Wealth of history behind a name
Vigo House, Bedford Road, Northampton, 1922
You may have guessed that, being an old fashioned sort of chap, I like to see old names preserved wherever possible. So I was thrilled to discover that there is still somewhere in Northampton that bears the name Vigo.
Vigo Crescent stands, as it has for two centuries or more, just off Bedford Road, although in truth it is not in precisely the same location! Indeed, by 1820 the whole small area was known as Vigo and I bet that some of my readers, particularly those with really long memories, will remember Vigo House and perhaps even the round tower that stood in the garden there.
So what was Vigo and how did it get its name? Well it all started in 1702 when a chalybeate medicinal spring was discovered on land just south of Becket’s Well. Nothing much happened for some years, although it was hoped in vain that a fashionable spa would be established there.
Then in 1719 a Mr Wykes erected a wind engine to pump the spring water. It was thought, again in vain, that this could become the town’s first water works. In the same year the British and Dutch navies scored a major victory over the French and Spanish at Vigo. The name was adopted but the water supply failed.
The area continued to be fashionable and in August 1830 the Northampton Mercury published an advertisement for the sale by auction of “The Vigo Tea Gardens, with Genteel Dwelling House, Corn-mill and Brickyard”.
It went on to say “the Tea Gardens are most tastefully laid out with gravel paths adorned by choice shrubs, arbours etc, a good bowling green and a sheet of water, well adapted for a place of genteel resort and amusement . . . and a round tower or cottage.”
The round tower or cottage was in fact Mr Wykes’s wind engine, shaped like a windmill with cloth sails. In time it had indeed been converted into a small dwelling and over the years it became unoccupied but lived on as an ivy-covered folly in the grounds of Vigo House.
Vigo House was a small mansion set in spacious grounds and over the years it had a number of prominent occupants.
Not far from the house, the Vigo Brick and Tile Works stood, later expanding to include “Land Investments and Advance Company” in its title!
Certainly by 1874 Vigo Crescent or Terrace was on the map. Numbers 1 to 4 were private dwellings and number 5 was a beer-house. Actually over the years the beer-house seems to have developed into fully licensed premises called The Spade and Plough.
By 1910 Bedford Road had officially become known as Houghton Road and the whole area has seen huge changes over the last century or so.
Thanks to the helpful borough council planning department, I learned of many changes of use and planning applications, too many to list.
An interesting one appeared as recently as 1955 when planning application was made for the change of use of premises known as the Spade and Plough. Presumably this was the end of life as a beer-house that had occupied the site for so long.
Another was granted in 1963 when the area was redeveloped to extend the United Counties bus garage.
And in 1985 change of use was again applied for on numbers 1 to 5 Vigo Crescent, when Parkside Independent School was to be established there.
Sadly the school closed soon after the opening of the present century since when the whole site has changed beyond all recognition. But there is still a Vigo Crescent.
Be thankful for small mercies!
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