Bugbrooke

Bugbrooke is a large village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is situated about seven miles west of Northampton.

Bugbrooke has an Anglican church, a Baptist chapel, three pubs ("The Bakers Arms", "The Wharf" and "The Five Bells (see external links, below)"), a GP Practice, a primary school and also a large comprehensive school, Campion School, which serves Bugbrooke and a dozen nearby villages.

The village, named in the Domesday Book (1086) as "Buchebroc", is situated on the Hoarestone Brook, which flows through the village from south to north. The name of the stream is supposed to be a corruption of Horse-stone, as an old packhorse route crossed the brook by a simple slab bridge just outside the village. When the stream was widened in the 1970s, the last of the mediaeval slabs was damaged beyond repair, but the pillars are still intact. The brook meets the River Nene near Bugbrooke Mill. The first mill on the site was established in 800 AD and by the time of the Domesday Book was the third-highest rated mill in England. It is now the site of Heygate's flour mill, whose large central tower can be seen for several miles around. Heygate's trucks, with their distinctive maroon markings, can frequently be seen rumbling along Bugbrooke's main road.

The West Coast Main Line and the Grand Union Canal run through Bugbrooke, and it is also not far from the M1, one of the busiest motorways in the United Kingdom. Bugbrooke is also the birthplace of the Jesus Army, which sprang out of the Baptist Chapel in the centre of the village, which it continues to use regularly.

Despite the western part of Northamptonshire being a relatively hilly part of the county, Northampton's Express Lift Tower can easily be seen from the more elevated parts of the Bugbrooke Downs, although the village is approximately five miles away from that landmark.

External links

* [http://www.northamptonshirepubs.co.uk/fivebells/ Five Bells]
* [http://www.brufc.org/ Bugbrooke Rugby Club]
* [http://www.campion.northants.sch.uk/ Campion School]
* [http://www.wayne.chalmers.btinternet.co.uk/cricket.html Bugbrooke Cricket Club]
* [http://www.jesus.org.uk Jesus Army]
* [http://www.heygates.co.uk/ Heygates Mills]
* [http://www.unusual.co.uk/ Unusual Rigging]
* [http://www.bugbrookemarina.com/ Bugbrooke Marina]