Honington village sign

Image: © Adrian S Pye Taken: 7 Sep 2014

The sign was erected in 1993 and stands on a grassy triangle at the centre of the three-way road junction. It has one pictorial element. That of an old horse-drawn plough which represents the agricultural heritage of the parish. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6764163 On the reverse is the following “Birthplace of Robert Bloomfield pastoral poet.” Bloomfield was born in December 1766. His father, who was a tailor, died of smallpox when he was just a year old. His mother, who was the village school mistress, gave him his education. From the age of eleven he worked on the estate of the Duke of Grafton. He later wrote under the Duke’s patronage. At the age of fifteen he worked under his brother George as a shoemaker in London. His first poem, "The Village Girl", was published in 1786, but the poem that made his reputation was The Farmer's Boy which he wrote in 1796 that won him notoriety. He died in August 1823 and is buried at All Saints church, Campton, in Bedfordshire.

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