A piece of land which lies at the west end of the village; 
Apethorpe Road bordering it on the west and Back Lane as its north perimeter, was part of Apethorpe Estate. On the 1892 terrier map, it shows that this land (no 73) was under the tenancy of Miss Holloway and Mrs Landin, with the centre plot not let. However, these tenancies could have changed when Apethorpe Estate was sold to Lord Brassey in 1904.
Even when the eight houses on the next piece of land belonging to Lord Brassey were built in 1919, the area to the west of it was still not developed
We know that this la
nd was used as allotments, and Mr Mears, who lived at no 5 New Road, was the tenant of a very large allotment for many years. We can see this in an aerial view of this land in 1965.
It wouldn’t have been long after this picture was taken that Mr H Morris of Apethorpe Estate applied and received outline planning permission on 17th November 1965, for the erection of eight dwellings and an estate road. Obviously, having obtained the necessary outline planning permission, Lord Brassey then sold the land to East Midlands Developments (Kettering) Limited; a Robert David Hamblin who was named as a sub-purchaser. This took place on 23rd December 1966. The detailed planning permission was not granted until the following June, but when it was granted it had a condition attached stating that there would be no means of access (either pedestrian or vehicular) to the classified road (the Apethorpe Road down to the Church) – and the subsequent layout of the houses precludes this access.
We know that the houses weren’t built by the 10th October 1968 as they were not included in the Electoral Roll for 1969. So we expect that the first people moved in sometime the following year.
The properties were on the market for between £5,800 and £5,900. However, No 7 cost £6,000 as the first owner never moved in and the house was subsequently resold.
The following people were the first inhabitants of St Mary’s Close:-
No 1. J and M Edwards
No 2. J and G Crabtree
No 3. J and K Worthington
No 4. J and P Izzet
No 5. J and G Ryan
No 6. E and B Waters
No7. A and D Russell
No 8. C Middleton
Number 7 was the last house to be occupied and this was in mid September 1970.
St Mary’s Close was the first private development to be built in Woodnewton. The village had no mains sewerage, so septic tanks were installed in the gardens initially until 1972 when the village was brought into ‘modern living’ with mains sewerage. And of course there were no street lighting; this appeared a few years later when the rest of Orchard Lane was supplied.
Because all the people who moved into the Close were from outside the village, the locals nicknamed St Mary’s Close, “Quality Street”.