Northamptonshire [Digital Photographic Images]

Click on a Northamptonshire town or village Brackley Towcester Weedon

DPI-021
DPI-021 Brackley - The Old Hall

The Old Hall at Brackley. This town stands at the junction of the ancient routes from Banbury to Buckingham and Oxford to Towcester (and Northampton). It is on the latter that a wide avenue developed into what became the High Street. Much of the town's commercial activities were conducted on this 1,000 yard drag. The addition of the town hall helped Brackley to attract a large market and, in addition, many fairs were held in the market place. However, there is a lack of any truly historic looking buildings because of a fire [thought to have started at the Crown Hotel] in 1649 ravaged many of the town's old timber-framed and thatched properties. Any that survived were given a facelift during the prosperous Georgian era. The rebuilding and refacing of Brackley's commercial centre has left a legacy of some fine Georgian houses. Pictured here is the Old Hall which now houses a book shop. © Digital Photographic Images TECHNICAL DATA Date: 27-01-2004 Source: Kodak DC4800 Maximum Size: 2160x1440 Pixels Maximum File Size: 2.43 Mb Format: JPEG [Also available in Colour]
Note: above sample image is
188 x 125 pixels
Enlargement is 400 x 265 pixels

DPI-022
DPI-022 Brackley - Crown Hotel

Digital image of The Crown Hotel. This large establishment is located in Brackley's Market Place. It has clearly been the town's principal coaching hotel. The front of the building is Georgian in character but this was a fresh facade for an older structure. However, not all of the original Crown has survived - in 1649 a fire broke out at the rear of the hotel and spread violently, destroying many of the adjoining properties. Coaches to Northampton and Oxford departed from the Crown Hotel on alternate days, ensuring an eclectic clientele could always be found in the bar. When Thomas Stuchfield was the licensee in the 1850's the hotel was a posting house and inland revenue office. In 1874 William Ellis was recorded as running the commercial and posting house along with being a farmer. Hailing from Peterborough, he kept the hotel with his wife Martha and an extended family. By 1910 Edmund Gray was the proprietor of what was described as a "first class family and commercial; posting in all its branches; boxes for hunters; motor garage; parcel office for the Great Central Railway. A separate listing recorded Edmund Gray as post and job manager. In the inter-war years the Crown Hotel went through a period of being called Ye Olde Crown. © Digital Photographic Images TECHNICAL DATA Date: 27-01-2004 Source: Kodak DC4800 Maximum Size: 2160x1440 Pixels Maximum File Size: 2.34 Mb Format: JPEG [Also available in Colour]
Note: above sample image is
188 x 125 pixels
Enlargement is 400 x 265 pixels

DPI-023
DPI-023 Brackley - The Locomotive

The Locomotive is the only remaining pub in Bridge Street, a thoroughfare that once had four boozers. Once part of High Street, the road's name is derived from either the old stone bridge that used to cross the River Ouse at the bottom of the hill or the 'new' railway bridge that was constructed in 1850. Brackley was served by two lines - the London and North Eastern Railway and the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. The Brackley station on the latter line was part of the Bletchley and Banbury branch. The original name for the line was the Buckingham Railway which opened in May 1850. This helps with the naming of The Locomotive, though we have not established whether a pub existed before this date trading under a different name. The Locomotive stands on the corner of Goose Green, once part of the main route to Banbury. Indeed, the fact that Goose Green was once the town's first market square suggests that an inn would have existed at this location long before the arrival of the railways. At the time of the above photograph, The Locomotive was operated by Mayfair Taverns. Not long after the arrival of the railways, Stephen Hawkins was the licensed victualler running the Locomotive Inn. He was born in 1818 to the south of Brackley at Evenly. He kept the Locomotive Inn with his Brackley-born wife Elizabeth. The couple employed Catherine Chimes as a servant. Stephen Hawkins would later move to run a beerhouse called On the Green at Evenly, a pub he kept for more than a generation - he was still in charge in 1901 at the ripe age of 82. By 1891 the Locomotive Inn was being run by a couple from Buckinghamshire, Emmanuel and Emma Bull. Born in 1838, Emmanuel was from the village of Padbury whilst Emma, five years younger, hailed from Whitchurch. Following the death of his wife, Emmanuel Bull moved to the Oxfordshire village of Grimsbury where he kept a pub with his three nieces. At the turn of the 20th century the licensed victualler running the Locomotive Inn was George Everett. Born in Stisted, Essex in 1856, he kept the pub with his wife Mary who hailed from the Herefordshire village of Much Marcle. The son of an agricultural labourer, George Everett's first job in life was as a footman for a barrister in Nether Wallop, Hampshire. He remained in this line of work when he moved up north to work for a merchant and steamship owner in Hessle on Humberside. He must have been a publican with many anecdotes to entertain his customers. © Digital Photographic Images TECHNICAL DATA Date: 27-01-2004 Source: Kodak DC4800 Maximum Size: 2160x1440 Pixels Maximum File Size: 2.00 Mb Format: JPEG [Also available in Colour]
Note: above sample image is
188 x 125 pixels
Enlargement is 400 x 265 pixels

DPI-024
DPI-024 Brackley - The Fox P.H.

The sign of The Fox has been used since the late fifteenth century. The region around this pub has a long tradition of fox hunting. Many signs of The Fox used to carry the verse: 'I am a crafty fox you see, but there is no harm in me, my master he has placed me here, to let you know he sells good beer.' The Fox Inn is still trading on Brackley's Banbury Road. The pubsign reveals that it was recently operated by Mann's. In 1891 the pub was kept by Northumberland-born Benjamin Bambrick and his wife Elizabeth. Born in 1851, she hailed from the Oxfordshire village of Clifton. In addition to his duties as licensee of the Fox Inn, Benjamin Bambrick worked as a groom, a trade he had learned in Kensington, London. © Digital Photographic Images TECHNICAL DATA Date: 03-02-2004 Source: Kodak DC4800 Maximum Size: 2160x1440 Maximum File Size: 2.27 Mb Format: JPEG [Also available in Colour]
Note: above sample image is
188 x 125 pixels
Enlargement is 400 x 265 pixels