Titchmarsh History

Titchmarsh is a small village located in East Northamptonshire, its parish bordering Cambridgeshire.

Archaeological findings indicate that Titchmarsh was extensively settled during the Iron Age, serving as a borderland between two tribes. Later, Roman legions passed through the parish, establishing a small township near a bridge over the River Nene and at the junction of two roads, approximately a mile from the present village centre.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the area came under the occupation of Anglo-Saxon groups. One such settler lent his name to the village, Ticceanmersche – Ticca’s Marsh. By 1086, when the Domesday Book was compiled, Titchmarsh was assessed as the largest and wealthiest parish in the locality.

Over the next thousand years, the parish became part of the estates of four different families. From 1265 to 1485, the Lovell family, known as the Lords Lovell of Titchmarsh, oversaw the construction of the village’s castle and its magnificent church. Following the end of the Wars of the Roses, Francis Lovell— the Lord Chamberlain to Richard III—forfeited the family’s lands to the crown, and the manor was incorporated into the estate of the Earl of Worcester. Sixty-seven years later, the Pickering family purchased the manor.

During the English Civil War, Sir Gilbert Pickering served as a judge at the trial of King Charles I and narrowly escaped execution himself when the monarchy was restored in 1660. One member of the family, John Dryden became the first official poet laureate, having grown up and been educated in the village.

In 1771, the estate was acquired by the Powys family, the Lords Lilford. One of their first actions was to demolish the village manor house. The estate remained under their ownership until the death of the last Lord Lilford after which the property was sold in 1945 to the Society of Merchant Venturers, a company based in Bristol. This company continues to own much of the village land and property.

The characteristic ridge and furrow terrain surrounding Titchmarsh serves as evidence of the village’s longstanding agricultural traditions.  Until the middle of the last century, farming  provided employment for most villagers, whereas today the majority are employed outside the village or, increasingly, working from home.

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