Northamptonshire

Towns & Villages

BRACKLEY

Brackley Town Hall and Market Place - Photo: Andrew Smith CCL

With an early 18th century town hall built by the Duke of Bridgewater and a tree-lined market place, this mainly Georgian town has an impressive past. It once stood on the coaching route to London and had no less than 30 inns. The first draft of the Magna Carta also originated here.

BRIXWORTH

The local Church of All Saints is something of an unusual attraction in Brixworth. Dating back to the days when the Saxons ruled Northamptonshire, it sits imperiously on top of a hill and is one of the finest and largest in England.

All Saints Church, Brixworth - Photo: Alan Simkins CCL

CORBY

Corby Boating Lake - Photo: Nigel Cox CCL

Lying on the edge of Rockingham Forest, the steel town of Corby dates back at least to the 8th century when Danes settled here. These strangers introduced the bizarre tradition of the Pole Fair, which still takes place once every 20 years. It involves readings of the Royal Charter – granted by Elizabeth 1 in 1568 - at special toll gates around the town, followed by a carnival. Anyone who fails to pay a toll is carted off to the stocks.
 

The town became famous in the mid-20th century when a Scottish company moved here to open a steelworks and exploit local deposits of iron ore. The ore has been mined for many centuries and royal furnaces existed even at the time of Edward the Confessor.

Rockingham Castle stands nearby on the summit of a hill over the River Welland. With stunning gardens, it dates back to the reign of William the Conqueror.

Corby is also well placed for visits to Brigstock Country Park, Kirby Hall and the important nature reserve of King’s Wood. Nearby Deene Park House is a sprawling Georgian mansion set in beautiful gardens.

The main entrance to Rockingham Castle - Photo: Brian Coleman CCL

DAVENTRY

View towards Daventry Country Park across the Reservoir - Photo: Ian Rob CCL
 

Located close to the Warwickshire border, this small town with its own moot hall has a long and impressive history. On the 635ft Borough Hill are impressive earthworks which once formed the boundaries of one of Britain’s biggest Iron Age hill forts. Even Roman artefacts have been found on this site.

During the English Civil War the Royalist army camped in the area of the fort prior to their ill-starred attempt to defeat the Roundheads at the Battle of Naseby in 1645. Daventry was the headquarters of Charles I and legend has it that the king slept at the Wheatsheaf Inn.

DESBOROUGH

This small market town prospered as a spinning and weaving centre in the 17th century using local wool and flax. Yet it has a long, illustrious history dating back into prehistory. Bronze Age urns have been found here while the so-called ‘Desborough Mirror’ is now in the British Museum. At 13th century St Giles Church is part of an Anglo-Saxon stone cross and a Tudor rood screen. The Old Manor House was reputedly owned by one of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators.

Rushton Hall - Photo: Kate Jewell CCL

EAST HADDON

East Haddon Main Street - Photo: Anthony Wornum CCL

This village is surrounded by some of Northamptonshire’s most picturesque countryside and is full of pretty stone cottages. It’s the perfect location for exploring further afield, lying close to Daventry.

FLORE

This pretty, quiet village on the River Nene has a unique charm. It is replete with narrow streets and alleyways. There are a few thatched cottages and many more houses made of brown ironstone or creamy limestone.

The Grand Union Canal at Flore - Photo: Ian Rob CCL

HIGHAM FERRERS

Higham Ferrers Market Square - Photo: Kokai CCL

Containing many fine old buildings, the village of Higham Ferrers also has an impressive market square and was the birthplace of Henry Chichele who became the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1414. Bede House, which Henry established, adjoins the ancient parish church of St. Mary the Virgin which boasts a 170ft crocketed spire; it also has fascinating brasses dating from the 13th century. In the centre of Higham Ferrers is a medieval market cross dating from 1280.

IRTHLINGBOROUGH

Although it possesses a rich history, Irthlingborough is best known today as the home of both Rushden and Diamonds Football Club and Dr Martens Shoes, the latter representing a continuation of the footwear industry for which Northamptonshire is famous.

A local cross with a 13ft shaft dates from the 13th century and is said to have been used as the standard “pole” for measuring agricultural land. St Peter's Church, dating to the 14th century, is unusual in having a porch with doors sited at the four cardinal points.

Church of St. Peter at Irthlingborough - Photo: Geoff Pick CCL

KETTERING

Boughton House - Photo: John Stolarski CCL

Boughton House – known as the ‘English Versailles’ - is just a few miles outside Kettering. Owned by the family of the Duke of Buccleuth since 1528, it contains numerous major art treasures.

Wicksteed Park, which was built here in 1921, was the United Kingdom’s first leisure park and remains a popular family attraction to this day. Among its many features are a lake and a narrow gauge railway.

MARKET HARBOROUGH

This hugely attractive Leicestershire town, blessed with an unusually wide main square, has been a key market centre since the early part of the 13th century. Despite industrial growth, there are still many fine Georgian buildings here. The most famous is the town’s old timbered grammar school. Built by Robert Smythe in 1614 it is raised above wooden pillars so that pedestrians can walk beneath it. The Church of St Dionysius dates back to the 13th century and has a broach spire so typical of spires in Northamptonshire. The town pioneered the making of liberty bodice undergarments in the early part of the 20th century.

Market Harborough Main Street - Photo: Colin Smith CCL

NORTHAMPTON

Northampton Guild Hall - Photo: Ian Rob CCL
 

Most of this vibrant county town was destroyed by fire in 1675 but it was quickly rebuilt and laid out around one of the largest market squares in England. Afterwards, the writer Daniel Defoe described it as ‘the handsomest and best built town in all this part of England’.

It dates back to Saxon times and lies on a curve of the River Nene. The town’s beautiful Guildhall is considered a gem of Victorian Gothic architecture, but it is only one of many fascinating old buildings.

Once the main centre for the manufacture of both boots and shoes, Northampton’s Central Museum boasts one of the largest collections of footwear in the world. Its exhibits include Queen Victoria’s wedding slippers, Margot Fonteyn’s ballet shoes and an enormous boot worn by an elephant that took part in 1959 in a recreation of Hannibal’s remarkable crossing of the Alps. During the English Civil War, the town’s shoemakers made 1,500 pairs of shoes for Cromwell’s army, a fact that later led a vengeful Charles 11 to destroy its castle and town walls.

Northampton Town Centre - Photo: Ian Rob CCL

Queen Eleanor's Cross - Photo: John Apperley CCL

Five churches survived the fire of 1675 and one, the 12th century round Church of the Holy Sepulchre, imitates one found in Jerusalem. Hassling House - built around 1620 - and 16th century Welsh House also survived the flames.

On the outskirts of the town is an Eleanor Cross, which was built by Edward 1 in memory of his wife whose body rested in Northampton on its way from Nottingham to London for burial. The cross is one of only three that have survived from a total of 12 along the route.

Nine miles from the town is the 800-acre Pittsford Water, a reservoir famous for fishing, boating and sailing.

The town stages a number of annual festivals, most notably a month-long celebration of music and the arts each June, the world famous Annual Balloon Festival in August, and the St Crispin Street Fair in October.

OUNDLE

An ancient and tranquil market town, Oundle is surrounded on three sides by the River Nene. Its 13th century church has a remarkable 200ft spire and is a local landmark. The town dates back to Saxon times and has many narrow streets and intimate alleyways.
The Talbot Inn was rebuilt in 1626 with stone from nearby Fotheringhay Castle, the place where Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded in 1587. Cotterstock Hall, a 17th century manor house possessing splendid gardens, is where the 17th century poet and dramatist John Dryden penned many of his Fables.

Oundle is well-known for its ancient public school - endowed in 1556 by one-time Lord Mayor of London William Laxton - and is has become a popular yachting centre.

St Peter's Church - Photo: Chris Bamber CCL

RAUNDS

St. Peter's Church, Raunds - Photo: Will Lovell CCL

An ancient town, Raunds dates back at least to Roman times. Excavations have also unearthed evidence of Anglo-Saxon and medieval buildings. The 13th century St Peter’s Church has impressive medieval wall paintings depicting the parable of the seven deadly sins and a superb broach spire. The town is most famous, however, as the home of the British Army boot.

ROTHWELL

An historic market town, Rothwell has a large number of springs once considered to have healing properties. In the Middle Ages, Rothwell had a town wall and gates, a nunnery and the unusually long parish church of Holy Trinity, which today houses a huge collection of skulls and thigh bones.

An annual fair is staged when the bailiff of the Lord of the Manor rides round the town on horseback reading the town’s charter accompanied by a guard of halberdiers and a brass band.

Several buildings here were financed by Sir Thomas Tresham, grandfather of one of conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot. He lived at Elizabethan Rushton House where the Catholic rebels met in the grounds.

The Market House, designed by Thomas Tresham - Photo: Andrew Pickness CCL

RUSHDEN

St. Mary's Church, Rushden - Photo: Colin Mitchell CCL

Rushden lies in the east of Northamptonshire and developed since the late 19th century through the manufacture of footwear. The birthplace of the poet and novelist H.E. Bates (1905-74), creator of ‘Darlings Buds of May’, it has an impressive church spire. Rushden Hall stands in a public park and was originally the residence of John of Gaunt who acted as head of the government during the final years of the reign of Edward lll.

SCALDWELL

SILVERSTONE

Silverstone Racing Circuit - Photo: Peter Roberts CCL

This is the home of British motor racing and hosts the British Grand Prix. Other motor sports staged here include the British Touring Car Championship and the British Rally Sprint Championship. The circuit also offers the opportunity for ‘ordinary’ drivers to go for a spin.

STOKE BRUERNE

This picturesque village, often referred to as the prettiest canal village in the country, stands on the Grand Union Canal, which later runs through the haunted, two-mile Blisworth Tunnel. Its Waterways Museum is appropriately located on the canal’s towpath and explores the fascinating history of Britain’s canal system and its importance to landlocked Northamptonshire as a transportation network.

The Stock Bruerne Locks and Waterways Museum - Photo: Martin Clark  CCL

THRAPSTON

Church of St. James at Thrapston - Photo: Will Lovell CCL

Tranquil Thrapston lies at the crossroads of two Roman roads and a crossing over the River Nene. It has long been an important market town and was granted a charter by King John as long ago as 1205. Located on the edge of Rockingham Forest, it has a number of lakes offering visitors plenty of opportunities for sailing and fishing. Buried in the 13th century parish church of St James is Mary Washington, an ancestor of the first American president, George Washington. The church also contains a stone tablet bearing the arms of Mary’s husband, Sir John Washington. The design of the USA’s national flag, the Stars and Stripes, is based on the tablet.

TOWCESTER

This is one of the oldest towns in England and straddles the Roman road of Watling Street. In fact, not long after the road was built the Romans created a settlement here named Lactodorum.

In the 18th and 19th centuries Towcester was a vibrant coaching town and one of its coaching inns, the 16th century Saracen’s Head, was visited by the fictional Mr Pickwick in Charles Dickens’ ‘Pickwick Papers’.

The 13th century parish Church of St Lawrence is built on top of a Roman building and contains a rare collection of chained books. On the outskirts of the town is Silverstone’s racecourse and race-car circuit.

St. Lawrence's Church at Towcester - Photo: Andrew Smith CCL
 

WELLINGBOROUGH

A living statue in front of the Tithe Barn - Photo: Kokai CCL

This fascinating market town in the Nene valley has a long and illustrious history dating back to the 6th century. The poet John Betjeman described St Mary’s Church, designed by Sir Ninian Comper, as ‘the finest modern parish church in England’ while 14th century All Hallows Church has fine examples of medieval craftsmanship.

During the reign of Elizabeth 1 Sir Christopher Hatton, the Lord of the Manor, sponsored Sir Francis Drake's expeditions. In return Drake re-named one of his ships ‘Golden Hind’ after the Hind Hotel. Oliver Cromwell stayed at the hotel on his way to the Battle of Naseby in 1645.

Other significant local buildings include a 15th century tithe barn and 17th Century Croyland Abbey.