September 8th 2022
‘Joan Wake’ - how she saved Delapre Abbey and founded the Northamptonshire Records Office
Neil Lyon was a super speaker. We were treated to a show of images of many of the historic houses in Northamptonshire, along with details of Joan Wake's incredible life.
Joan was born in 1884 at Courteenhall to the 12th baronet Sir Hereward Wake. She was a founder of the Northamptonshire Record Society and able to retrieve collections of often neglected documents from the homes of landowners throughout the county, which are now in the county archives.
In the 1950s she raised enough money to purchase and save Delapré Abbey from destruction and co-ordinated its restoration.
Joan was the author of 80 publications mainly on Northamptonshire history. She died in 1974 leaving 355 boxes of letters which provided a record of her life and Neil was the first to have access to them. His talk (and book ) reveals Joan’s love of the county’s history.