The picturesque village of Titchmarsh is located 8 miles east of Kettering in the beautiful Northamptonshire countryside. Titchmarsh is an agricultural village with a population of around 500. Many of the houses are built of local limestone, several of which are thatched, and there are no fewer than 25 listed buildings in the village, including the Church and The Old Rectory.
The village boasts a School, 2 Public Houses, a Village Hall, Titchmarsh Nature Reserve & Heronry and Titchmarsh Meadow (a Site of Special Scientific Interest). The Church of St Mary the Virgin is noted for its square and pinnacled tower, which dates back to the 15th Century and is visible from main roads nearby. The Church has many interesting features including the ha-ha, which marks the churchyard boundary on the west and south sides.
Notable historic connections to the village include John Dryden, the first Royal Poet Laureate, who spent his boyhood here in the 17th century. Samuel Pepys came to the village in 1668 to be present at the marriage of his friend John Creed to Elizabeth Pickering; and Robert Keys, who married Margaret Pickering, was a principal agent in the Gun Powder plot in 1605!
South of the High Street is the rectangular moat of a fortified manor house, known as Titchmarsh Castle, built in the 1300’s. This historic site is now grassed over although there are still signs of the ditches, mounds and the moat.
Helen Belgion, a former resident of the village, wrote a book 'Titchmarsh Past and Present' in 1979, which has long since been out of print.