Braunston, Northamptonshire, England, United Kingdom

Description | Church | Canals | Railways | Nearby settlements

๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ Braunston is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England, next to the border with Warwickshire. Braunston is situated just off the A45 main road and lies between the towns of Daventry and Rugby. Braunston is categorised by the Office for National Statistics as Suburbs and Small Towns: Suburbs.

Braunston is a hilltop village, most famous for its canal junction between the Oxford Canal and the Grand Union Canal, and associated marina.

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Description The main village of Braunston is situated on a hill above the road and the canals, and formerly had a windmill, the building of which still stands but without any sails. The village contains several pubs (The Boathouse, The Admiral Nelson, The Plough, and The Wheatsheaf), a selection of shops - excellent butchers, hairdressers and village stores incorporating the post office, a fish and chip shop, car servicing garage and a primary school. The Braunston Manor Hotel has now closed with the main house reverting to residential use and the outhouse buildings redeveloped for a housing development. In 1374, the manor itself was the subject of one of a number of property disputes involving the landowning Corbet family.

Braunston's main claims to fame are its canal and church.

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Church All Saints' Church Braunston has overlooked the village and the villagers for over 10 centuries and the canals and the boat people for over 300 years.

Otherwise known as the "Cathedral of the Canals", it has existed since the early 13th century. However, the land on which is stands has been sacred for longer still, as it was used as an ancient tumulus for the local farmsteads as early as the 10th century, although little evidence to this time is available.

Although the original Norman structure was nearly demolished when the site was polluted by several murders in 1290, the church was later rebuilt in the 14th century. The second incarnation of the church served the area for over 400 years, until the site was demolished, with authority from Rev. Alfred Butler Clough in 1848, due to dilapidation of the structure.

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Canals The canal alongside Braunston is a junction between the Oxford Canal and the Grand Union Canal, which was once an important part of the national transport system. Many former boating families have links to Braunston, the churchyard in the village having many graves of boatmen and women.

The village thrived for over 150 years on the canal trade - carrying goods from the Midlands to London. Now it is a centre for leisure activities and boasts by far and away the busiest stretch of canal anywhere in the country.

The unique triangular junction between the two canals has two bridges made at Horseley Ironworks carrying the towpath over the canal. This was not the original meeting point of the Grand Junction and Oxford Canals: the junction was moved in the course of improvements to the Oxford Canal in the 1830s, prior to which the junction was near where the marina is today, and where a third Horseley Ironworks bridge can be seen.

The canals are no longer used for carrying freight, but are now used mostly by pleasure boats. Braunston has a marina filled with these pleasure boats and is usually quite busy.

From the marina, six locks carry the Grand Union Canal up to Braunston Tunnel, some 2,049 yards (1,874 m) long.

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Railways Despite its small size, Braunston was once served by two railway stations, both now closed. The first, Braunston London Road was on the former LNWR Weedon to Leamington Spa branch line, via Daventry, was located near the marina and closed in September 1958. A couple of miles north-west of Braunston was Braunston and Willoughby station on the former Great Central Main Line, which served Braunston and the village of Willoughby, which it was closer to. This was the last main line to be constructed from the north of England to London and opened in March 1899. Braunston and Willoughby station closed in April 1957 and the line itself in September 1966. To the south of the station was the 13-arch Willoughby viaduct crossing the River Leam: the viaduct was demolished about 1980.

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Nearby settlements Nearby is the small hamlet of Little Braunston. Also close to the village are the three lost settlements of Braunston Cleves or Fawcliff, Braunstonbury and Wolfhampcote.

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Northampton 
Northampton
Image: Adobe Stock Jevanto Productions #173393026

Braunston has a population of over 1,759 people. Braunston also forms part of the wider West Northamptonshire District which has a population of over 405,050 people. It is also a part of the larger Northamptonshire County. Braunston is situated near Northampton.

Twin Towns, Sister Cities Braunston has links with:

๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท Quincy-Voisins, France
Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license

Antipodal to Braunston is: 178.791,-52.292

Antipodal to: Braunston 178.791,-52.292

๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฟ Dunedin 170.474,-45.884 d: 19081.1  

๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฟ Christchurch 172.617,-43.517 d: 18937.2  

๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฟ Canterbury 171.58,-43.543 d: 18905  

๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฟ Wellington 174.767,-41.283 d: 18753.7  

๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฟ Hutt 174.917,-41.217 d: 18749.2  

๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฟ Lower Hutt 174.917,-41.217 d: 18749.2  

๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฟ Masterton 175.664,-40.95 d: 18731.8  

๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฟ Upper Hutt 175.05,-41.133 d: 18742.4  

๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฟ Porirua 174.84,-41.131 d: 18738.5  

๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฟ Invercargill 168.373,-46.413 d: 19018.4  

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