Cosgrove, Northamptonshire

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Cosgrove
Cosgrove shown within Northamptonshire
OS grid reference	SP790426
District	South Northamptonshire
Shire county	Northamptonshire
Region	East Midlands
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	MILTON KEYNES
Postcode district	MK19
Dialling code	01908
Police	Northamptonshire
Fire	Northamptonshire
Ambulance	East Midlands
European Parliament	East Midlands
UK Parliament	Daventry
List of places: UK • England • Northamptonshire

Coordinates: 52°04′34″N 0°50′49″W / 52.076, -0.847

Cosgrove is a village in Northamptonshire, England just north of Milton Keynes. The church is dedicated to St Peter and St Paul.

Immediately south-east of the village the Grand Union Canal crosses the valley of the river Great Ouse on an embankment and aqueduct known as the Cosgrove Iron Trunk Aqueduct. The river was initially by the canal crossed on the level, with four temporary locks lowering the canal from the south-east, and five raising it from the river towards the north-west (the top one of these locks still being in place today). The temporary locks were used as a means of getting the canal open to through traffic by 1800 (this river crossing and the tunnel at Blisworth being the only two gaps by that year). However, it was always intended that the river should be crossed by aqueduct, as the locks were wasteful of water, time-consuming and the river in flood in winter could prevent through passage. A brick aqueduct was built, but collapsed in 1808, after which the locks were re-opened. It was replaced by the present Cosgrove aqueduct, built of cast iron, and opened on 22 January 1811.

The 10.5 mile (17 kilometre) Buckingham branch of the canal, an extension of the original proposal for a link to the main road at Old Stratford, was opened in 1801, diverging from the main line just to the south-east of the village, above the lock.

This Buckingham branch froze more quickly and solidly than either the River Ouse or the main canal. This was noticed not only by skaters from miles around, but also by the owner of Cosgrove Hall, who in about 1820 built an ice-house half-way between the canal and the Hall. The ice house was constructed rather like a stone windmill, with very thick walls but, unlike the windmill, the ice house has its greater part below the level of the surrounding field. Into the ice house, every winter from 1820 until the 1900s, ice cut from the canal would be stored and packed around with straw. By this method it kept until the following spring and summer, when it would be sold to local fishmongers, butchers and others in the days before refrigeration was possible. In recent years it has become derelict, but it was the last remaining in Buckinghamshire and one of the very few left in all England.

For the past two hundred years life in the village has been affected by the building of the Grand Junction Canal - which passes through the middle of the village - and then in later years by the coming of the railway. For a while the village was a very busy trading centre, but in more recent years, with the advent of motorways and other means of transportation, life and business in the village has slowed down again. The traders have gone, and the village has returned to its natural, rural charm - which typifies so much of Northamptonshire country life.

Today the majority of visitors to Cosgrove are tourists and holiday-makers. Large numbers arrive by canal boat, many hundreds more are caravanners, who spend their summers in the Cosgrove Leisure Park which features a swimming and paddling pool, fishing lakes and a water sports area offering water-skiing, jet-skiing and pitches for 500 touring caravans and 460 owner-occupied static holiday homes. The Park does not accept day visitors; all facilities are available only for people staying on-site.