- This article is about Northampton in England; for other places of the same name see Northampton (disambiguation)
Northampton (pronunciation (help·info)) is a large market town and a local government district in the East Midlands region of the United Kingdom. It is ca. 67 miles (108 km) north of London on the River Nene, and is the county town of Northamptonshire.
The district has a population of 200,100, whilst the urban area has a population of 189,474. By this measurement, it is the 21st largest settlement in England and is the UK's third largest town without official city status – after Reading and Dudley. Northampton is the most populous district in England not to be a unitary authority, a status it failed to obtain in the 1990s local government reform[2]. Northampton's population has increased greatly since the 1960s, largely due to planned expansion under the New Towns Commission in the early-1960s.
Traditionally, the town was a major centre of shoemaking and other leather related industries. Shoemaking has almost ceased though the back streets of the town still retain the pattern of small shoe factories surrounded by terraced houses for outworkers. Northampton's main industries now include distribution and finance, and major employers include Barclaycard, Nationwide Building Society, Panasonic, Travis Perkins, Coca Cola Schweppes Beverages Ltd, National Grid and Carlsberg [3].
History
Early history
Remains have been found in the Northampton area dating back to the Iron Age. It is believed that farming settlement began in the Northampton area in around the 7th century. By the 8th century it had become an administrative centre for the kingdom of Mercia. The pre-Norman town was known as Hamtun and was quite small, occupying only some 60 acres.
Medieval Northampton
The town became significant in the 11th century, when the Normans built town walls and a large castle under the stewardship of the Norman earl, Simon de Senlis.[4] The original defence line of the walls is preserved in today's street pattern (Bridge St, The Drapery, Bearward St and Scarletwell Street). The town grew rapidly after the Normans arrived, and beyond the early defences. By the time of the Domesday Book, the town had a population of about 1500 residents, living in 300 houses.
The town and its castle were important in the early 12th century and the King often held Court in the town. During his famous fall out with Henry II, Thomas Beckett at one time escaped from Northampton Castle through the unguarded Northern gate to flee the country,
Northampton had one of the largest Jewish populations in the 13th century, centred around Gold Street. In 1277 300 Jews were executed, allegedly for clipping the King's coin, and the Jews of Northampton were driven out of the town.
The town was originally controlled by officials acting for the King. They collected taxes and upheld the law.
In 1189 King Richard I gave the town its first charter and in 1215 King John authorised the appointment of William Tilly as the town's first Mayor. He also ordered that, "...twelve of the better and more discreet" residents of the town join him as a council to assist him. In 1176 the Assize of Northampton laid down new powers for dealing with law breakers.
A university was established in the town in 1261 by scholars fleeing Cambridge. It briefly flourished, but was dissolved by Henry III in 1265 owing to the threat it posed to Oxford.
The first Battle of Northampton took place at the site of Northampton Castle in 1264 - when the forces of Henry III over ran the supporters of Simon de Montfort. In 1460, a second Battle of Northampton took place in the grounds of Delapre Abbey - and was a decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses, and King Henry VI was captured in the town by the Yorkists.
In May 1328 the Treaty of Northampton was signed - being a peace treaty between the English and the Scots in which Edward III recognised the authority of Robert the Bruce as King of Scotland and betrothed Bruce's still infant son to the king's sister Joanna.
A large network of medieval tunnels remain under the centre of Northampton around All Saints church.
Civil War to 1900
Northampton supported the Parliamentarians during the English Civil War. For this reason the town walls and castle were later torn down on the orders of King Charles II as punishment. The railway station in Northampton stands on the site of the former castle, and used to be called "Northampton Castle Station".
The town was destroyed by fire in both 1516 and 1675 (for the latter see Great Fire of Northampton), and was re-built as a spacious and well-planned town. In the 18th century Northampton became a major centre of footwear and leather manufacture. The prosperity of the town was greatly aided by demand for footwear caused by the Napoleonic Wars of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
In his 18th century, "A Tour through the Whole Island of Great Britain", Daniel Defoe described Northampton as, "...the handsomest town in all this part of England."
Northampton's growth was accelerated in the 19th century, first by the Grand Union Canal, which reached the town in 1815 and later the coming of the railways. The first railway to be built into Northampton was a branch from the main London-Birmingham line at Blisworth to Peterborough through Northampton which opened in 1845. This was followed by lines to Market Harborough (1859) and Bedford (1872). The Northampton loop off the major West Coast Main Line was built into Northampton in the late 1870s.
Over the coming centuries the town continued to grow rapidly; after 1850 the town spilled out beyond the old town walls and began the growth we see today. in 1800 the population was round 7,000 and this had grown to 87,000 a century later.
In the 19th century Northampton acquired a reputation for political radicalism when the radical non-conformist Charles Bradlaugh was elected on several occasions as the town's MP.
1900 - today
Growth after 1900 was slower. The town's shoe industry stopped growing and other industries arrived slowly.
Between the wars pressure on housing led to new council housing estates were built. The Borough boundary, first extended in 1900, was expanded again in 1932. The population had increased to around 100,000 by 1961 and 130,000 by 1971. Northampton was designated a New Town in 1968, and the Northampton Development Corporation (NDC) was set up to almost double the size of the town, with a population target of 230,000 by 1981, rising to 260,000 in later years. By this time the town also linked to the M1 motorway. Actual growth was much slower than planned (in 1981 the population was 156,000), but by the time NDC was wound up after 20 years, another 40,000 residents and 20,000 houses had been added. The borough boundaries changed in 1974 with the abolition of Northampton county borough and its reconstitution as a non-metropolitan district also covering areas outside the former borough boundaries but inside the designated New Town. Recently suggestions for another major expansion have been put forward, and are the subject of much public debate. Northampton is expected to reach 300,000 inhabitants by 2018.
At the millennium, Northampton applied, unsuccessfully, to be granted city status as a part of the "millennium cities" scheme. This distinction for the Midlands area was instead granted to Wolverhampton.
The University of Northampton received full university status in 2005, following several years as a University College.
Expansion
Northampton's population has increased greatly since the 1960s, largely due to planned expansion under the New Towns Commission in the early-1960s. Other factors are the rail link and the busy M1 motorway that both lead direct to London. Northampton is within 70 miles of central London, and by train it takes approximately 1 hour to journey between the two. This transport link to the South East has proved attractive, with already high house prices in and around London rising rapidly since the 1990s causing many people to move increasingly further away from the area in order to commute from more reasonably priced housing.
Most of Northampton's housing expansion has taken place to the east of the town with developments such as Canterbury Court, and on the western outskirts at Upton and to the south adjacent to an improved junction on the M1 at Grange Park, a development of some 1,500 houses actually in South Northants Council area.
Since 2006 Northampton is in a government designated expansion zone. The a new wave of development is being overseen by the West Northamptonshire development Corporation (WNDC). A goal is the development of up to 37,000 new dwellings within the borough and necessary infrastructure and services.
Expansion has already started with new roads and housing developments in West Northampton at Upton and St Crispins (2007). A lot of the expansion will be on brownfield sites such as Ransome Road, Far Cotton (an inner suburb) and within the existing borough boundaries. The WNDC will also oversee the redevelopment of Central Northampton into a primary regional centre that will service the expanded population, that will be comparable to UK cities such as Coventry and Nottingham with a population of approx 300,000 by 2018-2021.
Government and politics
Northampton is administered by two local authorities: Northampton Borough Council, which from May 2007, and for the first time, was run by the Liberal Democrats. The other is Northamptonshire County Council, currently controlled by the Conservative Party from 2005. The Borough Council runs for services such as housing, waste collection and smaller planning items in Northampton Borough. The County Council look after social services, education and libraries in the whole county. Since April 2006 major planning decisions such as large housing schemes and new roads have been the responsibility of West Northamptonshire Development Corporation (WNDC), an appointed body.
Northampton is currently the largest district in England not to be a self-governing unitary authority. Northampton's present local government status was set in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 when it became a non-metropolitan district. Prior to this it had been an independent county borough.
Northampton is represented in Parliament by two MPs:
Both of these constituency boundaries change significantly from the next General Election after 2005 with the creation of a new constituency of Northamptonshire South which takes a large chunk of the Northampton borough area (see external link to election maps).
Transport links
Northampton is near junctions 15, 15a and 16 of the M1 London to North Yorkshire motorway. The A45 and A43 go through the town and the A14 is close by to the north. By rail, Northampton railway station is served by the Northampton Loop of the West Coast Main Line, and has regular services to London and Birmingham provided by London Midland. Virgin Trains also provide some services to London and the north, with a small number of Pendolinos running each day. Sywell Aerodrome is the nearest airfield; for international links, East Midlands Airport and Luton Airport are quickly accessible by the M1, and Birmingham International Airport is accessible by train.
Transport in the town is by bus run by Stagecoach and First Group, with typical wait times of 10-30 minutes. Buses in and out of the town is provided Stagecoach and National Express. Stagecoach provide travel to outlying villages and towns during the day. National Express cover the major routes to other towns. There are good links to Daventry, Wellingborough, Rushden, Kettering, Corby and Market Harborough.
Northampton is the terminus of an arm of the Grand Union Canal which snakes across Britain. The arm connects to the River Nene and the North Sea. No longer used for freight, the waterway is still a popular leisure pursuit for narrowboats. Principal outlying villages on the canal include Gayton, Blisworth, Braunston and Stoke Bruerne.
Education
A complete list of Primary and Secondary Schools in the town and surrounding area is available on the County Council website[5]. Independent government reports on all schools can be obtained from the OFSTED website[6]. The University of Northampton is in the north of the town. Northampton School for Boys which achieved the best results in the country for A-Levels in 2007 is situated in Northampton, and so is Caroline Chisholm School the first, and so far the only all-through state-funded school in the United Kingdom.
Leisure and culture
Parks include:
- Abington Park, Thorntons Park and Victoria Park
- The Racecourse (home to the annual Balloon Festival). This was originally a horse-racing course until 1904, when it was abandoned following a series of accidents. To the far side of the park is the White Elephant public house, aptly named after the closure of the racecourse led to the loss of its main clientele. During WWII the park was ploughed over so that local residents could plant and grow vegetables.
- Delapre Park,
- Bradlaugh Fields,
- Becket's Park (named after Thomas Becket, who also lends his name to the nearby Becket's Well and Thomas a Beckett public house) and *Iron Age hill fort Hunsbury Hill.
- Billing Aquadrome leisure park is situated on the town's outskirts, which incorporates a caravan site, marina and funfair. As well as the 'Marina' bar, the site offers 'The Quays' riverside restaurant and 'The Billing Mill' which was converted from the original water mill, with many of the original workings still in place and visible through gallery windows.
As well as two indoor shopping centres (The Grosvenor Centre and Peacock Place), the town also claims to have Britain's largest market square, which dates back to 1235. The square and surrounding shopping streets used to host the annual St Crispin Street Fair, held during the October half-term school holiday from 1993 to 2005. Away from the town centre the main suburban shopping areas are Wellingborough Road and the Weston Favell Centre. There are retail parks at Riverside and Towcester Road. The main leisure area is Sixfields, which includes bowling, restaurants and a cinema.
The Deco and the Northampton Jesus Centre share a Grade II listed Art Deco building, formerly the Cannon cinema
The Derngate and Royal theatres are situated next door to each other in Guildhall Road, opposite Northampton Museum and Art Gallery. They have been recently renovated and reopened to the public in November 2006. The Deco is a theatre/conference centre based on the Grade II listed former Cannon Cinema, in Abington Square; the company running this has recently gone into liquidation. There is a smaller museum in a former mansion within Abington Park.
The old Fishmarket opposite the market square has been renovated by the NAC (Northampton Arts Collective) and now has a large gallery space, retail units, a cafe and art studios. Since its re-opening it has played host to exhibitions by nationally recognised artists including Harry Pye, Stella Vine and The Little Artists and is fast becoming one of the most unique arts spaces in the country. The Fishmarket has also staged gigs, community events and workshops - including Hip Hip Handmade (arts fair/market), Stitch and Bitch (alternative sewing workshops) and an exhibition of the Northampton Carnival costumes. The NAC hope to use the Fishmarket to create a national focus for the arts in Northampton.
Until the removal of council funding caused its closure and liquidation, the Northampton Roadmender was a leading venue for art and music in the region. It has since been brought by the Purplehaus group [1] and recently reopened. Three cinemas are also located in the town: Vue (formerly UCI) at Sol Central, Cineworld (formerly UGC, and before that Virgin Cinema and before that MGM) at Sixfields and the Forum Cinema at Lings Forum.
Every year, Northampton hosts the Balloon Festival, normally held at Racecourse Park. The festival has been held since 1990.
Sport in Northampton
The town is home to:
- League One football club Northampton Town (nicknamed The Cobblers due to the town's previous association with shoemaking), at Sixfields Stadium. There is also an athletics track adjacent to the football ground.
- Three non-league clubs in the United Counties Football League - Northampton Spencer, Northampton Sileby Rangers and Northampton Old Northamptonian Chenecks.
- Rugby union club Northampton Saints, who play at Franklin's Gardens in the St James area of Northampton. The Saints, as they are nicknamed, had their greatest ever moment when the team won the Heineken Cup in 2000 at Twickenham Stadium, beating Munster Rugby 9-8. They were relegated from The Guinness Premiership in 2007 despite beating London Irish on the last day of the season, but were promoted back in 2008.
- Northamptonshire County Cricket Club, known in limited overs cricket as the Steelbacks, play at the County Ground, in the Abington area of the town.
- The Nene Whitewater Centre provides an artificial whitewater course for canoes, kayaks and rafts.
- Northampton Swimming Club, which trained the young Olympic swimmer Caitlin McClatchey.
- Collingtree Golf Club, which hosted the British Masters in 1995.
- Northampton International Raceway near Brafield is a leading venue for stock-car racing and hosts the European Championships every July.
- Derek Redmond, Olympic runner, was born and raised here. He attended Roade Comprehensive School (now Roade Sports College) where the sports hall is named after him.
- Sharron Davies, Olympic swimmer, lived in Collingtree Park.
Notable buildings
Interior of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
- Northampton's oldest standing building, the Church of The Holy Sepulchre, is one of the largest and best-preserved round churches in England. It was built in 1100 on the orders of the first Earl of Northampton, Simon de Senlis , who had just returned from the first Crusade. It is based on a plan of the original Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
- The current All Saints' Church was built on the site of a great Norman church, All Hallows, which was almost completely destroyed by the Fire of Northampton in 1675. All that remained was the medieval tower and the fine vaulted crypt, but by 1680 All Saints had been rebuilt, with the help of donations from all over England, including 1,000 tons of timber from King Charles II, whose statue can be seen above the portico. Famously, the poet John Clare liked to sit beneath the portico of the church.
All Saints' Church in central Northampton
- The Guildhall in Northampton (see picture at top) was constructed mostly in the 1860s in Victorian Gothic architecture, and extended in the 1990s. It is built on the site of the old town hall.
- 78 Derngate contains an interior designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh for Wenman Joseph Bassett-Lowke and is the only major domestic commission outside Scotland. It is open to the public.
- The 127.45 metre tall Express Lift Tower is a dominant feature in the area. Terry Wogan conducted a radio phone-in during the 1980s to come up with a name for it: "Northampton Lighthouse" was suggested as Northampton is one of the furthest places from the sea. It is also known as the "Cobblers' Needle". It was built to facilitate the testing of new lifts at the Express Lifts factory. It is visible from most of the town, but is now redundant. The tower has however been listed as being of architectural importance in the town.
- Northampton Castle (now only remaining as a rebuilt postern gate in a wall outside the railway station and the hill on which it stood) was for many years one of the country's most important castles. The country's parliament sat here many times and Thomas Becket was imprisoned here until he escaped.
- The Carlsberg UK brewery is located in the town.
- Delapre Abbey – former Cluniac nunnery, founded by Simon de Senlis - later the County Records Office and site of the second Battle of Northampton.
- Queen Eleanor's body rested here on its way to London – and the nearby Queen Eleanor's cross commemorates this resting. The Cross is also referred to in Daniel Defoe's a "Tour through the whole island of Great Britain" where he describes the Great Fire of Northampton, "...a townsman being at Queen's Croos upon a hill on the south side of the town, about two miles off, saw the fire at one end of the town then newly begun, and that before he could get to the town it was burning at the remotest end, opposite where he first saw it."
- Northampton Academy - The county's most expensive school, with a state of the art 27 million pound building. Darren Kahan was former head boy.
- Northampton School For Boys – one of the few state-funded single sex school for boys in England.
- The town's Greyfriars Bus Station, built in the 1970s to replace the old Derngate station, was featured on Channel 4's Demolition programme and was cited as the ugliest transport station in the UK, and it was suggested worthy of demolition.
- Northampton & County Club, established in 1873, was the old county hospital before becoming a private members' club; the cellars date are medieval.
Other notable church buildings in Northampton
Twin towns
Notable residents
- Modern
- Composer William Alwyn (1905-1985) was born in the town.
- Composer Sir Malcolm Arnold (1921-2006) was born in the town.
- Judy Carne, born Joyce Botterill on April 27, 1939 in the town, is an actress who may be best remembered for her introducing the phrase "Sock it to me!" while a regular on Laugh-In.
- Comedian Alan Carr attended what is now Weston Favell School. His father Graham Carr managed the Town's football club at the time.
- Scientist Francis Crick, born in the town in 1916, along with James D. Watson discovered the structure of DNA, and went on to win a Nobel Prize. In December 2005, a public sculpture called Discovery by Lucy Glendinning was erected in Abington Street as a memorial to Crick [3].
- Journalist and broadcaster Andrew Collins from Northampton and wrote about growing up in the town in his memoir Where Did It All Go Right?.
- Actress Joan Hickson, famous for playing Miss Marple, comes from Kingsthorpe.
- Birds of a Feather actress Lesley Joseph grew up in the town.
- Actor Robert Llewellyn (Kryten from Red Dwarf) was also born in the town, and lived at 47 Booth Rise until the age of 13 (source: Anglian TV's Celebrity Going Home: Robert Llewellyn (2004))
- Writer Alan Moore, creator of V for Vendetta, Watchmen, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, is a lifelong resident of Northampton. His novel Voice of the Fire is a fictionalized history of the town.
- BBC radio presenter Anna Murby comes from the county.
- Nanette Newman, actress and author, was born in Northampton.
- Des O'Connor lived in Northampton, worked at Church's for some years and played for the Cobblers (Northampton Town Football Club).
- Myrea Pettit, renowned fantasy artist of fairies, flowers and butterflies learned her craft in Northamptonshire.
- Jo Whiley, the BBC Radio 1 DJ was born in the town in 1965.
- The late Delia Derbyshire, who was behind the original version of the Doctor Who theme tune, spent her final years in the town.
- Blue Peter's Peter Purves lived in the nearby village of Cogenhoe.
- Composer Edmund Rubbra (1901-1986) was born in the town.
- Professional wrestler Norman Smiley was born in the town.
- Nearby is Althorp, the country estate of Earl Spencer where Diana, Princess of Wales is buried. Charles Spencer, the current and 9th Earl Spencer (b. 1964) is her brother.
- Walter Tull, Northampton Town FC player who became Britains first black army officer during the First World War.
- Television presenter Michael Underwood lives in the town. He also attended what is now Weston Favell School.
- Marc Warren, who plays Danny Blue in the BBC's Hustle series, was born in Kingsthorpe.
- Stuart Pearson Wright award winning artist was born in Northampton in 1975.
- Lorna Fitzgerald, who plays Abi Branning in Eastenders lives in Hunsbury
- Issim Ullah acclaimed late Bangladeshi businessman, landlord and soldier lived in Spencer.
- Historical
- Elizabeth Bowen, 20th century Anglo-Irish writer, lived here after her marriage.
- Charles Bradlaugh, the famous radical MP, was a member for the town.
- Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)- a puritan poet later based in Massachusetts.
- Alban Butler (1710-1773) - the author of Lives of the saints
- John Clare, the poet, was sectioned in the local madhouse, where he remained until his death in 1864.
- Errol Flynn acted in the Northampton Repertory Theatre between 1933 and 1935.
- Jerome K. Jerome, author of Three Men in a Boat and other works, died in Northampton in 1927.
- Spencer Perceval was a local MP and Prime Minister. He was shot in the House of Commons by assassin John Bellingham in 1812.
- Victorian cricketer and pioneer missionary Charles ("C.T.") Studd who played in the first Ashes test, was born at Spratton.
- Musical
- Other
Media
Newspapers published in the town
Circulation in the town and surrounding area up to ca 30mile radius
- The Chronicle and Echo (Daily, Monday-Saturday)[7]
Free but town circulation only:
- The Mercury (Thursday)
- Northants on Sunday (Sunday)
- Herald and Post (Thursday)
Radio based in the town broadcasting county-wide:
Regional TV news
Ca.1999-2004, Northants TV (NTV) on cable and later terrestrial, showed local ads, sport, and limited local activities.
American Cousins
Settlers from Northampton moved to the United States and set up various new towns there. As a result Northampton is a popular name for cities and towns in the United States:
Trivia
- The Northampton Development Corporation produced a single that was released nationally by EMI, entitled 60 Miles by Road or Rail, by Linda Jardim (who was also a vocalist on Buggles's Video Killed the Radio Star) in an attempt to generate publicity for the growing town. Sixty miles is the approximate distance from the town to London, which many people commute to. The B-side was Energy in Northampton, about extraterrestrials choosing Northampton as a landing site. Strangely, neither song took the charts by storm, but for those interested and unable to obtain a copy on eBay, the A side is still played daily in the town's museum.
- Residents of the town are known as Northamptonians.
- The 2005 film Kinky Boots was filmed in Northampton and featured shots of the iconic statue that sits outside the Grosvenor Centre in the Town Centre and The shoe factory near the mounts/greyfriars bus station, was used to represent the original factory in Earls Barton
References
See also
External links
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