as a country park. A commercial unit of the BBC remained based locally for a few years after. A busy directional radio beacon (VOR), identifier "DTY", for aircraft
2160-572: A number of issues, but the future size of the railway system was not one of them. For all the suspicion it aroused, the committee had little to say on this and the government was already convinced of the need to reduce the size of the rail network. In spite of questions being asked in Parliament , Sir Ivan's report was not published at the time. In December 1960 questions were asked in the Lords about this "secret" and "under-the-counter" study group, criticising
2280-503: A pub) , also in Drayton – School Street and Orchard Street. A street market is held every Tuesday and Friday in High Street, although its original site was on the aptly named Market Square. There is a modern shopping precinct adjacent to the High Street called Bowen Square. An alternative pronunciation for Daventry used by locals is 'Daintree', but this has become less common. Daventry
2400-457: A radio receiver installed in a van at Litchborough (just off the A5 about six mi (ten km) south of Daventry) to receive signals bounced off a metal-clad Handley Page Heyford bomber flying across the radio transmissions. The interference picked up from the aircraft allowed its approximate navigational position to be estimated, and therefore proved that it was possible to detect the position of aircraft using radio waves. The success of
2520-432: A route profitable: "Similarly, consideration of the cost figures will show that thinning out the trains, or thinning out the stations, would not make a service self-supporting even if it had no adverse effect on revenue". There is little in the Beeching report recommending general economies (in administration costs, working practices and so on). For example, a number of the stations that were closed were fully staffed 18 hours
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#17328700710452640-489: A statement to the House later that day confirming that the sale of shares was in hand and would be completed "very soon", noting that as part of the agreement he could be required to buy the shares from the purchaser at the original price after he ceased to hold office, if so desired by the purchaser. While it was reported that he sold the shares to his wife, she denied in a newspaper interview, that any transaction had taken place. It
2760-408: A street of shops. The Railway Hotel was built in 1900. By 1973 it had become Woodford Halse Social Club. The parish's population eventually peaked at just under 2,000, at which time the village had its own cinema. The GCR main line was at times a busy route and the depot and yards at Woodford Halse were very active. British Railways renamed the station Woodford Halse on 1 November 1948. Following
2880-605: A subsidy to be paid by the Treasury for a three-year period. This was later repealed in the Railways Act 1974. Whether these subsidies affected the size of the network is questionable: the criteria for reprieving loss-making lines had not altered, merely the way their costs appeared in the railways accounts—previously their contribution to the railways' overall loss was hidden in the total deficit. The " bustitution " policy that replaced rail services with buses also failed. In many cases
3000-467: A virtual halt by the early 1970s. One of the last major closures was the 98-mile (158 km) Waverley Route between Carlisle , Hawick and Edinburgh in 1969; the reopening of a 35-mile section of this line was approved in 2006 and passenger services resumed in September 2015. Holiday and coastal resorts were severely affected by the closures. The report recommended closing almost all services along
3120-459: Is a conservation area , with most of its buildings dating from the 17th to 19th centuries including many listed buildings . Until the 1950s, Daventry was a small market town with a population of around 4,000. All of the subsequent growth of the town has occurred during the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Consequently, the historic core of the town is surrounded by modern roads, housing, and industrial estates . There are two country parks on
3240-594: Is a matter of debate whether Beeching left by mutual arrangement with the government or if he was sacked. Frank Cousins , the Labour Minister of Technology , told the House of Commons in November 1965 that Beeching had been dismissed by Tom Fraser , then Minister of Transport. Beeching denied this, pointing out that he had returned early to ICI as he would not have had enough time to undertake an in-depth transport study before
3360-419: Is between an excessive and increasingly un-economic system, with a corresponding tendency for the railways as a whole to fall into disrepute and decay, or the selective development and intensive utilisation of a more limited trunk route system". Of the 7,500 miles (12,100 km) of trunk route, 3,700 miles (6,000 km) involves a choice between two routes, 700 miles (1,100 km) a choice of three, and over
3480-429: Is designed with short terraces of dwellings grouped around a series of cul-de-sacs grouped around a large looped access road around the edge of the hill. There is a central focal point which has schools for children from early years to senior level. There are several service shops and originally there was an estate public house but that was demolished in the mid 1990s. There is also a community centre. The plan got off to
3600-515: Is now discredited. Daventry was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Daventrei . It was recorded as belonging to Countess Judith , niece of William the Conqueror . In around 1108, Daventry Priory a small Cluniac priory was founded at Daventry, alongside the parish church. The priory was closed in 1526 by Cardinal Wolsey who granted its assets to Christ Church, Oxford . In 1203
3720-489: Is overlooked by the 653 ft-high (199 m) Borough Hill on the eastern edge of the town. The hill has been the site of human activity dating back into prehistory: remains have been found of two Bronze Age barrows , two Iron Age hill forts – one of which is the fourth largest found in Britain, and a later Roman villa and farming settlement. According to local folklore Daventry had Danish ( Viking ) origins, this
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3840-783: Is served by a direct connection to the Northampton Loop of the West Coast Main Line railway. Due to the proximity to the M1, Ford opened a large national spare parts distribution warehouse on the Royal Oak Industrial Estate in 1972. The 130-acre (53 ha) building took Taylor Woodrow a year to build at a cost of £2.25M and was for many years considered the largest building in the United Kingdom. Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts , also colloquially referred to as
3960-442: Is situated approximately four mi (six km) south of the town. The town also gives its name to the busy Daventry air traffic control sector. On the early morning of Tuesday 26 February 1935 the radio transmitter at Daventry was used for what became known as the " Daventry Experiment " which involved the first-ever practical demonstration of radar , by its inventor Robert Watson-Watt and Arnold Frederic Wilkins . They used
4080-531: The BBC Empire Service (now the BBC World Service ) was broadcast from there. The radio announcement of "Daventry calling" made Daventry well known across the world. It was the BBC's use of the literal pronunciation in this call-sign that resulted in the widespread displacement of the historical pronunciation "Daintree" ( ˈdeɪntri ). The transmitting station contributed to the town's population revival, as
4200-698: The Beeching Axe , were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. They are named for Dr. Richard Beeching , then-chair of the British Railways Board and the author of two reports – The Reshaping of British Railways (1963) and The Development of the Major Railway Trunk Routes (1965) – that outlined
4320-570: The British Railways Board , which took over on 1 January 1963, with Dr Beeching as its first chairman. The Act put in place measures that simplified the process of closing railways by removing the need for the pros and cons of each case to be heard in detail. It was described as the "most momentous piece of legislation in the field of railway law to have been enacted since the Railway and Canal Traffic Act 1854 ". The general election in October 1964 returned
4440-479: The British Transport Commission (BTC) was formed in 1949 with a brief to close the least-used branch lines. This resulted in the loss (or conversion to freight-only operation) of some 3,318 miles (5,340 km) of railway between 1948 and 1962. The most significant closure was that of the former Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway in 1959. In opposition to these cuts, the period also witnessed
4560-657: The Charnwood Forest Railway , closed to passengers in 1931, and the Harborne Line in Birmingham , closed to passengers in 1934. Some lines had never been profitable and were not subject to loss of traffic in that period. The railways were busy during the Second World War , but at the end of the war they were in a poor state of repair and in 1948 nationalised as British Railways . The Branch Lines Committee of
4680-607: The East and West Junction Railway (later part of the Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway ) was opened through the parish. The line passed just over 1 ⁄ 2 -mile (800 m) south of the village but the nearest station on the line was at Byfield almost 2 miles (3 km) away. On 15 March 1899 the Great Central Railway (GCR) opened its main line from Nottingham Victoria to London Marylebone through
4800-519: The Gee Eastern chain master transmitter mast: this was part of a radio navigation system used by the Allies during World War II . Borough Hill Roman villa is also located here. The modern growth of Daventry occurred from the mid-1950s onwards. Real growth started in 1955 when the tapered roller bearing manufacturer British Timken opened a large factory in the town (the factory closed in 1993 although
4920-499: The Great Central Railway , which provided significant local employment, including Woodford Halse railway station which opened in 1899 and closed in 1966. The earliest parts of the Church of England parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin include the chancel , west tower and south doorway, which date from about 1300. The arcade of the south aisle is 14th or 15th century. St Mary's has
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5040-576: The National Cycle Network or used for road schemes. Others have since been built over, have reverted to farmland, or remain derelict with no plans for any reuse or redevelopment. Some, such as the bulk of the Midland Metro network around Birmingham and Wolverhampton , have since been incorporated into light rail lines. After growing rapidly in the 19th century during the Railway Mania ,
5160-537: The Staverton to Newnham road which was eventually sold by the Ministry of Defence in 2007. In 2006, the outdoor pool – which had been built and funded by Daventry residents in the 1950s following the drowning of three children in the local reservoir – was closed due to funding difficulties. In 2007, Daventry began plans to modernise the town with a futuristic personal rapid transit system that would link outer estates to
5280-598: The West Coast Main Line to Carlisle and Glasgow ; traffic to the north-east of England would be concentrated through the East Coast Main Line as far as Newcastle ; and traffic to Wales and the West Country would go on the Great Western Main Line to Swansea and Plymouth . Underpinning Beeching's proposals was his belief that there was too much duplication in the railway network: "The real choice
5400-643: The West Northamptonshire unitary authority area of Northamptonshire , England , close to the border with Warwickshire . At the 2021 Census , Daventry had a population of 28,123. The town is located 75 mi (120 km) north-north-west of London via the M1 motorway , 14 mi (23 km) west of Northampton , 10 + 1 ⁄ 4 mi (16.5 km) south-west of Rugby and 15 + 3 ⁄ 4 mi (25.5 km) north-north-east of Banbury . Other nearby places include Southam , Coventry and
5520-478: The rail subsidies necessary to keep the network running. The second report identified a small number of major routes for significant investment. Such was the scale of these cuts that the programme came to be colloquially referred to as the Beeching Axe, though the 1963 report also recommended some less well-publicised changes; including a switch to the now-standard practice of containerisation for rail freight, and
5640-403: The 'Daventry Experiment'. Signals from GB75RDF at Borough Hill , reflected from aircraft (all of which were flown by radio hams), were detected in a receiving set housed in a replica Morris van . The receiving station set up in the field that is the home to The Birth of RADAR memorial at Litchborough . The team was led by Brian Leathley, known as Andrew G8GMU. Borough Hill was also the site of
5760-500: The 1841 level until later in the 1950s. The London and Birmingham Railway passed a few miles to the east of the town through the Watford Gap . A branch line to Daventry was included in the original Act of Parliament, however, despite several earlier attempts, the line was not built until 1888, when a short branch was built from Weedon to Daventry railway station . In 1895 the line was extended to Leamington Spa . However being only
5880-480: The 1950s but the economic situation steadily deteriorated, with labour costs rising faster than income and fares and freight charges repeatedly frozen by the government to try to control inflation . By 1955, the railways' share of the transport market had dropped from 16% to 5%. The 1955 Modernisation Plan promised expenditure of over £1,240 million; steam locomotives would be replaced with diesel and electric locomotives , traffic levels would increase, and
6000-460: The 1960s, when Birmingham City Council purchased nearly 1,000 acres (400 ha) of land to be developed for housing and industrial use. The first phase of this expansion was constructed on the south-east slopes of Borough Hill and was named the Southbrook Estate. It was designed and laid out by the architect J A Maudsley for City of Birmingham Architects Department . This began in 1966. and
6120-520: The 1963 The Reshaping of British Railways report, BR closed the station, the main line and the Banbury branch of the former GCR on 5 September 1966. All tracks and most railway buildings were dismantled. The population fell sharply as former railway workers left the parish, but new developments in later decades have since increased it. Where the GCR's line, depot and yards were sited is now a tree plantation which
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#17328700710456240-576: The Beeching cuts entitled " Slow Train " (1963). Michael Williams' book On the slow train takes its name from the Flanders and Swann song. It celebrates 12 of the most beautiful and historic journeys in Britain, some of which were saved from the Beeching cuts. It perpetuated the myth that the Beeching cuts were concerned solely with sleepy rural branch lines, but they actually also concerned well-used "industrial" and commuter lines. The BBC TV comedy series Oh, Doctor Beeching! , broadcast from 1995 to 1997,
6360-573: The Board of Trade, argued that the country's railways did not have a future without rationalisation and amalgamation. By 1914, the railways had some significant problems, such as a lack of standard rolling stock and too many duplicated routes. After the war, the railways faced increasing competition from a growing road transport network , which had increased to 8 million tons of freight annually by 1921. Around 1,300 miles (2,100 km) of passenger railways closed between 1923 and 1939. These closures included
6480-579: The British Transport Commission in March 1961. He would receive the same yearly salary that he was earning at ICI, the controversial sum of £24,000 (£675,000 in 2023 terms), £10,000 more than Sir Brian Robertson , the previous chairman of the BTC, £14,000 more than Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, and two-and-a-half times higher than the salary of any head of a nationalised industry at the time. At that time
6600-569: The British railway system reached its height in the years immediately before the First World War , with a network of 23,440 miles (37,720 km). The network had opened up major travel opportunities for the entire country that had never been available before. However, lines were sometimes uneconomic, and several Members of Parliament had direct involvement with railways, creating a conflict of interest. In 1909, Winston Churchill , then President of
6720-535: The Golden Valley Line, partly to facilitate a diversionary route during electrification and other works on the Severn tunnel line. The Conservatives increased their Commons majority in the general election of 8 October 1959 , their first with Harold Macmillan as Prime Minister. Ernest Marples , previously Postmaster General , was made Transport Minister two weeks later in a cabinet reshuffle; Macmillan noted that
6840-487: The Northern working-class boy who had won a scholarship to a grammar school was one of only two "self-made men" in his cabinet. Marples had a background with a successful road construction company. When opening the M1 motorway , he said: "This motorway starts a new era in road travel. It is in keeping with the bold scientific age in which we live. It is a powerful weapon to add to our transport system." His association with
6960-539: The Oxford–Cambridge Varsity Line closed despite its strategic location serving Milton Keynes , Britain's largest "new town". Kinross-shire, and Fife especially, suffered closures not included in the Report, including the main line from Edinburgh to Perth. King's Lynn was to have remained at the centre of routes towards Norwich , Hunstanton and Wisbech , all of which closed. With a few exceptions, after
7080-825: The Saracen's Head (now Wetherspoons ), the Moot Hall (see below), the Wheatsheaf (now a residential home), 27, 29, 36, 57, 59 High Street and 2, 20, and 22 Sheaf Street. Grade II listed buildings include several in Market Place, Church Walk, New Street, High Street, Sheaf Street and the United Reformed Church, the Burton Memorial (commemorating Edmund Charles Burton, Town Clerk of Daventry; see photo at left), Danetre Hospital Offices (former workhouse) and Middlemore Farmhouse (now
7200-438: The US Rail Bank scheme, which holds former railway land for possible future use, was not seen to be practical. Many redundant structures from closed lines remain, such as bridges over other lines and drainage culverts. They often require maintenance as part of the rail infrastructure while providing no benefit. Critics of Beeching argue that the lack of recommendations on the handling of closed railway property demonstrates that
7320-419: The area of the former borough of Daventry became an unparished area with charter trustees until 2003, when Daventry became a civil parish and gained its own Town (parish) Council . Daventry Town Council currently has 16 councillors representing four wards. The Mayor of Daventry is elected annually by the members of the town council. The town council has responsibility for a number of functions such as managing
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#17328700710457440-459: The axe man, but it was surgery, not mad chopping". On 7 June 2019, former Minister for Transport Andrew Adonis delivered a speech on "Reversing Beeching". Since the Beeching cuts, road traffic levels have grown significantly. As well, since privatisation in the mid-1990s, there have been record levels of passengers on the railways owing to a preference to living in smaller towns and rural areas, and in turn commuting longer distances (although
7560-440: The beginning of a protest movement led by the Railway Development Association, whose most famous member was the poet John Betjeman . They went on to be a significant force resisting the Beeching proposals. Economic recovery and the end of petrol rationing led to rapid growth in car ownership and use. Vehicle mileage grew at a sustained annual rate of 10% between 1948 and 1964. In contrast, railway traffic remained steady during
7680-473: The cause of this is disputed ). A few of the railway closures have been reversed. However, despite the considerable increase in railway journeys since the mid-1990s, rail transport's share of the total passenger transport market remains below that of the early 1960s, with road overwhelmingly the dominant mode: rail's market share was 13% in 1961, 6% in 1991 and 2001, and 10% in 2014. Some closed stations have reopened , and passenger services have been restored on
7800-429: The coasts of north Devon, Cornwall and East Anglia aside from Norwich to Great Yarmouth. All services on the Isle of Wight were recommended for closure, as were all branch lines in the Lake District . One of the most significant closures was the Great Central Main Line from London Marylebone to Leicester and Sheffield. Not all the recommended closures were implemented. Reprieved lines include: The Beeching Report
7920-431: The company during his term of office, but it did lead to a sense of unease, not least within the railway sector. In April 1960, Sir Ivan Stedeford established an advisory group known as the Stedeford Committee at the request of Harold Macmillan to report on the state of the British Transport Commission and to make recommendations. Sir Ewart Smith , a retired former Chief Engineer at Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI),
8040-428: The continued withholding of the report and its recommendations. It was later suggested that Stedeford had recommended that the government should set up another body "to consider the size and pattern of the railway system required to meet current and foreseeable needs, in the light of developments and trends in other forms of transport ... and other relevant considerations". Marples then appointed Beeching as Chairman of
8160-444: The development of an increasingly large logistics facility, north of Daventry. This warehousing and distribution centre is known as the Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT). It is situated between Rugby and Crick and the A5 and junction 18 of the M1 motorway (its original northern terminus in 1959 until 1964). Stagecoach Midlands provides regular bus services D1 and D2 from Daventry and Rugby . The terminal
8280-402: The distribution Centre stayed open until 2000). The town's fortunes were also boosted when the first phase of the M1 motorway was opened nearby, giving the town a direct motorway link with London , with the expansion of the motorway network connecting it to the north of England within a decade. Despite the growth of the town, Daventry railway station was closed to passengers in 1958, with
8400-590: The early 1970s proposals to close other lines were met with vociferous public opposition and were shelved. Beeching's reports made no recommendations about the handling of land after closures. British Rail operated a policy of disposing of land that was surplus to requirements. Many bridges, cuttings and embankments have been removed and the land sold for development. Closed station buildings on remaining lines have often been demolished or sold for housing or other purposes. Increasing pressure on land use meant that protection of closed trackbeds, as in other countries, such as
8520-522: The economic costs of having two break-bulk points combined to make long-distance road transport a more viable alternative. Many of the closed lines had run at only a small deficit. Some lines such as the Sunderland -to-West Hartlepool line cost only £291 per mile to operate. Closures of such small-scale loss-making lines made little difference to the overall deficit. Possible changes to light railway -type operations were attacked by Beeching, who rejected all proposals for cost savings that would not make
8640-659: The edge of the town; just north-east of the town centre is the Daventry Country Park , based around a canal reservoir , just east of the A425. On the south-eastern edge of the town is the Borough Hill country park. There are 74 buildings or groups of buildings in the centre of Daventry that are on the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest led by the Church of Holy Cross at grade I. Grade II*buildings include
8760-460: The end of the 1960s it became increasingly clear that rail closures were not bringing the rail system out of deficit and were unlikely ever to do so. Transport minister Barbara Castle decided that some rail services, which could not pay their way but had a valuable social role, should be subsidised. Legislation allowing this was introduced in the Transport Act 1968 . Section 39 made provision for
8880-624: The experiment persuaded the British government to fund the development of a network of full scale radar stations on the south coast of England, known as Chain Home , which provided a decisive advantage to the RAF in the Battle of Britain in 1940. 75 years to the day of the original launch, on 26 February 2010, teams from the Coventry Amateur Radio Society & The Northampton Radio Club re-enacted
9000-717: The formal end of his secondment. The first report was accepted by the Conservative government of the day, which argued that many services could be provided more effectively by buses. Most recommendations were subsequently taken forward by the Labour government elected in 1964, but many of the proposed closures sparked protests from communities that would lose their trains, a number of which (especially rural communities) had no other public transport. Line closures had been running at about 150–300 miles per year between 1950 and 1961. They peaked at 1,000 miles (1,600 km) in 1964 and came to
9120-435: The government was seeking outside talent to sort out the huge problems of the railway network, and he was confident that he could make the railways pay for themselves, but his salary, at 35 times that of many railway workers, has been described as a "political disaster". The Transport Act 1962 dissolved the British Transport Commission (BTC), which had overseen the railways, canals and road freight transport and established
9240-557: The great concourse of travellers on the old Watling Street way." During the Georgian era of the 18th and early 19th century, a national system of turnpike roads with improved road surfaces developed, this in turn allowed the development of a national system of mail coaches and long distance passenger stagecoaches . Daventry, being located on the main roads linking London with the West Midlands, Holyhead and Lancashire , flourished as
9360-550: The high-profile construction company Marples Ridgway became a matter of concern to both the public and politicians. As is customary, he resigned as a director of the company in 1951 on becoming a junior minister, but he only disposed of his shares in the company in 1960 after the company won a contract to build the Hammersmith Flyover , when questions were asked both in the media and also in the Commons on 28 January 1960; he made
9480-581: The king to the presence of the Parliamentary army. The Royalists made for their reinforcements at Newark-on-Trent but after reaching Market Harborough turned to fight, which resulted in the decisive Battle of Naseby , in which the Royalist army was heavily defeated by the Parliamentarians. The village of Naseby is approximately 14 mi (23 km) northeast of Daventry. English Dissenters founded
9600-536: The land is generally lower than the town. Daventry sits on the watershed of the River Leam which flows to Leamington Spa , Warwick and the west of England and the River Nene which flows east. There is no river in the town; the largest gatherings of water are two reservoirs made to supply the canal that swings from Watford Gap into the West Midlands through the 2,042 yd-long (1,867 m) Braunston Tunnel around
9720-514: The least-used 50% of stations contributed only 2% of passenger revenue, and that one third of route miles carried just 1% of passengers. By way of example, he noted that the line from Thetford to Swaffham carried five trains each weekday in each direction, carrying an average of nine passengers with only 10% of the costs of operating the line covered by fares; another example was the Gleneagles-Crieff-Comrie line which had ten trains
9840-401: The line closing to freight in 1963. In 1961, Daventry was designated as an 'overspill' to house people and industry relocated from Birmingham , as government policy of the time favoured moving population and industry away from Birmingham . Although Daventry was not formally designated as a New Town , its expansion bore many similarities to such developments: A planned expansion of the town
9960-597: The main route from the Midlands to London. During the English Civil War , the army of King Charles I stayed at Daventry in 1645 after storming the Parliamentary garrison at Leicester and on its way to relieve the siege of Oxford . The King stayed at the Wheatsheaf Inn, whilst his Royalist army camped on Borough Hill. According to local legend, it was during his stay at the Wheatsheaf Inn in Daventry that Charles
10080-483: The modernisation plan must be adapted to this new shape" and with the premise that the railways should be run as a profitable business. Beeching first studied traffic flows on all lines to identify "the good, the bad, and the indifferent". His analysis showed that the least-used 1,762 stations had annual passenger receipts of less than £2,500 each (£73,000 as of 2024 ), that over half of the 4,300 stations open to passengers in 1960 had receipts of less than £10,000, that
10200-449: The necessity of improving the efficiency of the railways and the plan for achieving this through restructuring. The first report identified 2,363 stations and 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of railway line for closure, amounting to 55% of stations, 30% of route miles, and the loss of 67,700 British Rail jobs, with an objective of stemming the large losses being incurred during a period of increasing competition from road transport and reducing
10320-952: The north of the town. To the north-west is Drayton Reservoir and to the north-east is the Daventry Reservoir and country park. Watford Gap is about 4 mi (6 km) north-east of the town; through this gap pass the A5 ( Watling Street Roman road), the Grand Union Canal , West Coast Main Line , the Northampton Loop Line and most recently the M1 motorway. Daventry has several housing estates, which include Drayton , Middlemore Farm, Lang Farm, Ashby Fields, Royal Oak, Timken, Stefen Hill, The Grange, The Southbrook, The Headlands and most recently Monksmoor Park. The small historic core of Daventry, centred on High Street, Market Place, New Street, Sheaf Street and their surrounding streets
10440-511: The number of railway wagons had fallen 29% from 1,200,000 to 848,000. The first Beeching report, titled The Reshaping of British Railways , was published on 27 March 1963. The report starts by quoting the brief provided by the Prime Minister , Harold Macmillan , from 1960: "First, the industry must be of a size and pattern suited to modern conditions and prospects. In particular, the railway system must be modelled to meet current needs, and
10560-486: The parish, using the valley of the River Cherwell to pass between Woodford Halse and Hinton. The GCR established a new station called Woodford & Hinton , a four-way railway junction, a major locomotive depot and extensive marshalling yards. A plan to build carriage sheds here was not implemented, but between the old village and the new railway several rows of terraced houses for railway workers were built, together with
10680-638: The rail network to a mere 1,630 miles (2,620 km), leaving only 22 miles (35 km) of railway in Wales (a section of the South Wales Main Line from the Severn Tunnel to Cardiff Central ) and none in Somerset, Devon or Cornwall. The Midland Main Line was planned to close, leaving Leicester and Derby without a rail link, while the East Coast Main Line, part of the key London/Edinburgh link,
10800-513: The railway system "stabilised" at around 11,000 route miles (17,700 km). Section 39 of the Transport Act 1968 made provision for grants to be paid in relation to loss-making lines and services, but many of the services and railway lines that would have qualified had already been closed. A number of branch lines and local services were saved by this legislation. After 1970, when the Conservatives were returned to power , serious thought
10920-483: The railways had not been restored to profitability and Beeching's approach appeared to many to have failed. It has been suggested that by closing almost a third of the network Beeching achieved a saving of just £30 million, whilst overall losses were running in excess of £100 million per year. However, the precise savings from closures are impossible to calculate. The Ministry of Transport subsequently estimated that rail operating costs had been cut by over £100 million in
11040-420: The railways' ability to transport goods "door to door" was dramatically reduced. As in the passenger model, it was assumed that lorries would pick up goods and transport them to the nearest railhead, where they would be taken across the country by train, unloaded onto another lorry and taken to their destination. The development of the motorway network, the advent of containerisation , improvements in lorries and
11160-499: The remaining lines should be kept open only for freight. A total of 2,363 stations were to close, including 435 already under threat, both on lines that were to close and on lines that were to remain open. He recommended that freight services should mainly be for bulk commodities such as minerals and coal, and that the freight system make use of new containerised handling systems rather than less efficient and slower wagon-load traffic. The latter recommendation would prove prescient with
11280-440: The replacement bus services were slower and less convenient than the trains they were meant to replace, and so were unpopular. Replacement bus services were often run between the (now disused) station sites (some of which were some distance from the population centres they served), thus losing any potential advantage over the closed rail service. Most replacement bus services lasted less than two years before they were removed due to
11400-481: The replacement of some services with integrated bus services linked to the remaining railheads. Protests resulted in the saving of some stations and lines, but the majority were closed as planned. Beeching's name remains associated with the mass closure of railways and the loss of many local services in the period that followed. A few of these routes have since reopened. Some short sections have been preserved as heritage railways , while others have been incorporated into
11520-440: The report was short-sighted. On the other hand, retaining a railway on these routes, which would obviously have increased maintenance costs, might not have earned enough to justify that greater cost. As demand for rail has grown since the 1990s, the failure to preserve the routes of closed lines, such as the one between Bedford and Cambridge, which was closed despite Beeching recommending its retention, has been criticised. By 1968,
11640-599: The rise of intermodal freight transport in the following decades. On 16 February 1965, Beeching introduced the second stage of his reorganisation of the railways. In his report, The Development of the Major Railway Trunk Routes , he set out his conclusion that of the 7,500 miles (12,100 km) of trunk railway only 3,000 miles (4,800 km) "should be selected for future development" and invested in. This policy would result in long-distance traffic being routed along nine lines. Traffic to Coventry , Birmingham , Manchester , Liverpool and Scotland would be routed through
11760-467: The system was predicted to be back in profit by 1962. Instead losses mounted, from £68 million in 1960 to £87 million in 1961, and £104 million in 1962 (£2.8 billion in 2023 terms). The BTC could no longer pay the interest on its loans. By 1961, losses were running at £300,000 a day, despite the fact that since nationalisation in 1948, 3,000 miles (4,800 km) of line had been closed, railway staff numbers had fallen 26% from 648,000 to 474,000, and
11880-480: The town centre, and a canal arm with marina next to the former site of the outdoor pool. In May 2018, the District Council dropped the building a canal arm and marina scheme in favour of achievable projects. In March 2018, the town's High Street was used as a filming location for the feature film, Nativity Rocks! . Daventry is a civil parish within the unitary authority of West Northamptonshire which
12000-469: The town's finest building were constructed during this period, including, most notably, the Holy Cross Church of 1758. The Industrial Revolution largely passed Daventry by, owing to its failure to become linked to the newer transport networks: The Grand Junction Canal (now Grand Union) had opened in 1796, and passed a few miles north of Daventry. An arm from the canal to Daventry was proposed, and
12120-745: The town's market, open spaces, allotments, cemeteries, museum, and CCTV. All other local services are the responsibility of West Northamptonshire Council. Daventry is represented in Parliament by the Daventry Parliamentary constituency , which is a safe Conservative seat, the MP representing the seat since 2024 has been Stuart Andrew . Cummins have their largest UK plant at the town where they manufacture some of their largest diesel engines that are suitable for marine, railcar and generator set uses. The proximity of motorways and mainline railways has led to
12240-418: The town's plan was falling short of expectations: The target population had been 36,000 by 1981, but actual growth was much slower than this, nevertheless, between 1961 and 1981 the population had nearly tripled from 5,860 to 16,178; Subsequent growth in the following decades has been slower and driven mainly by private developments. The population had reached 22,367 by 2001, and by 2011 it was 25,026. Daventry
12360-511: The town. The original schoolhouse on New Street, dating from around 1600 still stands, although it is now a private house. That same year Queen Elizabeth I granted Daventry borough status . The town was mentioned by William Shakespeare in Henry IV, Part I (Act IV, Sc II), which refers to "the red-nosed innkeeper of Daventry". Shakespeare would have known Daventry due to its relatively close proximity to Stratford-upon-Avon , and its position on
12480-471: The village is the Daventry Express . Woodford Halse has a non-League football club, Woodford United F.C. , which plays at Byfield Road. [REDACTED] Media related to Woodford Halse at Wikimedia Commons Daventry Daventry ( / ˈ d æ v ə n t r i / DAV -ən-tree , historically / ˈ d eɪ n t r i / DAYN -tree ) is a market town and civil parish in
12600-401: The villages of Ashby St Ledgers , Badby , Barby , Braunston , Byfield , Charwelton , Dodford , Dunchurch , Everdon , Fawsley , Hellidon , Kilsby , Long Buckby , Newnham , Norton , Staverton , Welton , Weedon and Woodford Halse . The town is twinned with Westerburg , Germany . The town lies at around 110–210 m (360–690 ft) above sea level. To the north and west,
12720-402: The wake of the Beeching Report but that much of this had been swallowed up by increased wages. Some of the branches closed acted as feeders to the main lines, and that feeder traffic was lost when the branches closed; the financial significance of this is debatable, for over 90% of the railways' 1960 traffic was carried on lines which remained open ten years later. Whatever the figures, towards
12840-703: Was acquired by the Parish Council in 2016 as a public amenity space and a small modern industrial estate, but evidence of the railway is still visible. Currently, public transport serving Woodford Halse consists of an hourly bus between Banbury and Daventry, operated by Stagecoach Oxfordshire . Woodford Halse Church of England Primary School serves the parish. The school has one of the largest playing fields of any Northamptonshire school and holds an annual cross-country race, attracting over 700 competitors from more than thirty schools. The village has several shops and businesses. Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service has
12960-448: Was asked by Ernest Marples to become a member of an advisory group; Smith declined but recommended Richard Beeching in his place, a suggestion that Marples accepted. Beeching, who held a PhD in physics, had been appointed to the main board of ICI at the age of 43. The board consisted of senior figures in British businesses, and none of the board had previous knowledge or experience of the railway industry. Stedeford and Beeching clashed on
13080-412: Was carried out as part of a three-way agreement between Birmingham City Council , Daventry Borough Council, and Northamptonshire County Council : Birmingham's role was to buy land, and build houses and industrial estates , Northamptonshire provided roads, schools and libraries, whilst Daventry provided drainage and sewage disposal. Work on the official expansion of Daventry began in the second half of
13200-515: Was created in 2021. From 1576 until 1974, Daventry had been a borough : The ancient borough of Daventry, created in 1576 was reconstituted as a municipal borough in 1835. In 1974 the municipal borough was abolished and merged into the much larger Daventry District , which also included a large rural area. In 2021 the Daventry District was itself abolished and merged into the even larger unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. From 1974,
13320-469: Was given to a further programme of closures, but this proved politically impossible. In 1982, under the government of Margaret Thatcher , Sir David Serpell , a civil servant who had worked with Beeching, compiled the Serpell Report which said that a profitable railway could be achieved only by closing much of what remained. The report's infamous "Option A" proposed greatly increasing fares and reducing
13440-627: Was included in the Act of Parliament authorising it, however this was never built. The opening of the London and Birmingham Railway in 1838 signalled the beginning of the railway age; almost immediately the coaching trade slumped and Daventry entered a long period of stagnation and decline which lasted for over a century: In 1841 Daventry had a population of 4,565, from thereon it went into steady decline until 1911, when it bottomed out at 3,516, and then slowly recovered, reaching 4,077 in 1951, but did not recover to
13560-423: Was intended to be cut north of Newcastle. The report was published on 20 January 1983 and received an immediate backlash from the media. It was quietly shelved in the run up to the 1983 election . Ian Hislop comments that history has been somewhat unkind to "Britain's most hated civil servant", by forgetting that Beeching proposed a much better bus service that ministers never delivered, and that in some ways he
13680-474: Was intended to be the first stage in the rail network's contraction. As a result, some lines it had not recommended for closure were subsequently shut down, such as the Woodhead line between Manchester and Sheffield in 1981, after the decline of the freight traffic (mostly coal) on which it had relied. Many surviving lines were rationalised, including reduction to single track and consolidation of signals. Most of
13800-462: Was partly due to the old pronunciation of Daventry as Daintry , which was interpreted as "Dane Tree", however in more modern interpretation the town's name is thought likelier to be Anglo-Saxon in origin: "Dafa's tree" (Dafa being a founding father or paterfamila ) and there was very likely a meeting tree, possibly on Borough Hill. Thus the name may have been formed on lines similar to Coventry ("Cofa's tree", i.e. "tree of Cofa"). Another theory which
13920-481: Was popular in the 19th century, was that of Thomas Pennant , the Welsh naturalist and antiquarian, who acknowledged the town's 'considerable antiquity' and speculated that the name was Brythonic , dwy-avon-tre (town of two rivers), a derivation seemingly supported by the town's topography, situated as it is between the sources of the River Leam , which flows west, and the River Nene which flows east. This theory however
14040-450: Was reported that he had transferred his shares into an Overseas Trust. In July 1964, Marples Ridgway and Partners Limited were awarded a £4.1 million contract for the "Hendon Urban Motorway" extension of the M1, in the same year that the company was taken over by the Bath and Portland Group. There was no evidence of any wrongdoing on anyone's part in this or any of the other contracts awarded to
14160-473: Was struck by an F0/T1 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day. In 1995 RAF Daventry was listed as a USAF communication facility by the then Minister of State for the Armed Forces Nicholas Soames in answer to a question from Max Madden . RAF Daventry is most likely the transmitter base at a former WW1 isolation hospital site on
14280-491: Was twice visited by the ghost of his former adviser and friend, Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford , who advised him to keep heading north and warned him that he would not win through force of arms. However, Parliament's newly formed New Model Army , led by Sir Thomas Fairfax , was marching north from besieging Oxford after being instructed to engage the king's main army. Fairfax's leading detachments of horse clashed with Royalist outposts near Daventry on 12 June, alerting
14400-443: Was used to do their "dirty work for them". Hislop describes him as "a technocrat [who] wasn't open to argument to romantic notions of rural England or the warp and weft of the train in our national identity. He didn't buy any of that. He went for a straightforward profit and loss approach and some claim we are still reeling from that today". Beeching was unrepentant about his role in the closures: "I suppose I'll always be looked upon as
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