Oundle

The Old Town Hall

The town's name origin is uncertain. It is probably an old district name, in a grammatical form suggesting a tribal name, 'the Undalas'.[3]

Discoveries of prehistoric and Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman materials suggest that Oundle has been a settlement location for several thousand years.[4] Findings have included a number of Iron Age coins, and Roman bronze pins, coins and skeletons.[5] A significant Roman find was part of a Roman cup discovered in the church yard of St. Peter's Church in the early 19th Century. Further excavation on the site led to the findings of many Roman coins, some from the time of the reign of Emperor Claudius.[6] The finding of red tile and building stone at a site near Ashton Road, Oundle is seen as suggestive that there may have been a Roman villa there; a nearby archaeological evaluation found a ditch containing fragments of Romano-British pottery.[4]

The Saxon invasion saw the arrival of a tribe called Undalas which possibly meant undivided. Oundle was the site of a hospitium, a building used by monks to give shelter and assistance to travellers, which dates back to 638 AD.[7] It is the death place of St Wilfrid in 709 AD where he had consecrated a church as well as being the location of one of his monasteries. The current St Peter's Church[8] occupies the same site as St Wilfrid's original church.[9]

The first clear reference to Oundle is to be found in a 715 account by Eddi, who was the chantor to St Wilfrid, who referred to it as Undolum. Bede variously refers to it as Inundalum and Undulana mœgð.[4]

Saint Cetta or Cett,[10] a 7th-century saint,[11] is the Patron Saint of Oundle.[12] Very little is known of him but according to the Anglo-Saxon Secgan Manuscript[13] he was buried in the monastery at Oundle, near the River Nene, around 1000 AD[14] and a chapel to him built in the 11th century, on the small knoll beyond the end of St Osyths Lane. This and the market charter granted in 972[15] explain the growth of Oundle in the 12th century.[16]

The Domesday Book of 1086 records Oundle in Polebrook hundred with a population of 36 households, a mill and a value in 1066 of £0.3, which had risen to £11 by 1086.[17]

There has been a grammar school in Oundle since at least 1465,[16] at which Sir William Laxton (Lord Mayor of London) was educated. In his will he left a legacy to found Laxton Grammar School in 1556, now known as Oundle School, administered by the Worshipful Company of Grocers.[18][16]

In 1743 a group of mutineers from the Black Watch were captured at Ladywood, near Oundle. They had deserted in protest at being sent abroad, instead of patrolling the Highlands, for which the regiment had been raised.[19][20] The Old Town Hall, which replaced an earlier building on the same site dating back to the 16th century, was completed in 1830.[21]

Oundle is part of the parliamentary constituency of Corby. The current Member of Parliament (MP) for Corby is Tom Pursglove of the Conservative Party, who was elected in May 2015.[22] He had previously been a local councillor, and the youngest councillor in the country.[23]

Oundle was part of the East Midlands constituency for the European Parliament prior to Brexit in 2020.

At a local level, the town elects 12 people every four years to the Oundle Town Council. The council is a non-politically affiliated group that works to further the social and economic interests of Oundle. A Mayor and Deputy Mayor are elected by the council every May.[1]

Oundle is a town located in the North Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire county, on the River Nene, with Corby 9 miles to the west, and Peterborough 12 miles to the north-east. Despite being located within Northamptonshire, Oundle falls into the 'PE8' post-code district for Peterborough.[24]

The Oundle Parish consists of approximately 900 hectares and covers the entire urban build, as well as open countryside. The boundary follows the River Nene to the East and South of the town, and extends west to Oundle Wood and north to Park Wood. This boundary was established during an extensive East Northants Boundary review in 2013.[25]

Oundle is home to one of two factories producing luxury motor yachts for Fairline Yachts Ltd. The original company, Fairline Boats, which was also located in Oundle entered administration in 2015 before being acquired by Russian investors in January 2016.[27]

View of the entry to Oundle Church of England Primary School.

The town's most notable school is Oundle School, a public school with around a thousand pupils, most of whom are boarders. The two other schools in the town are Prince William School, a comprehensive school, and Oundle Church of England Primary School, which rated as "Outstanding" in its 2011 Ofsted inspection.[43]

Oundle hosts a number of annual events, notably:

• The Oundle International Festival (OIF) is an annual music festival and pipe organ school, founded in 1985, with the training of young organists as its core. These summer schools are centred on a Frobenius organ in the Oundle School chapel. A concurrent festival programme for the public was also planned as a recurrent feature.
• The Oundle Festival of Literature has regular events throughout the year featuring established, local and new authors.[44]
• The Oundle Fringe Festival is an annual arts and entertainment festival that began in 2011 to help showcase local musical and literary performers. It has grown rapidly since its inception and takes place over a 10-day period every July, with performances of genres of music such as rock and jazz, and also literary readings and theatrical performances.[45]
• The Oundle carnival has taken place since 2009.[46]

A farmers' market is held in the Market Place on the second Saturday of every month as well as a local market every Thursday. There is a park with swings and climbing frames, as well as a skatepark built in 2005 and regenerated in 2012. An annual fair and circus is held in the park.

Oundle has shops, pubs, cafes and restaurants in the town centre. It also has three supermarkets: a Co-op, a Waitrose and a Tesco.[47]

External shots for the 2012 Daniel Radcliffe film The Woman in Black were filmed at Cotterstock Hall just north of Oundle.[48]

In September 2022 filming occurred in Oundle for the fifth season of the Netflix series The Crown. Filming took place at the corner of the Market Place and North Street.[49]

Oundle maintains partnerships with the following places:[50]

• Andrésy, France
• Nauort, Germany

• William Abell – a vintner (wine merchant) born in Oundle[51]
• George Blagden – actor who was accepted into Oundle School on a drama scholarship and performed various roles at the town's Stahl Theatre. He has since appeared in television shows such as Vikings and Versailles, and also the 2012 movie Les Misérables.[52]
• Richard Dawkins – a scientist educated in Oundle[53]
• Bruce Dickinson – frontman of Iron Maiden; attended Oundle School as a teenager.[54]
• Marian Hobbs – former politician (formerly on the staff of Prince William School)
• John Knight – cricketer[55]
• Louise Mensch – briefly the local Member of Parliament (MP), lived in Oundle[56]
• Himesh Patel – actor who appeared in the British soap opera EastEnders from 2007 to 2016 and stars in the 2019 film Yesterday directed by Danny Boyle attended Prince William School.[57]
• Ebenezer Prout – a musical theorist and composer born in Oundle.[58]
• Ivo Watts-Russell – founder of independent record label 4AD was born nearby and went to school in Oundle[59]

• "Oundle" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 20 (11th ed.). 1911.
• Oundle Town Council
• Oundle Chronicle
• Oundle St Peter's
• Oundle Town Football Club
• Oundle Town Rugby Club
• Oundle Town Cricket Club
• Oundle Gilbert & Sullivan Players