The ironstone village of Eydon in the rural south of the county prides itself on maintaining a busy social calendar and recording local life for posterity, through the work of its active history group. Those two impulses have come together this year in a festival to mark a milestone birthday for a building at the heart of village life.
Constructed by local craftsmen, the village hall opened in April 1926 and has since borne witness to a century of events, big and small, in the lives of inhabitants, from dance parties to drama performances and public meetings. While very much a local effort, this village landmark was part of a wave of civic construction in the 1920s that was designed to bring together a society scarred by war, inequality and economic hardship.
The opening ceremony for the Eydon village hall attracted a half-page spread in the Banbury Guardian of April 22, 1926, which described how local dignitaries welcomed a “handsome” new building that promised to brighten up countryside life for the “rank and file”.
In fact, not everyone welcomed the project at the time. An element of subterfuge was used to buy the central village site, to avoid unwelcome opposition, and the modernistic concrete blocks using locally sourced gravel proved to be a controversial choice alongside the traditional stone and brick cottages.
But fast forward 100 years, and the hall is still serving as a social hub for this tucked-away village perched on a hilltop, even though streaming and social media now offer alternative pastimes for its population of around four hundred people.
To mark the centenary, Eydon is issuing an open invitation to a series of events throughout this year, which kicked off with a sold-out blues concert in February and will peak with a birthday party and exhibition on April 17-18. The celebrations will continue with a midsummer dance and wind up with a Halloween children’s party and Christmas street fair.
History promises to be a big theme of the April birthday festivities. The Eydon Historical Research Group will hold a two-day exhibition and photo display looking back over 100 years, offering visitors the chance to buy a commemorative booklet before they head to the free disco on April 18.
“The history is far more than the acquisition of a site and the construction and maintenance of a building – it is almost the history of the village itself and the activities of its inhabitants,” said Caroline Bedford, author of the memorial booklet that runs to more than 100 pages. “There are some disputes and lots of drama – not all of it on stage!”
The Eydon research group was also involved in a major show this year exploring 150 million years of Northamptonshire history through 100 objects. The village’s contribution to the well-attended display at Northampton’s art museum was a 19th century women’s cape, loaned from a costume collection belonging to the family of an Eydon tailor, Syd Tyrrell.
It was Tyrrell himself who launched the tradition of historical inquiry in Eydon when he documented rural life over the centuries in his 1970s book “A Countryman’s Tale”, which was later reprinted as a National Trust classic. The Eydon history group published a sequel in 2001 based on another Tyrrell manuscript and has been producing booklets ever since, at the rate of around one every two years, with articles on topics from village architecture to the landed gentry and the recipients of Victorian poor relief.
Back in 1926, rural England was grappling with post-war economic woes and creeping modernisation, as transport links opened up new opportunities and technology was starting to mechanise agricultural work.
Across England, it was a growth era for social groups, some set up with an express aim of combating rural isolation and revitalising communities at risk of depopulation. In Eydon’s case, a men’s social club was a major driving force behind the village hall project, which was also championed by the local branch of the Women’s Institute.
For community-minded villagers, Eydon is unusual in maintaining a lively social scene even as demographics and interests have shifted over the years. While typical occupations in 1926 may have been shop keeper or agricultural labourer, the village is now home to a range of professions and profiles, with many residents commuting to nearby towns or working digitally from home.
Some inhabitants are less involved in village life, while older villagers with more time on their hands tend to feature in many of the communal activities. It remains to be seen what the next 100 years may bring, but for now plenty of people are keen to celebrate the enduring benefits of face-to-face contact in a shared physical space.
The centenary festivities can also appeal to people from outside the village, said Lyn Evans, who coordinated Eydon’s input for the Northamptonshire exhibition and volunteers at nearby Canons Ashby, a National Trust property. “It’s a chance to find out more about the story of an interesting historic village and its inhabitants, a village that despite the obvious changes over time is still a close and friendly community.”
A satnav setting of NN11 3PP will bring visitors to the door of the village hall, where rare copies of the Tyrrell books along with the 14 volumes of the historical research series will be available to buy during the exhibition, which will run from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday April 17, continuing from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday April 18. The DJ dance party will get underway from 7.30 p.m. the same day.
And what would surprise the villagers of 1926 about present-day Eydon as it gets into the celebratory swing?
“Where to start! Technology of course, particularly in communications, people’s mobility and opportunities,” said Evans. “The number of cars. How quiet it is sometimes during the day, when you can walk around the village and not see a soul apart from dog walkers.”
2. Contributed
Alice Armstrong performs with her blues band in Eydon in February 2026 Photo: Submitted