The village's name comes from the
Old English Wēo-dūn meaning 'heathen temple hill'. Just to the south of the parish is the Weedon Hill: In the 12th century, lordship of the village was granted to the monks of the abbey of
Le Bec-Hellouin in
Normandy. The Fawsley Hundred was disused in the late 19th century as other administrative units superseded its functions, although it continued to appear on early 20th century censuses for statistical purposes. The ancillary villages of Lower Weedon and Upper Weedon formed south of Weedon Bec. The settlement along the A5, the
Roman road called
Watling Street, was known as 'Road Weedon' and earlier 'Weedon on the Street'. To avoid confusion with the village of
Weedon Lois, the complete village name 'Weedon Bec' is used in many circumstances. The village is usually locally nicknamed 'Weedon' (closer to its ancient name) when including 'Lower Weedon' and 'Upper Weedon' with old 'Weedon Bec', which were three distinct villages now merged into one. The settlement patterns of the three villages have been distorted by the presence of the major road, canal, military establishments and railway station and present an unusual example of
urban sprawl in an otherwise rural part of England.
Experiments with radar in 1935 south of Weedon Bec
Arnold Frederic Wilkins demonstrated radar, from radio waves from the
Borough Hill transmitter on 26 February 1935. It is often stated as taking place near Weedon Bec, but actually took place in a field just off the A5, towards
Litchborough, in the parish of
Stowe Nine Churches (Upper Stowe). A memorial to the event is located off the A5 just south of Weedon on the Litchborough Road (NGR SP650557). On 26 February 2010, the event was re-enacted 75 years after the event by radio amateurs from the Coventry Amateur Radio Society and the Northampton Radio Club. A working RADAR set was constructed using the two-metre
amateur radio band. As with the original experiment the source signal was transmitted from Borough Hill in Daventry. The four target aircraft were flown by pilots with amateur radio licences.
Weedon rail crashes Weedon has been the site of two serious rail crashes in 1915 and 1951 in which a total of 25 people were killed.
Churches The parish church, St Peter and St Paul's, is at the south of the village, overlooked from both the Grand Union Canal embankment and the West Coast Main Line viaduct. There is a
United Reformed Church (former
Congregational Chapel) of 1792: this is also a listed building, Grade II. Richard Bate was named as the vicar of "Wedon Beke", in 1452.
Weedon Bec Primary School Weedon Bec Primary school on West Street and is part of Innovate Multi Academy Trust with Badby, Kilsby and Woodford Halse Primary School.
Other buildings The Priory in Oak Street is all that remains of a larger house. The Firs on Queen Street is a house dated 1692. At the crossroads there are a number of
pubs,
cafés and shops. It is now growing as a centre for the
antique trade and more specialist shops.
Ordnance depot Next to the canal is the former
Napoleonic War era
Military Ordnance Depot, established by Act of Parliament in 1803, as part of the
British anti-invasion preparations of 1803–05. Designed by Colonel Pilkington of the Royal Engineers, the depot was largely built between 1805 and 1806. It was the central
small arms depot for the British Army and was originally served by a branch off the canal that entered through a
portcullis. When the railway was built, it also had a branch into the depot. The depot had eight large storehouses built either side of the central canal and was surrounded by a high stone wall. The upper floors were used for storage of small arms and the ground floors for larger items such as field artillery. There were canal gatehouses at each end of the precinct; beyond which, at a safe distance, the canal entered a further walled area, gated at either end, which contained a row of four
gunpowder magazines, each separated from the next by a 'blast house' filled with earth as a precaution against explosions. Later, another magazine was added as was a large clothing store between the precincts in 1902. All the buildings survive and together with the enclosure walls are listed Grade II*. There was a barracks in the village, holding a standing battalion, a troop of cavalry and a troop of horse artillery. The barracks were demolished in the 1950s. Three large pavilions were built between the depot and barracks to house senior civilian officers of the depot. These were demolished in the 1970s. Next door to the barracks was the
Army School of Equitation, also demolished in the 1960s. The depot became redundant in 1965 and was sold by the Ministry of Defence in 1984. It is now used for storage, office accommodation and light industry. Ordnance Depot Ltd is working with volunteers to interpret the site’s history and in 2018 a visitor centre was opened in the Eastern Gatehouse. The project received a £66,300 grant from the
Heritage Lottery Fund.
Fire Services National Museum The
Fire Services National Museum collection was stored at the former ordnance depot and the trust had been working for many years to secure planning approval for the museum to be an integral part of the depot's redevelopment as an out-of-town shopping centre. Following its rejection in 2017 the collection was moved to Hampshire. ==Transport==