Wakerley

Wakerley
St John the Baptist's church
Wakerley is located in Northamptonshire
Wakerley
Wakerley
Location within Northamptonshire
Populationapproximately 60
OS grid referenceSP9599
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townOakham
Postcode districtLE15
Dialling code01572
PoliceNorthamptonshire
FireNorthamptonshire
AmbulanceEast Midlands
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Northamptonshire
52°35′06″N 0°35′31″W / 52.5849°N 0.5919°W / 52.5849; -0.5919

Wakerley is a linear village and civil parish in the county of Northamptonshire, England.[1] [2] Forming part of North Northamptonshire, Wakerley is close to, and south of, the River Welland that forms the boundary with Rutland; its nearest neighbour, Barrowden, is in that county and accessible by a footbridge. Wakerley is in the area of Rockingham Forest and Wakerley Great Wood is one of the forest's largest remnants. The population of the village is included in the civil parish of Duddington with Fineshade.

The village's name origin is dubious. 'Osier wood/clearing' or perhaps, 'watcher wood/clearing'.[3]

St John the Baptist's church, Grade I listed, has been in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust since the early 1970s.[4]

Recent evidence points to Wakerley's industrial history as an iron-smelting centre. Brick-built calcining kilns were used for reducing iron ore before transport to the Corby Steelworks.[5]

  1. ^ Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 141 Kettering & Corby (Market Harborough & Stamford) (Map). Ordnance Survey. 2014. ISBN 9780319229866.
  2. ^ "Ordnance Survey Election Maps". www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk. Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  3. ^ "Key to English Place-names".
  4. ^ "Wakerley, Northamptonshire: Church of St John the Baptist". www.visitchurches.org.uk. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  5. ^ Laundon, Jack Rodney (2008). "The Wakerley Calciner Furnaces" (PDF). Northamptonshire Past and Present. 61: 86–87.