Wakerley

{{for|the suburb in Australia|Wakerley, Queensland}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2014}}

{{Use British English|date=March 2014}}

{{infobox UK place

|country = England

|official_name = Wakerley

|label_position = left

|coordinates = {{coord|52.5849|-0.5919|display=inline,title}}

|population_ref= approximately 60

|unitary_england= North Northamptonshire

|lieutenancy_england= Northamptonshire

|region= East Midlands

|constituency_westminster= Corby

|post_town= Oakham

|postcode_district = LE15

|postcode_area= LE

|dial_code= 01572

|os_grid_reference= SP9599

|london_distance=

|static_image= St.John the Baptists church (geograph 2523302).jpg

|static_image_caption= St John the Baptist's church

}}

Wakerley is a linear village and civil parish in the county of Northamptonshire, England.{{cite map|title=Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 141 Kettering & Corby (Market Harborough & Stamford)|ISBN= 9780319229866 |publisher=Ordnance Survey|date=2014}}

{{cite web|url=https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/gb/# |title=Ordnance Survey Election Maps|website=www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk |publisher=Ordnance Survey |accessdate=3 April 2016}} Forming part of North Northamptonshire, Wakerley is close to, and south of, the River Welland that forms the boundary with Rutland; its nearest neighbour, Barrowden, is in that county and accessible by a footbridge. Wakerley is in the area of Rockingham Forest and Wakerley Great Wood is one of the forest's largest remnants. The population of the village is included in the civil parish of Duddington with Fineshade.

The village's name origin is dubious. 'Osier wood/clearing' or perhaps, 'watcher wood/clearing'.{{Cite web|url=http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Northamptonshire/Wakerley|title = Key to English Place-names}}

St John the Baptist's church, Grade I listed, has been in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust since the early 1970s.{{cite web|title=Wakerley, Northamptonshire: Church of St John the Baptist|url=http://www.visitchurches.org.uk/Ourchurches/Completelistofchurches/Church-of-St-John-the-Baptist-Wakerley-Northamptonshire/|website=www.visitchurches.org.uk|accessdate=8 April 2016}}

Recent evidence points to Wakerley's industrial history as an iron-smelting centre. Brick-built calcining kilns were used for reducing iron ore before transport to the Corby Steelworks.{{Cite journal|last=Laundon|first=Jack Rodney|date=2008|title=The Wakerley Calciner Furnaces|url=http://www.northamptonshirerecordsociety.org.uk/eNpp/NppNo61.pdf|journal=Northamptonshire Past and Present|volume=61|pages=86–87}}