Badby is a village and a rural parish of about in West Northamptonshire, England.- OS Explorer Map 207: Newport Pagnell & Northampton South (1:25 000)
Location Badby is about 2 miles (3 km) south of Daventry, on the A361 Daventry to Banbury road, which still follows the route of the Lutterworth-Daventry-Banbury turnpike as approved in 1765. The parish is bisected west to east, at about above sea level, by the upper reaches of the River Nene. The village is mainly south of the river, where the land rises to Badby Down at .
Demographics Its population has fluctuated between 450 and 625 from 1801 to 1971, with a low point of 410 in 1901, then to a high of 720 in 1991. It was 645 in 2001, 632 in 2011 and up to 701 in the 2021 census.
Name The village's name means 'Badda's fortification'. the second element was replaced with early Old Norse 'by', meaning 'farm/settlement'.
Badby is spelt in various ways since Saxon times, through the Norman period, until printing stabilised it in the present form. Badby, Badbye, Baddebi, Baddeby, Badebi and Badeby are all found. Baddanbyrg or Baddan Byrig were used in the 944 AD charter, but these more likely refer specifically to Arbury Hill (see below).
History There are several mediaeval charters referring to the area around Badby, but some are suspect. The land around Badby and Newnham changed hands frequently as the swirling forces of Mercia and the invading Danes ebbed and flowed across middle England.
Badby and Newnham manors were treated as one until the Knightleys sold Newnham manor to the Thorntons of Brockhall in 1634. The church benefice has always been Badby with Newnham (or Badby-cum-Newnham), Newnham being a chapel of the parent church at Badby in the initial times, but for a few years was recorded as the main church. The shared rector or vicar arrangement goes back 750 years.
Saxon Charters record that the land was given by a Saxon sheriff (or shire reeve), Norman, to the Abbey of Croyland (or Crowland) around the year 726. To fund defence against the invading Danes around 871, Beorred seized it back and gave it to his army officers to secure their services.
In a charter dated 944, King Edmund I of England gave an estate comprising Dodford, Everdon and all of Badby with Newnham to Bishop Aelfric of Hereford. After Edmund's murder in 946, the estate was returned in 948 to Croyland by his brother, King Edred (or Aedred, Ædred, Edric) on the advice of Turketul (or Turketulus), his chancellor. Abbot Godric IIBrief lives of two Godrics of Croyland, to buy protection against the threatening Danes, leased Badby in 1006 for 100 years to Norman (or Northman), son of Leofwine, Earl of Leicester (and Chester), a great military officer under King Edred.
The Danes attacked and prevailed in 1013 under their King Sweyn (or Sveyn), who died in 1014. He was eventually succeeded by his son Canute (or Cnut, Knud, Knut). In 1016 Norman was killed and in 1017 Edred was executed by King Canute. Canute thus acquired Badby and later transferred it to Norman's brother, the Earl Leofric of Mercia, who had supported Canute and was married to the famous Godiva (or Godgifu). In turn, Earl Leofric gave the lordship of the manor of Badby and Newnham to the Benedictine Abbey of Evesham, for the remainder of the 100-year lease supposedly granted by Abbot Godric II of Croyland. This was ratified by King Canute in 1018. The Anglo-Saxons and the Danes began to settle together.
Norman Then the Normans arrived. In their Domesday BookDomesday Book entry for Badby of 1086, Badby is listed under the lands owned by Croyland Abbey, ignoring the lease to Evesham. Around 1124, as the lease had ended, elderly Abbot Joffrid of Croyland set about resolving with Evesham the ownership of Badby. The fire that burned down Croyland Abbey in 1091 destroyed any deeds, if they existed. Abbot Reginald of Evesham convinced Joffrid that Croyland had no claim. The retention by Evesham was confirmed in 1246 in a charter by King Henry III and again in 1330 by King Edward III after a court hearing.
Evesham Abbey built a moated grangeParish Badby appraisal see page 5 of Parish 2000 Badby Appraisal or farm headquarters 500 yards north-east of the church. The house was built by the notorious Abbot Roger Norreys in 1189. He was a well known womaniser who was exiled to the small and distant priory of Penwortham in 1213. In 1246 King Henry III granted free warren within Badby Wood and authorised the formation of a deer park for hunting and food. The enclosing embankments and ditches of the deer park still exist to the east of the village. Archeological excavations of the grange site in 1965-69 identified work from the 13th to 16th centuries. Three bakehouses were added in the 1350s; its hall and chapel were renovated in the 1380s. It continued in a variety of uses after the dissolution of the abbey during the Protestant Reformation. The grange finally tumbled down in 1722. Its remains lie hidden in a thicket at 52.227734, -1.177539 which unfortunately developed after the excavations ended.
In 1316, there was no Abbot in post, so King Edward II appointed Thomas de Evesham, one of his Chancery clerks, as rector of the benefice. The licence, which moved more control of, and finance from, Badby and Newnham to the Abbot of Evesham, was effected through Pope John XXII with Henry Berghersh, Bishop of Lincoln. It was in 1343 that the endowment for a vicar was laid down in a Lincoln diocesan document Ordinacio Vicarie in Ecclesia de Baddeby; 1343, and Reginald Musard became the first vicar.
Ecclesiastical
Since its foundation in 709, Evesham Abbey had successfully developed an independent existence. It could not avoid being dissolved in November 1539, during the Protestant Reformation and founding of the Church of England.
In the 9th century, the parish was in the Diocese of Dorchester (Oxon), a safer location adopted by an earlier Bishop of Leicester to avoid the invading Danes. The seat was moved to Lincoln in 1073 by Remigius. Lincoln Diocese was itself split on 4 September 1541 and Badby church, in Daventry deanery, came within the new but poorly endowed Diocese of Peterborough, in which it remains. It is now closer to six other cathedrals of the Church of England, which are, in order of distance: Coventry, Leicester, Oxford, Birmingham, Lichfield and Worcester.
Later times King Henry VIII granted the manors of Badby and Newnham in 1542 to Sir Edmund KnightleySir Edmund Knightley and his wife Ursula and their heirs. The dower house in Fawsley Park, last inhabited in 1704, is now in ruins. It was built for Lady Ursula after Sir Edmund died. There was considerable unrest in the parish in the last 20 years of the 16th century, when Valentine Knightley attempted to transfer much area of arable to pasture and to restrict tenants' rights to woodland. Several tenant families, despite being Puritans like Knightley, used aggressive action as well as national legal arbitration to protect their rights. The manor lands and courts were dissolved in the early 20th century.
In 1546 the rectorship and patronage of Badby and Newnham were passed to Christ Church, Oxford. It remained with Christ Church, Oxford, except for disruption by the Commonwealth, until 1919, when the Bishop of Peterborough became the patron.
The Root(e) family The Root(e) family is listed as one of the early settlers in "A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, before 1692". We often receive enquiries, especially from America about the family.
There are no monuments, gravestones nor descendants of the family that we can identify in Badby village today. The 17th century parish records record births, baptisms, marriages and burials of a few members of the family. The records are now housed at the Northamptonshire Records Office.Northamptonshire Records Office
Below are the results of research by former resident Cristine Orr. Thomas Roote married in Milton Malsor. This Thomas had a field and house in Badby in 1597, but gave it up in 1606. His son John was born in Milton Malsor probably in 1570. Badby registers show: 27 July 1600 - John Roote married Ann Rushall at Badby. The Rushall name also appears as Russall and later as Russell in different entries 21 December 1600 - Marie, daughter of John & Ann Roote was baptized (Most records indicate her name was Mary, but the actual parish records are very illegible). 18 October 1603 - Susanna, daughter of John & Ann Roote was baptised 16 January 1605 - Thomas, son of John & Ann Roote was baptised. Thomas went to U.S.A. in 1637 26 February 1608 - John, son of John & Ann Roote. John also went to U.S.A. in 1637. 5 April 1609 - Thomas Roote was buried on 5 April 1609 in Badby.
NOTE: Arthur Louis Finnell, CGRS, of the National Huguenot Society states this about Thomas and Ann Routes (Roote)'s son: "JOHN b. 1575; m 1600 Badby, England to Mary Russell. Listed in 1598 as an alien in London." To be a bonafide Huguenot, a person must have left France after 10 Dec 1520 and before 28 Nov 1787, suggesting Thomas Routtes was born in France, likely in 1555, and fled to Badby to escape Catholic persecution.
NOTE2: The above Huguenot origins are in question. It is now being considered that Thomas was a son of Lawrence Roote of Milton Malsor and evidence to this is currently being researched.
Notable buildings
St Mary's Church The church, dedicated to St Mary, was mostly built in the early 14th century with a very fine continuous clerestory added in the 15th century and the tower rebuilt in 1707–09. The building was restored in 1880-81 by Edmund Francis Law and is a Grade II* listed building.A fuller description of this Grade II* listed building (English Heritage ID 360660) is available in A History of Badby Church, Third Edition, by Geoff Pullin and published 2018. Copies are available in the church and from 25 The Glebe, Badby, DAVENTRY, NN11 3AZ; £3.50 inc postage. The 2013 version of Pevsner includes appropriate updates. The parish is part of the united benefice of The Knightley Parishes of the Church of England.
Four of the chest tombs in the churchyard were separately listed as Grade II in 1987 (English Heritage ID 360661 and 360662).
Badby House
Badby House> was built in 1826 by Charles William Watkins,Listed building text whose arms are listed in Burke's General Armory (1884) as: Azure, a fess vair between three leopard's faces jessant-de-lys or. From 1964 Badby House had extensions carried out for use by passionist contemplative nuns, when it also became known as Our Lady of Passion Monastery. It was listed Grade II in January 1968, (English Heritage ID 360650). In 2009 the monastery additions were replaced with extensions suitable for its use as a care home, with comprehensive facilities dedicated to neurological illnesses and disorders. It now operates as Badby Park.
Lantern House The Lantern House, an early 19th-century building so named because of its octagonal tower shape, was completely restored and extended to provide modern living accommodation in 1981–82.
Other houses There were 29 houses listedBritish Listed Buildings in Badby in 1987 under the Town and Country Planning Acts as having special architectural or historic importance. Many very valuable features in other buildings went unrecorded. The core of the village was designated a Conservation Area in 1993 by Daventry District Council.