Polebrook

Polebrook
Polebrook
Polebrook shown within Northamptonshire
Population 478 (2011)
OS grid reference TL068871
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town PETERBOUROUGH
Postcode district PE8
Dialling code 01832
Police Northamptonshire
Fire Northamptonshire
Ambulance East Midlands
EU Parliament East Midlands
UK Parliament

Polebrook is a village in Northamptonshire, England. The population (including Armston) at the 2011 census was 478.[1]

History

There is evidence that Polebrook as a settlement dates back to 400 BC,[2] where the village consisted of mainly farms. The farms were mainly centred on the modern day village of Ashton. Polebrook is called Pochebroc in the Domesday Book,[3] and was the centre of a large administrative area (the Polebrook hundred).

There may have been a wooden church on the site of the current 12th century stone Church of All Saints. Thomas de Thelwall, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster had been parish priest of Polebrook in the 1360s.

RAF Polebrook was a little southeast of the village during the Second World War from 1941 to 1945.[4] The USAAF 351st Bomber Group was stationed at the airfield from 15 April 1943 to 23 June 1945, and the U.S. flag hangs as a memorial to the men, along with a roll of honour in the church. The airfield is now disused, but remains a rich part of Polebrook culture; there is a memorial chapel in Polebrook Church. The base was used as a site for Thor missiles in the 1950s.[4]

For some time during the war Clark Gable was stationed at Polebrook and at RAF Marston Moor near Wetherby. He made morale-boosting visits locally during his time there, an example being Marco in Grantham - a picture appears on the "Manthorpe News" website.

References

  1. ↑ "Civi Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  2. ↑ Welcome to Polebrook
  3. ↑ Domesday Polebrook
  4. 1 2 Gibson, Michael L (1982). Aviation in Northamptonshire, An Illustrated Guide (includes a map of the Polebrook airfield and an angled photo taken in 1944). Northampton: Northamptonshire Libraries. pp. 270–1. ISBN 0-905391-08-X.

Media related to Polebrook at Wikimedia Commons


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