Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ily since 1877 and is one of the few with Northamptonshire skittles. Over the village stands
the Norman tower of the Perpendicular church. The village was used for filming some of the
1997 television series,
True Tilda
.
The Navigation is a newer public house but equally convenient for the canal.
Stoke Park House was built in 1629-1636 as the first Palladian house in England.
Designed by Inigo Jones, it had flanking pavilions, a colonnade and fine gardens, but was
severely damaged by fire in 1886.
The Stoke Bruerne lock flight is crossed by the A508, beneath which it is like an art gallery.
Framed mosaics by local schoolchildren on canal and other themes are mounted on both abut-
ments of the bridge, a striking discovery for an unsuspecting passer-by.
The canal crosses two arms of the River Tove on the level and then follows its valley down
to the River Great Ouse. The river passes over a long weir, above which the towpath is sup-
ported on brick arches. This design feature is seen again elsewhere but not as extensively as
here.
On a hill overlooking the canal, Grafton Regis has a 13-14th century church with a Nor-
man font, fine rood screen and many monuments to the Fitzroy family. Regis was added to
the name following the visit of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn to the manor house, home of
Elizabeth Woodville, who had married Edward IV here in 1464 and become the mother of the
Princes in the Tower. It was destroyed in the Civil War and is now a hospital. Charles II made
his illegitimate son, Henry, the Duke of Grafton. The White Hart also has Northamptonshire
skittles.
