Yardley Hastings is a village and civil parish in the English county of Northamptonshire. It is located south-east of the county town of Northampton and is skirted on its south side by the main A428 road to Bedford. History The village's name means 'rod wood/clearing', a place where they were made or acquired. The 'de Hastinges' family are mentioned in connection with the village in 1250. Thomas Dudley was born in Yardley Hastings in 1576. He sailed to New England on the Arbella in 1630 and became Governor of the Massachusetts Bay colony. He signed the charter of Harvard College in 1650. Bouttoll Downing was born in Yardley Hastings in 1510. Ten generations later in 1820 "his descendant Sarah Downing" married John Abbey in Yardley Hastings where further generations continued to live. The village was struck by an F0/T1 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day. Yardley Hastings is the village in which Marianne Faithfull's character Maggie lives in the 2007 film Irina Palm. Buildings The parish church is dedicated to St Andrew, has a 13th-century west tower and the remains of a Norman wall. It also has exceptional examples of Romanesque detailing. The former Congregational chapel dates from 1813 and subsequently became home to a congregation of the United Reformed Church. Worship here commenced in 1672 when a licence was granted to John Neale of Yardley Hastings permitting him to use his cottage for the purpose of worship and this represents the first recorded instance of nonconformity in Yardley Hastings. Records of worshipers were initially kept to a minimum since at this time many nonconformists were persecuted and imprisoned, with many in the 17th century emigrating to America where they were able to enjoy freedom of worship. As a result, there appears to be a total absence of early records until a meeting house was erected and the first minister (Doddridge) was ordained in 1730. Doddridge was joined by Drake in 1735 and they both preached at Yardley until 1758, when Drake moved to Olney. However, from 1758 there was no minister at Yardley until Thomas Raban was ordained in 1783. Raban had many commitments in nearby Olney and much of the day-to-day administration was undertaken by the rector James Gardiner whose signature can be found on several marriage certificates including that of "Edward Abbey married to Sarah Wooden 30th