Roade

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Village in West Northamptonshire, England

title: "Roade" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["villages-in-northamptonshire", "west-northamptonshire-district", "civil-parishes-in-northamptonshire"] description: "Village in West Northamptonshire, England" topic_path: "general/villages-in-northamptonshire" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roade" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Village in West Northamptonshire, England ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox UK place"]

Field	Value
country	England
official_name	Roade
coordinates
civil_parish	Roade
population	2,254
population_ref	(2001 census)
2,312 (2011 census).
london_distance	66 mi
unitary_england	West Northamptonshire
lieutenancy_england	Northamptonshire
region	East Midlands
constituency_westminster	South Northamptonshire
post_town	NORTHAMPTON
postcode_district	NN7
postcode_area	NN
dial_code	01604
static_image	Memorial Green, Roade.jpg
static_image_width	259px
static_image_caption	War Memorial, Memorial Green
os_grid_reference	SP755515
mapframe	yes
mapframe-zoom	11
mapframe-point	on
::

Roade village has a long medieval history dating as far back as 1066

The village's name means 'clearing'.

Location

Roade straddles the busy Northampton to Milton Keynes A508, ca. 2 mi south of junction 15 of the M1 motorway, 5 mi south of Northampton and 12 mi north of Milton Keynes. The road bisects the village into the eastern, older part, and the western part, which is mostly 20th-century housing.

Demographics

The 2001 census shows 2,254 people living in the parish, 1,117 male and 1,137 female, in 962 dwellings. In 2011 the population had increased to 2,312.

Governance

The parish is in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority area, in the two-member Blisworth and Roade ward.

West Coast Main Line

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Roade_cutting.JPG" caption="Pendolino]]'' travelling south on the fast lines with the [[Northampton loop]] lines on the right"] ::

Four tracks of the West Coast Main Line from London Euston to Manchester and Scotland go through the village in a deep cutting. The cutting bisects the village into the older part on the east side and the more recent west side. However, there are two main road bridges and four others for pedestrians, some for minor traffic and farm vehicles. The line dates from 1838 and was electrified in the 1960s.

The cutting is a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) listed by English Nature.

Roade railway station was situated at the southern end of the village and the cutting, but closed in 1964. The four lines split at the north end of the cutting, with the two 'slow' lines forming the slower Northampton loop via and , and the other two 'fast' lines heading directly north via . There was a campaign in the 1990s to have the station re-opened for commuter traffic to London, Milton Keynes and Northampton, but there are no current plans to do so.

1969 rail accident

An accident occurred at the northern end of the cutting, at the junction, on 31 December 1969 when a northbound goods train on the slow lines derailed. A southbound passenger train from Northampton was passing at the time at about 75 mph and collided with the derailed wagons and was partly derailed itself. The driver of the passenger train was killed. The cause of the derailment was the failure of a main bearing spring on an empty 16-ton mineral wagon, and very similar to a previous incident on the Northampton loop in 1967.

Facilities

The local secondary school, Elizabeth Woodville School is the one of two Sports Colleges in Northamptonshire, the other being Kingsthorpe College. The school is on the A508 Stratford road at the south-west end of the village and has around 1,150 pupils. The catchment area extends to Grange Park, Blisworth, Stoke Bruerne and several other villages in the area. The school opened in 1956 as Roade Secondary Modern School changing to a Comprehensive School in 1975. The School merged with Kingsbrook Business and Enterprise school in Deanshanger in September 2011. The merged school was renamed Elizabeth Woodville School. Woodville was born in Grafton Regis which is halfway between the two schools and was Queen consort of King Edward IV.

Roade Primary School in Hartwell Road has about 166 pupils and the original school was built in 1876.

There is a main post office in the High Street offering most services including the payment of Vehicle Excise Duty.

The village pub is The Cock Inn, at the junction of the High Street with Hartwell Road.

The village has its own football team who play in the Premier Division of the Northamptonshire Combination Football League, known as Roade FC.

Notable people

Bernard Donoughue (born 1934), Labour Party politician
Glenys Kinnock (1944–2023), Labour Party politician, was born in Roade
David Capel (1963-2020), cricketer
Joe Stockdale (born 1999) equestrian

Freedom of the Parish

The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Parish of Roade.

Individuals

Cecil Bottomley: 8 May 2014.
Shamsher "Sam" Chatur: 19 November 2022.
Nilufa "Lucy" Chatur: 19 November 2022.
William John McLaren Marshall: 26 November 2022.

References

SNC. "South Northamptonshire Council Year Book 2009-2010".
"Roade {{!}} British History Online".
"Key to English Place-names".
"UK census 2001 – data".
"Civil Parish population 2011". Office for National Statistics.
[http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1002811.pdf English Nature site with details of Roade cutting]
[http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/DoE_Roade1969.pdf ''Report on the Derailment and subsequent Collision that occurred on 31 December 1969 near Roade Junction'' – official report of the accident, accessed 23 July 2011]
Secondary Elizabeth Woodville School at the northamptonshire County Council website] {{webarchive. link. (27 March 2012)
[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=22790#s1 A History of Roade, from Volume V of "A History of Northamptonshire" at British History Online]
[[Northampton Chronicle & Echo]], 13 June 2011
Primary Roade Primary School at the Northamptonshire County Council website]
"Spin profile of Glenys Kinnock".
Wheatley, Katie. (17 August 2022). "Northamptonshire equestrian rider part of bronze-winning Team GB at World Champs – for first time in 24 years". Northampton Chronicle & Echo.
Murphy, Debbie. (16 November 2022). "Roade parish council to award the title of Honorary Freedom to Post Office pair".
(3 February 2024). "Freedom of the Parish". Roade Parish Council.

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