RINGSTEAD is a parish and large village, on the river Nene, with a station on the Northampton and Peterborough branch of the London and North Western railway, about 1 mile west from the village, which is 2½ miles south from Thrapston and 71 from London, in the Northern division of the county, hundred of Higham Ferrers, petty sessional division, union and county court district of Thrapston, rural deanery of Higham Ferrers (second portion), archdeaconry of Oakham and diocese of Peterborough.  The church of St. Mary is a building chiefly in the Early English style, with some Decorated portions, consisting of chancel, nave, north aisle, north and south porches and a western tower with spire containing a clock and 6 bells; the chancel retains sedilia, piscina and aumbry: the church was thoroughly restored in the year 1863, at a cost of nearly £3,000, under the direction of Mr. William Slater, architect, of Northampton and London.  The register dates from the year 1570.  The living is a vicarage, annexed to that of Denford, average tithe rent-charge £110, joint net yearly value £130, including 78 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of S. G. Stopford Sackville esq. Of Drayton House, and held since 1885 by the rev. William Oram Leadbitter M.A., B.C.L. of University College, Durham, who resides at Denford.  The Baptists have had a chapel in this village since the year 1714; the present chapel, erected in 1848, will seat 300 persons; attached are school rooms built in 1877, and holding, with the class rooms and infants’ schoolroom, 200 children.  There is an estate of 27 acres now (1894) producing about £40 yearly, which sum is applied to the maintenance of the school, and the relief of the poor.  The Temperance Hall, erected in 1861. at a cost of about £200, is used for lectures, and will hold about 350 persons.  Shoe making is carried on here.  The trustees of the late Thomas Burton esq. Are lords of the manor.  The Rev. George Halliley Capron B.A. of Southwick Hall, Barnwell Hospital and Mrs. Stopford-Sackville, of Drayton House, Lowick, are the principal landowners.  The soil is strong and red land; subsoil, clay, ironstone and gravel.  The chief crops are wheat, beans, barley, oats, turnips and roots.  There is some good meadow land in the parish.  The area is 1,930 acres; rateable value, £3,727; the population in 1891 was 887.

POST OFFICE – John Green, sub-postmaster.  Letters arrive through Thrapston at 6.55 a.m. & 1.5 p.m.; dispatched at 5.25 p.m.  No delivery on Sundays.  The nearest money order & telegraph office is at Raunds.  Postal orders are issued here, but not paid.

National School (mixed), for Ringstead & Denford, built with master’s residence, in 1867, on a site given by the late George Capron esq. & enlarged in 1874 & again in 1894 at a total cost of about £560; it will hold 200 children; average attendance, 170; it is partly supported by the endowment named above; Thomas Johnson, master; Mrs. Frances Johnson, mistress

Railway Station, Frederick thomas George, station master.

CARRIERS – Alfred Sawford, to Wellingborough, Wed.; Kettering Fri.; Thrapston, Tues.; Lot Weekley, to Thrapston, Tues. & Sat.; Wellingborough, Wed.; Oundle, Thurs.; Kettering, Fri.