In the late 1980s into the early 1990s Kettering Borough Council was having difficulty in finding enough non controversial building plots to fill the requirements as specified by Central Government.

Every planning application in Borough Villages was met with vehement opposition from adjoining property owners who had moved to houses on the edge of Villages and did not wish to be sandwiched by any new development. It was therefore resolved to find a site in the Borough which would enable a new community to be built with as little opposition as possible.

At this time Richard Barnwell was working with developers Stock Land and Estates on projects in Cambridgeshire and asked them to look at his fathers land at Cransley Lodge. Stock Land and Estates were convinced that the site filled all the requirements for the new Village and the name Mawsley was selected, to pay tribute to the former settlement, which lay to the north of the Cransley Lodge site.

There were 18 sites proposed for the new Village and following Public Consultation and an enquiry The Cransley Lodge Site was chosen. John and Richard Barnwell sold the site to McAlpines in late 1998 and John Barnwell sadly died a few days later unexpectedly, so never saw any development.

Over the following 22 years the Village has developed into a real community and now has a real role and place in the structure of Kettering Borough. The people of Mawsley have worked tirelessly and have shown to the County, that Mawsley, is far more than an estate in the Countryside and can hold its own in any County Forum with pride in its success.