Ashby St Ledgers, Northamptonshire

Ashby St Ledgers

The little village of Ashby St Ledgers lies just inside the south-west boundary of Northamptonshire, just north of Daventry. It is an attractive village, with lovely thatched cottages and most buildings crafted in the local warm-toned ironstone.

At the heart of the village stands Ashby Manor, a beautiful Jacobean mansion that was home to the Catesby family for many years.

Tradition holds that it was in a half-timbered chamber above the entry gateway to the manor courtyard that the Gunpowder Plot was hatched, under the leadership of Robert Catesby. This chamber became known as the 'Plotters Room', and the conspirators stored gunpowder and ammunition nearby.

The pretty parish church

A stone wall separates the manor from the medieval church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Leodegarius. Within the church are a wonderful collection of medieval wall-paintings, a collection of floor brasses (many of the Catesby family), and a painted medieval screen. There is also a Jacobean triple-decker pulpit and a minstrel's gallery. It's a wonderful church, and the setting is as idyllic as it gets.

At the far end of the village from the church is a beautiful set of thatched cottages built by the celebrated architect Edwin Lutyens.