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The road layout around the village is simple. There were 10 turnpike roads radiating from Northampton – the largest at that time from any town. One of these is the main A428 trunk road from Bedford to Northampton which was built in 1827 and used to wind through the village twisting round a sharp turn passing Wareing Lane down past the church, branching left at the triangular intersection at the start of the Village Green and continuing out of the village to the West and on towards Brafield-on the Green and Northampton.
A major development, which arguably changed the whole future of Denton for ever, came about in the early 1930’s when a new by-pass was opened which allowed through traffic to pass to the South of the village. This reduced the number of vehicles passing through the village itself by a huge amount and Denton must have become instantly a much more peaceful place in which to live.
Ironically reports after the opening of the by-pass suggested that it did not act as a safety measure however in that the Northampton Independent newspaper reported in 1932 –
‘ARE BY-PASS ROADS SAFER?
The fact that the number of accidents on the new Denton by-pass road – there was another nasty skid and crash on Sunday evening – is proportionately treble the number which occurred on the old winding road through the village has led to the query by the residents whether the convenience which this new road, like many others in the country with their temptation to speed, is not a greater menace to safety than the tortuous bends of the village, which, by their very sharpness, compelled respect and a slow pace. One of the chief causes of accidents on the Denton by-pass is said to be the section of smooth road in the centre which, encountered suddenly at speed encouraged by the roughened concrete surface before and beyond, leads to many perilous skids’. To this day the section of road still has regular, and sometimes serious, accidents despite many attempts at improving the safety measures.
A RAIL LINK LOST MANY YEARS AGO.
Towards the Eastern end of Denton on the A428 is a turn to Horton some 2 miles distant. There used to be a railway station on this road - just on the Horton side of the parish boundary - the remains of the bridge are still to be seen. By all accounts it was always kept clean and tidy with colourful flowerbeds but very few passengers getting on or off. This was on the rail line opened in 1872 linking Bedford and Northampton via Olney, originally operating under the name of Bedford & Northampton Railway, later called the Midland Railway and by the time of closure run as part of the London Midland Region of British Railways.
When the station opened on 10th June 1872 it was called Horton Station but on 1st May 1876 was, somewhat
 Prior to the by-pass being built the Horton Road formed a crossroads with the A428 with the other branch becoming what is now By-Pass Way and then Vicarage Lane. Eventually it was decided this crossroads constituted a dangerous junction and By-Pass Way was made a cul-de-sac.
The only other through road leaving Denton is the Whiston Road. This starts at the triangular intersection in the centre of the village near the Church and follows the Village Green along Main Street leaving the village at a sharp left hand bend just past Manor Farm.
Bert Hollowell, in his interesting notes of childhood in Denton , (Bert Hollowell's notes on Denton life in c.1930 - written in c.1950) comments that the road at this bend was ‘barely wide enough for two carts to pass, the only traffic coming into the village was horse drawn’. He lived right on that bend in the very last cottage on the right hand side leaving the village. Recently this pair of cottages have been formed into a single property.
The boundary with adjoining Cogenhoe & Whiston parish to the North lies about half way between Denton & Whiston. Part way along this road the width of the grass verge changes significantly. This signifies the area of ‘no- man’s land’ which surrounded each enclosure of land imposed by the Enclosure Act 1770. This far reaching legislation bought hardship to local people as grazing rights and collecting of firewood on common land came to an end when all hedges, trees etc were deemed to be owned by someone.
STREET NAMES - OFFICIAL AND INFORMAL.
Years ago there was no regional bureaucracy that decided on what names would be given to streets and roads. The local folk simply called roads and paths whatever they felt was suitable often naming them after people's names or describing where they were. Similarly house numbers only came about much later and this makes identifying specific properties from early census returns rather difficult.
The main street through the village was predictably called 'Main Street' and the Whiston Road was called just that. In much earlier times the road out toYardley Hastings was called Yardley Road rather than Bedford Road (life was more insular in those days).
Interestingly Church Way does not appear on the 1901 records - presumably the houses now on it were listed under Main Street and Bedford Road depending on which end they were. There was also an unofficial name given to Church Way which was 'The Gravels' - thought to be because it once had a gravel surface - particularly hazardous for young boy's knees who may have been running up from the school just below to the Bakehouse, later a shop, and now a private house but still retaining The Bakehouse name. Incidentally the bollards across Church Way by the upper church gate and at its junction with Main Street are a relatively recent safety measure - originally Church Way ran uninterrupted from Bedford Road to join Main Street just before the butcher's shop.
There are some names once in use that are no more. For instance the row of cottages running off high above Bedford Road and accessed just before the Quart Pot were given the original name of 'New Buildings' and were presumably called this when there were new. However this was an official name used in the census return of 1901. Exactly when they were reclassified as part of Bedford Road is difficult to establish. A little further up Bedford road just beyond the Quart Pot is the row of Estate cottages that was once called 'Flannel Row'. They were given this name as the residents were entitled to go to the Estate Office once a year and collect an allowance of flannel material which was highly valued in those days and used for making undergarments and bedding.These buildings were designed by the Marchioness of Northampton who cleverly organised the internal layout so that the rooms which linked one cottage to another could be changed to be used by next door if the Estate had a particularly large family of tenants to accommodate.
The group of cottages in Bedford Road just beyond the Baptist Chapel was popularly known as Allibone's Cottages or Allibone's Row.
Further down Main Street just beyond the turning to The Leys was Old Yard which was accessed via the gap between the second and third cottages in that row. There were a couple of cottages and outbuildings in Old Yard although they are now gone.
Vicarage Lane at the beginning of the 20th century had only The Vicarage and Vicarage Farm House at the top. What is called The Vicarage had originally been built by the Marquess of Northampton for one of his relatives but is was, for some reason, never used for this purpose and was occupied by the vicar instead. On official documents it is correctly referred to as 'Compton House'. They had both been built in the 1890's - all the rest of the Vicarage Lane buildings were to be added later. Although on official records shown as Vicarage Lane it was often locally known as 'Backside'.
There are still mysteries yet to be solved. The 1901 census return shows two families living in 'Sergeant's Lane'. It has not been possible to trace where this was. It is not the same as The Lane because this is referred to separately.
Another name that appears is 'Burnt Close' mentioned in old legal documents as being next to the cottages used for nonconformist worship before the Baptist Chapel was built. However this name has not been found anywhere else in any other records.
New roads were named after features that they replaced. Fishpond Close occupies the area around where the fishpond used to be and Dovecote Drive overlooks the dovecote. The Leys comes from the field name on which most of that development is built whilst Bridge Meadow is descriptive of the fact that where those houses were built used to be known by that name as it was indeed a meadow and overlooked the brook running through the village bridged by the road.
Denton is blessed with a good network of footpaths and bridleways criss-crossing the parish. They are well worth exploring and it is not difficult to imagine in the days pre-motorised transport these would have been used regularly by residents visiting neighbouring villages. |