Northampton Town History
Northampton is a large market town and local government district in central England on the River Nene, and the county town of Northamptonshire, in the East Midlands region. It is the UK’s third largest town without official city status, after Reading and Dudley. 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. Shoemaking has virtually ceased, though the back streets of the town still show the pattern of small shoe factories surrounded by terraced houses for the outworkers. Northampton’s main industries now include distribution and finance, and major employers include Barclaycard, Panasonic, Coca Cola & Schweppes Beverages Ltd, and Carlsberg. Northampton is twinned with Marburg in Germany and Poitiers in France.
Northampton Town History – Iron Age
Remains have been found in the Northampton area dating back to the Iron Age. It is believed that farming settlement began in the 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 small, occupying only 60 acres. 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. The original defence line of the walls is preserved in today’s street pattern. The town grew rapidly after the Normans arrived, and by the time of the Domesday Book, the town had a population of about 1500 residents, living in 300 houses. 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.
Northampton Town History – Fires Canals and Railways
The town was destroyed by fire in both 1516 and 1675, and was re-built as a spacious and well-planned town. 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. The Northampton loop off the major West Coast Main Line was built into Northampton in the late 1870s. 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.
Northampton Town History – Shoes Leather and the Millenium
Growth after 1900 was slower. The town’s famous shoe industry ceased to grow and other industries arrived slowly. Between the wars pressure on housing led to new council-built housing estates being erected. 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. Recently suggestions for another major expansion have been put forward, and are the subject of much public debate. At the millennium, Northampton applied unsuccessfully to be granted city status as a part of the “millennium cities” scheme. The University of Northampton received full university status in 2005, following several years as a University College.
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