Overview of Woodford

Woodford is a large village and civil parish in East Northamptonshire, England. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish's population was 1,290 people. It is in two distinct parts, the easterly, lower, part being alongside the River Nene and the westerly, upper, part is on the through road out of the Nene valley. Its parish church has the nickname "the Cathedral of the Nene". Woodford House, an early 19th-century mansion, was the home of the Arbuthnot family and scene of the death of the diarist Harriet Arbuthnot in 1833. The property was purchased in 1880 by Charles Henry Plevins from Arthur Arbuthnot, son of General Charles Arbuthnot. The house was altered between 1899 and 1910 and had a new garden created in 1909. The Arbuthnots owned iron ore quarries on the estate which were dug from circa 1851, an early date for what was later to become a large industry in Northamptonshire.