According to The Place Names of Northamptonshire (pp 167 – 8) Harringworth is ‘the enclosure of the Hering, or of the people of Hering’. In The Dictionary of English Place Names it is possibly ‘the enclosure of the dwellers of a stony place’. In the Domesday Book Harringworth was called Haringeworde. Harringworth is a parish of approximately 3060 acres on the south of the river Welland. The village lies in the valley bottom, and was formerly more extensive, as is demonstrated by lanes and closes west of the church and earthworks on Scotgate Hill to the south. To the east lies the hamlet of Shotley, which is of medieval origin.

The boundaries of the parish are formed by Laxton on the east, by the river Welland which divides it from Rutland on the north, by Gretton in the west and by Kirby and Deene on the south. The soil is fertile with excellent grazing and meadow land and there are approximately 250 acres of woodland within the parish. Approximately 50% of the land is cultivated.