History Crowfield - a frontier forest settlement's history 20th Century The 20th Century came slowly to Crowfield, and survived a dramatic decrease in housing stock and population in the middle of the century to be revived as a thriving and diverse settlement. A series of redevelopments transformed the population from agricultural and craft based to more middle class based by the turn of the millennium. The Railway arrived in Brackley and Helmdon in the 1850's. The Great Central Railway was opened in 1890 at Brackley, with access now all over the country. It also opened up the trade routes and machine made bricks replaced Crowfield bricks and Welsh slate replaced the thatched roofs. Significantly coal became the principal fuel. Local traditional crafts and ways of life were gradually being replaced. William Garritt James, known as Briary Bill( Click here for photo), who invariably wore an old smock coat, was one of the characters of Crowfield and Syresham in the early part of the century. He worked for the Timms family at Abbey farm but in winter collected briars for a Mr. Perkins in Northampton and grafted them as rose bushes. With a comprehensive knowledge of the countryside and love of wild flowers, he would sit on the stile between Crowfield and Whistley woods contemplating nature and was the village philosopher. He died in 1927 aged 82 in Crowfield. The 1st world war brought its share of tragedy to all the families and many returned embittered by the waste of life. The between war years were peaceful. Some of the local residents turned front rooms into retail outlets - there were three cottages where Shasta and the Pines now stands - one was a sweet shop, another a shoe repairers. The 2nd world war brought new people to the area and saved Crowfield from falling into total disrepair · The Irish labourers who built the airfields at Turweston and Silverstone. · The airmen who crewed the Wellington bombers. · The Land girls and evacuees brought their city ways to the country. · Italian POW's stationed at Sulgrave were brought out to repair ditches and labour on the land. · There were also displaced Poles, Ukrainians and Rumanians who were found homes in abandoned cottages. One polish man lived in Karitza cottage until 1952 when it was modernized. Two planes crashed in Crowfield on their way to local airfields during the war 14.1.1941 A Blenheim made a forced landing when short of fuel and was lost 25.9.1944 An Oxford collided on beacon exercises In fact 73 allied aircraft crashed in south Northants between 1940 and 1945. The Post war era brought a series of re-developments to Crowfield. The Mears between the late 1950's and the 70's rebuilt Karitza Cottage, built Shasta and Pines on the site of a number of derelict cottages, and built Stonesthrow. (see the house pages for more details) Greenacres was built in 1969, followed by Woodland in the 1970's . Ron and Janet Cox built Tretyak in 1981. Meadowview, (now called Birchenhoe), was built by Les Hawkins in 1981 again on the site of a number of cleared cottages. Furlong farm was built in early 1980s In the mid 1990's a number of houses were modernized and extended and a significant new development took place on Fox farm property. Three large detached houses comprising Whistley View, Forest View and Geary House form a significant feature of Crowfield because of their scale. At the same time the workshop next to the Cottage and opposite Geary house was modernized and brought into use. The Fox pub which thrived in the early part of the century closed in the 1950's Running water didn't arrive till the 1950's and with it the sewerage works. A fundamental decision was taken at the time of replacing the sewerage pipe-work in the 1960's. All the storm water was put into the same pipes. It cannot have been envisaged that the village would grow again, as now the sewerage works pumps cannot cope with the flow of water! First mention of the phone kiosk was 1934 in the parish council records Electricity arrived in the 1930's Current Pattern of population is influenced by The high price of rural cottages have resulted in the rural folk migrating to the estates in Brackley and other towns Dormitory … many people now work in the surrounding big towns There is interestingly a move back to self-employment in Crowfield. Small workshops have opened in Crowfield. E.g. Stuart has a woodworking workshop at Orchard House for his replacement windows business; a small engineering workshop opposite Geary House; a small specialist clothing business at the Pines; and Karitza's little website business; plus Consultancy based businesses at the Cottage, Furlong Farm and Staplegate. Some are retiring here as a retirement home and some are staying here when its retirement time, having worked in the area. Other influences on the current situation are: · the closeness to motorways, with 3 junctions within 20 minutes driving .. further enhanced with the dualling of the A43 · the increased number of visitors to the Whistley Wood does not directly affect the village apart from providing a focus by authorities as they try to develop the leisure amenities sympathetically to the environment. · the closeness to Silverstone (the grand prix racing circuit) that brings its deluge of traffic several weekends a year. Also see the list of photographs for some other photos and some film clips too !!