Cotterstock is a village in the county of Northamptonshire in South West England.

Place

Cotterstock is situated at 0,45 degrees eastern longitude and 52,5 degrees northern latitude on the banks of the Nene River, which crosses the town of Peterborough 25 km in north eastern direction and empties into the North Sea in The Wash. The nearest larger town is Oundle 4 km to the south west.

Population

In 1991 the population of Cotterstock Parish was 119, with a dwelling stock of 50. The mid-1995 estimates are a population of 133 and a dwelling stock of 56.

History

Cotterstock was recorded in the Domesday Book as Codestoche.

In summer 1736 a Romano-British Villa was discovered when tesserae from a large mozaic pavement were uncovered during ploughing. The villa was relocated by aerial photography during the extremely dry Summer of 1976, when parch marks of buried walls were recorded spread across three fields. A resistivity survey undertaken to accurately locate and amplify the aerial photographic information, was carried out over a total of ten days in 1992 and 1993. A total of 19,140 soil resistance values was recorded at one metre intervals within a grid composed of 20 metre squares.

The Church of St Andrew is located to the east of the village, adjacent to the River Nene and dates from the late 12th Century. The main period of construction was in the 13th and 14th Centuries and the building was restored and extended in 1876.

Cotterstock Hall was built in 1658 with alterations in the early 18th Century and a main staircase added in the 19th Century. The poet and playwright John Dryden was a frequent visitor and is thought to have stayed in the south-west attic room at the Hall.

Also of interest is the Old Mill which was built during the early 19th century.

In Cotterstock Parish there are 20 entries on the statutory list of buildings of special architectural or historic interest, 16 are within the Conservation Area which covers the eastern part of the village around St Andrew's Church and Cotterstock Hall. Tree Preservation Orders have been made on trees in and around the village.

Cotterstock was the birthplace of John Graves Simcoe, the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada from 1791-1796, who was born here on February 25, 1752 .

Infrastructure

Cotterstock consists of a single street with Cotterstock Hall located in the centre and St Andrew’s Church in the east. Cotterstock has a village hall.