| Official Name: | King's Cliffe |
| Static Image Name: | Kingscliff 52.jpg |
| Static Image Caption: | The village in the early 1950s |
| Coordinates: | 52.566°N -0.519°W |
| Os Grid Reference: | TL0097 |
| Label Position: | bottom |
| Population: | 1,585 |
| Population Ref: | (2021 Census) |
| Unitary England: | North Northamptonshire |
| Lieutenancy England: | Northamptonshire |
| Region: | East Midlands |
| Country: | England |
| Constituency Westminster: | Corby |
| Post Town: | Peterborough |
| Postcode District: | PE8 |
| Postcode Area: | PE |
| Dial Code: | 01780 |
| Website: | King's Cliffe Parish Council |
King's Cliffe (variously spelt Kings Cliffe, King's Cliff, Kings Cliff, Kingscliffe) is a village and civil parish on Willow Brook, a tributary of the River Nene, about northeast of Corby in North Northamptonshire. The parish adjoins the county boundary with the City of Peterborough and the village is about west of the city centre. The village is not far from the boundary with Lincolnshire and about 6miles south of Stamford.
The 2001 Census recorded a parish population of 1,137 people,[1] increasing to 1,202 at the 2011 Census.[2] This later increased to 1,585 at the 2021 Census.
The 1871 Census recorded a parish population of 1,259.[3] The 1891 Census recorded the parish population as having fallen to 1,082, occupying 262 "inhabited houses"[4]
King's Cliffe is very small but is growing in size. There is a school named King's Cliffe Endowed Primary. It used to be located next to John Wooding's Groceries but in recent years, a new building was developed on King's Forest. This new school is very large in size and is very advanced.
The Church of England parish church of All Saints has a central tower that is Norman, with late 13th century upper parts and broach spire. The nave has a Decorated Gothic west window and there are north and south aisles with 14th century arcades. The font is also 14th century. Later features are the Perpendicular Gothic clerestory, roof and remodelling of the north and south arches supporting the tower. Inside the church is a monument erected in 1623 to the Thorpe family, whose descendant John Thorpe (1565–1655) was a notable Elizabethan and Jacobean architect.
Hall Yard Farmhouse was built in 1603. Inside the house, Dr Law's Music Room has an 18th-century Georgian coved ceiling with decoration in the style of Robert Adam. Law's Chapel, also 18th century, is nearby.
Parts of King's Cliffe Manor House are early 17th century.
In the summer of 1845, the Reverend Miles Joseph Berkeley, the rector of All Saints' church, proposed, after observing potatoes from near the village struck by potato blight, that the causative agent of the blight was a fungus.[5] [6] This was contradictory to theories at the time, which suggested that the fungus was merely a symptom of decay, and not the causative agent of the blight. Berkeley labelled the fungus he found Botrytis infestans, now known as Phytophthora infestans.
King's Cliffe is unusual in having three sets of almshouses. The John Thorpe Almshouses were built in 1668, the Widows' Almshouses in 1749 and the Spinsters' Almshouses in 1754. The Widows' and Spinsters' almshouses were part of a set of charities founded by Rev. Dr William Law (1686–1761) and his disciple, Mrs Elizabeth Hutcheson. A house dating from about 1700 was made a Schoolmaster's House in 1745, and next to it the Boys' School was built in 1748. From 1752 the Schoolmaster's House became Law's Library, which housed Law's religious books and lent them to people of King's Cliffe and neighbouring towns.
King's Cliffe railway station was on a branch line that ran between and . The London and North Western Railway opened it in 1879 and British Railways closed it in 1966.
RAF King's Cliffe was opened in 1942 and returned to agricultural use in 1959. It was about east of the village.
Kings Cliffe has a number of events that occur annually. These include but are not limited to: