As someone who's a native of that area, I remember the pipes filling the knott-holes with flyash well and the dire warnings not to walk on the recently-pumped flyash! The areas to the east of the ECML became warehousing, but also the Crown Lakes Country Park at Farcet (Crown Works in Farcet was one of the first to close as its age meant it wasn't suitable for mechanised loading of the kilns). In my teenage train-spotting years you could see the trains coming onto the flyash loop from some of the classrooms at the now-demolished Stanground School and this would often lead me to walk/cycle down there and see what locomotive was hauling it: IIRC the most interesting stuff hauled the trains from Ratcliffe power station.

Thankyou. That was so interesting, and a beautiful day, too.

If you ever return to All Saints, the stones from the Abbey are at the front, opposite side to the ones you found. They are slightly hidden by bushes now but Autumn Winter able to see. Awesome vid, very interesting, thank u

I live Sawtry and thought I knew a fair bit about it. Turns out I didn't... really interesting, thank you. Hope you enjoyed your time in and around the village.

Did you know there is a paved labyrinth and peace garden in the churchyard Paul? Great video. Thank you. Fascinating stuff.

Have missed your walks, so this was great, and very interesting. Thanks

Interesting video. Proudly Northamptonshire and think the very last most north easterly village in the county excluding the Soke part ?

Always a pleasure watching your videos, so much history that we normally just drive by, glad I've subscribed.

Brilliant. I have visited Eastern many times, living in Stamford. Both walking from Stamford meadows, and driving around. I spent a day photographing the place once, but never came across the rope-way, which I would have loved to have seen. Sadly too late in life now. What a great place to have lived with all the industry going on, (from a photographers point of view.) Must have been hard to live there in reality.

My great grandfather was based here and he said he couldn't stand clark gable 😂

The track you walked along towards nene Valley railway where the bridge was demolished , that must have been some track or road of significance surely judging by the trees planted along the "cliff "edge ? I have walked there loads of time but cannot quite work it out

Thanks for the upload. Enjoyed it. I've got some `1960's pics of my dad on a scooter & sidecar down desborough avenue that wouldn't have been out of place on here.

My maternal grandparents lived in the New England railway cottages. Nobby used to live in the bus stop opposite Orton longueville school, when I went there. Many thanks for the memories as always 👍

My name Chris Benefield i wonder if my family HAVE LINKS?

Only just seen this. I worked as a kiln burner (the voice-over here refers to him as a stoker) at the London Brick Commpany fletton brick producing yard at Stewartby in Bedford from 1979 to 1992. I can assure anyone watching that the process was exactly the same as here in 1935. The machinery looked the same and the the top of the kiln was exactly the same apart from the later efition of a rail track which carried a metal structure roughly the size of a trlephone box around the kikn from chamber to chamber. It housed a "Kent" machine (later changed to Honeywell) which was hooked up to a series of thermacouples - 10 ft long metal lances - that went into those small holes we are shown to measure the heat in the chamber (up to just under 1000°). Apart from that, this could have been filmed in 1985. There were around 1500 men employed at the Stewartby yard when I started.

I truly appreciate watching this video my dad was stationed there 1944 1945 he was in one of the air crews. It was a waist Gunner and top turret Gunner. If I ever get a chance to go to England which I doubt seriously ever will but if I do I really want to go see what's left of that air base and stand there and just cry. My dad died about 5 years ago I think he would have liked to have seen this video and reminisce a little bit but I'm sure he probably would not like to see how those buildings look nowadays. It is quite distressing all we have just dismissed history and all those before us and what they have meant to our lives now. I also was in the Air Force back in the 80s and so many bases that are active at the time have all closed. Where I went to tech school they closed in the early nineties and most of the buildings are falling apart it's just heart-wrenching. Thank you for posting.

My husband lived there, until we got married lovely place ❤️🥰❤️

We used to travel that way from Cov to the east coast in the 60's and 70's picking up Peterborough but from the Oundle Road and through the centre to Thorney and onward. I remember all the roads being really busy and it took us 7 hours to get to the coast. The ghost road you missed was the (now) layby just after (E to W) Tollhouse Farm. Thank you for the video, it brought back some very good memories.

Top man Del,hope ya well mate

You may be surprised to learn that most of Tixover village and Tixover Grange are aware of your video and many have watched it. It arrived at appropriate time as Tixover Friends was being formed a community group for all the residents of Tixover.

Very enjoyable, interesting and informative. Could you do one on the old A1 through Peterborough and Stilton as I'm very interested in that. Many thanks.

My grandmother was Elinor Darby and my mother was Betty Scott and I was born in a 4 poster in Marholm Farm 1947. I really enjoyed your video ,bringing back so many memories,

Good video! When I think of safe spaces I think of Cotterstock from 1976 to 1981. I loved my time there and cherish my memories. Across from the Manor was a field with rows of oak tress, we called them the "Wychards", many a football and cricket match were played there. I lived in the house just up from the village hall, at the time it was two houses. There was us and Mr. Simpson and his wife, he still used the outhouse. we used ours for coke and coal. Behind the houses were fields that would be used for beet root, barley and I think wheat, on rotation. When we didn't want to walk to the Wychards we would play cricket in the street between our house and Alan Pollards house. Near to the Mill was the Wing house, Ms. Wing was the "Butcher Lady", without her I am not sure what we would have done. At the other end of the village was the Thatcher house, my mate lived there and funny enough, he was a thatcher, same as his dad. We all went to Prince William School in Oundle, an awesome school, that deserves its own details but, whiskey and time. I finished 5th form and we were sent back to the US. I miss my safe space and would love to be laid to rest in St. Andrew's. Sorry for rambling on.

I remember falling into the pond as you go into orton Waterville in 1981 as a 5 year old we had moved to newly built orton goldhay in 1979

If you go there again, go into the flying club and have a look at all the pictures. Have a cup of tea and a bun too. But just recently, a street painter from London painted a huge B17 together with it's crew in black and white on the side of the hangar. It really is fantastic and worth going there just to see it!! I own an aeroplane that's in the hangar and I've been flying from the 28/10 runway for many years. As I've flown my own plane off that runway, I've often thought of the B17 crews thundering down that very same runway many years ago, on the way to their targets. It's so tragic that so many of those very brave men never came back again😞.

I do that walk from Bretton all the time, its worth getting into Marholm church if you can... the effigies are amazing, probably the best in Cambridgeshire if you go by the size of the church... but its never open... but i think you could get the keys at one point from somewhere but we fluked in and got in a few years ago. They are pushing heavily to start building nearby at Glinton... you wonder how long this gem of a place will be in that setting.

I was very much hoping you would have talked about Brigstock House, 8 Hall Hill. I was born there in 1953, but moved to Devon when I was young, but have amazing memories of Brigstock. Thank you for the video. It was a wonderful trip down memory lane.

Really.enjoyed.that.informative.walk...thank.you.so.much...

Packed with so much information. The church was magnificent, but so was the whole walk. Thankyou so much.

In 1972 I was employed at Kier Ltd. in Tempsford. My wife and I had a house in Fen Lane Sawtry but we weren't there long enough to get to know the village. In mid 1973 we moved to Kamloops British Columbia where we have been ever since. I found both part one and part two quite fascinating and regret that I don't know Sawtry as well as I might have. Thank you for taking the time to research and present this little tour.

Enjoyed watching this, recently found my grandfather who served in the 749th squadron. I have walked around there few times since, me and the wife love going to the Admiral arms next to the crossing of death. When you was trying to get into the churchyard if you carried on little further there is a gate that you go through so no need to jump 3 fences lol

Great video, thanks for posting. I'm lucky enough to live in this lovely village on the site of the old woodyard you mention. Just a couple of bits of information, the kennels were in use up until about 5 years ago when the hunt merged with another near Northampton. The hunt still meets every Boxing Day, leaving from the village square. Pytchley is pronounced locally as "Pie chley"

I grew up in Brigstock in the early 70's it was a place of fun and adventure. I never really though about the history, i have learned so much, thank you. I was even a choir boy in the church, pity I could not sing. It was probably the best place I have lived.

Brigstock is a lovely little village, the Bake and brew cafe do some lovely cakes. There's a nice track carries on from Dusthill Road to Geddington use it a lot when I visit the memorial for Grafton Underwood airfield and the Beautiful Eleanor Cross in Geddington.

Just imagine the horror of today if the new route hadn't been built. Loved the change of architecture as you progressed, and enjoyed the drive through Thorney. Used to cycle there. Thankyou for the journey.

Excellent journey Paul ,very eye-opening.

Great video, was the ghost road between wansford and duddington to the south? If so that’s quite a sharp bend! Could I suggest you overlay a map occasionally to show the ghost roads?

Hoping you do a part two beyond Tixover to Tugby where more ghost roads exist

I have to confess that I was slightly wrong with the Duddington A47 stretch ..... but couldn't bring myself to go back and reshoot it ! The old A47 would have continued a short distance through what is now the A47/A43 roundabout before hooking left down the Stamford Road into Duddington. My suggestion that the A47 came in at the Royal Oak end is actually wrong ! The old A43 used to join the A47 just west of today's roundabout (nice "Ghost Road" still there) and ran with the A47 into the Village Green in Duddington before heading south, via the Royal Oak, to Corby while the A47, as per the video, did indeed head down Mill Lane to Tixover !

You certainly picked a muddy day to do your walking parts of that journey. I hope you cleaned them well before getting back into your car?

That brings back memories of travelling along the old A47 to Hunstanton , you passed my parents house on Thorpe Rd when the A47 used to go pass our house just past Cash's corner , also travelling past Milton Ferry Bridge through those dangerous bends on a Barton's Bus to school in Stamford in the 60's.

Thank you for these videos, I enjoy every one. This video takes me back to travelling through Thorney as a lad on the way back from Hunstanton in the Summer, sweltering heat and sunburn with me sitting on the vinyl back seat of my parents car. It will always be a good memory (albeit painful), stopping at the traffic lights and admiring the cars at the classic car garage, knowing we were nearly home to Peterborough.

Such a wonderful, dare I say Cotswoldesque, village! Well researched and appreciated the meandering wide thoroughfares. I had no idea such beautiful settlements existed around Peterborough, which with the greatest respect to the City and it’s doubtless countless merits, probably wouldn’t be described as overly picturesque. Thanks for recording, editing and posting. It is greatly appreciated. Congrats on reaching your 1k subscribers goal.

Quite a contrast to Part 1, and really interesting. The old photographs bring the past community to life so well. I'm really pleased you 're able to do that. They remind me of my early years in Whittlesey.

Great video Paul ……for obvious reasons 👍❤️

A good brace of videos, Part 1 and Part 2. I hace been a resident here since 1953 and my mum and grand parents before that. Wish I had been there when you filmed them because I could have put some "meat on the bones" with the buildings you filmed. Exellent effort though, and well done.

Sawtry Camp: Please see the Research Report 'The Postwar Use of Sawtry/Wood Walton Lane POW Camp for Civilian Housing' which is on the Sawtry History Website. Note, temporary council housing, which ran from late 1948 to 1958, did not use any of the buildings in the prisoners' compound but only the disused barracks and admin buildings.

Loved this walk. In the 1960s, as a very special treat, my parents would take us to the 'Green Man". We would stay in the garden with a bottle of pop and a packet of crisps with the blue salt twisty packet, as we were not allowed in the pub. There were a couple of donkeys in the field which loved coming for a stroke. Living in Kent now so happy to see Marholm brought to life again. Happy Days.

Thank you. Really enjoyed the video.

Really pleased you managed to obtain the church key. Lovely walk. Thankyou