Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a
county in the
East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Li ...
of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by
two
unitary authorities:
North Northamptonshire and
West Northamptonshire. It is known as "The Rose of the Shires".
Covering an area of 2,364 square kilometres (913 sq mi), Northamptonshire is landlocked between eight other counties:
Warwickshire to the west,
Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...
and
Rutland
Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire.
Its greatest len ...
to the north,
Cambridgeshire to the east,
Bedfordshire to the south-east,
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
to the south,
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
to the south-west and
Lincolnshire to the north-east – England's shortest administrative county boundary at 20 yards (19 metres). Northamptonshire is the southernmost county in the
East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Li ...
.
Apart from the
county town
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a county town is the most important town or city in a county. It is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county and the place where the county's members of Parliament are elect ...
of
Northampton
Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...
, other major population centres include
Kettering,
Corby,
Wellingborough,
Rushden and
Daventry. Northamptonshire's
county flower is the
cowslip. The
Soke of Peterborough falls within the
historic boundaries of the county, but its area has been part of the
ceremonial county
The counties and areas for the purposes of the lieutenancies, also referred to as the lieutenancy areas of England and informally known as ceremonial counties, are areas of England to which lords-lieutenant are appointed. Legally, the areas i ...
of
Cambridgeshire since 1974.
History
Much of Northamptonshire's countryside appears to have remained somewhat intractable with regards to early human occupation, resulting in an apparently sparse population and relatively few finds from the
Palaeolithic,
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymous ...
and
Neolithic periods. In about 500 BC the
Iron Age was introduced into the area by a continental people in the form of the
Hallstatt culture
The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Western Europe, Western and Central European Archaeological culture, culture of Late Bronze Age Europe, Bronze Age (Hallstatt A, Hallstatt B) from the 12th to 8th centuries BC and Early Iron Age Europe ...
, and over the next century a series of hill-forts were constructed at
Arbury Camp,
Rainsborough Rainsborough, or spelling variations, may refer to:
*Thomas Rainsborough (1610–1648), Colonel in the English Civil War, brother of William Rainborowe
* William Rainborowe (died 1673), Captain and then Major in the English Civil War, brother of Th ...
camp,
Borough Hill, Castle Dykes,
Guilsborough,
Irthlingborough, and most notably of all,
Hunsbury Hill. There are two more possible hill-forts at
Arbury Hill
Arbury Hill, at 225 m (738 ft), is the joint highest point in the English county of Northamptonshire.OS Explorer Map 207: Newport Pagnell & Northampton South (1:25 000) It is southwest of the town of Daventry.
The slopes of Arbury H ...
(
Badby) and
Thenford
Thenford is a village and civil parish about northwest of the market town of Brackley in West Northamptonshire, England, and east of Banbury in nearby Oxfordshire. The 2001 Census recorded the parish population as 74. At the 2011 Census the ...
.
In the 1st century BC, most of what later became Northamptonshire became part of the territory of the
Catuvellauni, a
Belgic tribe, the Northamptonshire area forming their most northerly possession. The
Catuvellauni were in turn conquered by the
Romans in 43 AD.
The Roman road of
Watling Street passed through the county, and an important Roman settlement,
Lactodurum, stood on the site of modern-day
Towcester. There were other Roman settlements at
Northampton
Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...
,
Kettering and along the
Nene Valley
Nene may refer to:
People
*Nene (name), list of people with this name
* Nene (aristocrat) (1546–1624), principal samurai wife of Toyotomi Hideyoshi
* Nené (footballer, 1942-2016), nickname of Brazilian footballer Claudio Olinto de Carvalho
* ...
near
Raunds. A large fort was built at
Longthorpe
Longthorpe is an area of the city of Peterborough, in the unparished area of Peterborough, in the Peterborough district, in the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. Located west from the city centre, the area covers . For electoral purp ...
.
After the Romans left, the area eventually became part of the
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
kingdom of
Mercia, and Northampton functioned as an administrative centre. The Mercians converted to
Christianity in 654 AD with the death of the
pagan
Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...
king
Penda. From about 889 the area was conquered by the
Danes
Danes ( da, danskere, ) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural.
Danes generally regard t ...
(as at one point almost all of England was, except for
Athelney marsh in
Somerset) and became part of the
Danelaw – with
Watling Street serving as the boundary – until being recaptured by the
English under the
Wessex king
Edward the Elder, son of
Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great (alt. Ælfred 848/849 – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who bot ...
, in 917. Northamptonshire was conquered again in 940, this time by the
Vikings of
York, who devastated the area, only for the county to be retaken by the English in 942. Consequently, it is one of the few counties in England to have both Saxon and Danish town-names and settlements.
The county was first recorded in the ''
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alf ...
'' (1011), as ''Hamtunscire'': the ''scire'' (
shire
Shire is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries such as Australia and New Zealand. It is generally synonymous with county. It was first used in Wessex from the beginn ...
) of ''Hamtun'' (the homestead). The "North" was added to distinguish Northampton from the other important ''Hamtun'' further south:
Southampton – though the origins of the two names are in fact different.
Rockingham Castle was built for
William the Conqueror and was used as a Royal fortress until
Elizabethan
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...
times. In 1460, during the
Wars of the Roses, the
Battle of Northampton took place and King
Henry VI was captured. The now-ruined
Fotheringhay Castle was used to imprison
Mary, Queen of Scots, before her execution.
During the
English Civil War, Northamptonshire strongly supported the
Parliamentarian cause, and the
Royalist forces suffered a crushing defeat at the
Battle of Naseby in 1645 in the north of the county. King
Charles I was imprisoned at
Holdenby House in 1647.
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
, the first
President of the United States of America, was born into the Washington family who had migrated to America from Northamptonshire in 1656.
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
's ancestor, Lawrence Washington, was Mayor of
Northampton
Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...
on several occasions and it was he who bought
Sulgrave Manor from
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
in 1539. It was George Washington's great-grandfather,
John Washington, who emigrated in 1656 from Northamptonshire to
Virginia. Before Washington's ancestors moved to
Sulgrave, they lived in
Warton,
Lancashire.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, parts of Northamptonshire and the surrounding area became
industrialised
Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econom ...
. The local specialisation was
shoemaking and the
leather industry and became one of Britain's major centres for these crafts by the 19th century. In the north of the county a large
ironstone quarrying industry developed from 1850.
In 1823 Northamptonshire was said to "
njoya very pure and wholesome air" because of its dryness and distance from the sea. Its livestock were celebrated: "Horned cattle, and other animals, are fed to extraordinary sizes: and many horses of the large black breed are reared."
Nine years later, the county was described as "a county enjoying the reputation of being one of the healthiest and pleasantest parts of England" although the towns were "of small importance" with the exceptions of Peterborough and Northampton. In summer, the county hosted "a great number of wealthy families... country seats and villas are to be seen at every step." Northamptonshire is still referred to as the county of "spires and squires" because of the numbers of stately homes and ancient churches.
Prior to 1901 the ancient
hundreds were disused. Northamptonshire was administered as four major divisions: Northern, Eastern, Mid, and Southern.
[University of Kentucky Genealogy Archives: Northamptonshire]
, accessed February 2019. During the 1930s, the town of
Corby was established as a major centre of the
steel
Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...
industry. Much of Northamptonshire nevertheless remains rural.
Corby was designated a
new town
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
in 1950 and Northampton followed in 1968. the government is encouraging development in the
South Midlands area, including Northamptonshire.
Peterborough
The
Soke of Peterborough was historically associated with and considered part of Northamptonshire and the
Church of England Diocese that covers Northamptonshire is centred in
Peterborough Cathedral. However, Peterborough had its own
courts of quarter sessions and, later,
county council. In 1965 the administration was merged with that of neighbouring
Huntingdonshire. Under the
Local Government Act 1972
The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...
the city of
Peterborough became a district of
Cambridgeshire.
Geography
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county located in the southern part of the
East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Li ...
region,
which is sometimes known as the
South Midlands. The county contains the
watershed
Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to:
Hydrology
* Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins
* Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...
between the
River Severn and
The Wash while several important rivers have their sources in the north-west of the county, including the
River Nene, which flows north-eastwards to The Wash, and the "
Warwickshire Avon
The River Avon () in central England flows generally southwestwards and is a major left-bank tributary of the River Severn, of which it is the easternmost. It is also known as the Warwickshire Avon or Shakespeare's Avon, to distinguish it from ...
", which flows south-west to the Severn. In 1830, it was boasted that "not a single brook, however insignificant, flows into it from any other district". The highest point in the county is
Arbury Hill
Arbury Hill, at 225 m (738 ft), is the joint highest point in the English county of Northamptonshire.OS Explorer Map 207: Newport Pagnell & Northampton South (1:25 000) It is southwest of the town of Daventry.
The slopes of Arbury H ...
at .
There are several towns in the county with
Northampton
Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...
being the largest and most populous. At the time of the 2011 census, a population of 691,952 lived in the county with 212,069 living in Northampton. The table below shows all towns with over 10,000 inhabitants.
As of 2010 there are 16 settlements in Northamptonshire with a town charter:
*
Brackley,
Burton Latimer,
Corby,
Daventry,
Desborough,
Higham Ferrers,
Irthlingborough,
Kettering,
Northampton
Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...
,
Oundle,
Raunds,
Rothwell,
Rushden,
Towcester,
Thrapston and
Wellingborough.
Climate
Like the rest of the
British Isles, Northamptonshire has an
oceanic climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...
(
Köppen climate classification). The table below shows the average weather for Northamptonshire from the
Moulton weather station.
Governance
Local government
Between 1974 and 2021, Northamptonshire, like most English counties, was divided into a number of local authorities. The seven borough/district councils covered 15 towns and hundreds of villages. The county had a two-tier structure of
local government and an elected
county council based in
Northampton
Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...
, and was also divided into seven
districts
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
each with their own district or borough councils:
Northampton itself is the most populous
civil parish in England, and (prior to 2021) was the most populous urban district in England not to be administered as a
unitary authority (even though several smaller districts are unitary). During the
1990s local government reform, Northampton Borough Council petitioned strongly for unitary status, which led to fractured relations with the County Council.
The
Soke of Peterborough is within the historic county of Northamptonshire, although it had had a separate county council since 1889 and separate
courts of quarter sessions before then. The city of
Peterborough has been a
unitary authority since 1998, but it forms part of
Cambridgeshire for
ceremonial purposes.
De facto bankruptcy of the county council
In early 2018, Northamptonshire County Council was declared technically insolvent and would be able to provide only the bare essential services. According to
The Guardian the problems were caused by "a reckless half-decade in which it refused to raise council tax to pay for the soaring costs of social care" and "partly due to past failings, the council is now having to make some drastic decisions to reduce services to a core offer." Some observers, such as Simon Edwards of the
County Councils Network
The County Councils Network is a special interest group within the Local Government Association. Its 36 members are all 23 English county councils and 13 unitary authority councils. The network is the national voice for counties, and has released ...
, added another perspective on the cause of the financial crisis, the
United Kingdom government austerity programme: "It is clear that, partly due to past failings, the council is now having to make some drastic decisions to reduce services to a core offer. However, we can’t ignore that some of the underlying causes of the challenges facing Northamptonshire, such as dramatic reductions to council budgets and severe demand for services, mean county authorities across the country face funding pressures of £3.2bn over the next two years."
Structural changes
In early 2018, following the events above, Government-appointed commissioners took over control of the council's affairs. Consequently, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government commissioned an independent report which, in March 2018, proposed structural changes to local government in Northamptonshire. These changes saw the existing county council and district councils abolished and two new unitary authorities created in their place. One authority,
West Northamptonshire, consists of the former districts of
Daventry,
Northampton
Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...
and
South Northamptonshire and the other authority,
North Northamptonshire, consists of
Corby,
East Northamptonshire,
Kettering and
Wellingborough districts.
National representation
Northamptonshire returns seven
Members of Parliament (MPs). , all of whom are currently from the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
. Several of the constituencies have been marginal in the past, including the Northampton seats, Wellingborough, Kettering, and Corby, which were all Labour seats before 2005. In the 2016 EU referendum, all of the Northamptonshire districts voted to Leave, most by a significant margin. Two prominent Brexiteer MPs,
Philip Hollobone and
Peter Bone represent parts of the county.
From 1993 until 2005, Northamptonshire County Council,
for which each of the 73
electoral divisions in the county elect a single councillor, had been held by the Labour Party; it had been under
no overall control since 1981. The councils of the rural districts – Daventry, East Northamptonshire, and South Northamptonshire – are strongly Conservative, whereas the political composition of the urban districts is more mixed. At the 2003 local elections, Labour lost control of Kettering, Northampton, and Wellingborough, retaining only Corby. Elections for the entire County Council are held every four years – the last were held on 5 May 2005 when control of the County Council changed from the Labour Party to the Conservatives. The County Council uses a
leader and cabinet executive system and abolished its
area committees in April 2006.
Economy
Historically, Northamptonshire's main industry was manufacturing of boots and shoes. Many of the manufacturers closed down in the
Thatcher era which in turn left many county people unemployed. Although R Griggs and Co Ltd, the manufacturer of
Dr. Martens
Dr. Martens, also commonly known as Doc Martens, Docs or DMs, is a German-founded British footwear and clothing brand, headquartered in Wollaston in the Wellingborough district of Northamptonshire, England. Although famous for its footwear, Dr ...
, still has its UK base in
Wollaston near
Wellingborough, the shoe industry has deeply declined as manufacturing has moved away from England. There were over 2,000 shoemakers in the region in the mid 19th century, today the number is over 30 left. Large employers include the breakfast cereal manufacturers
Weetabix, in
Burton Latimer, the
Carlsberg Carlsberg may refer to:
Places
* Carlsberg (district), a district in Copenhagen, Denmark
** Carlsberg station, its train station
* Carlsberg, Germany, a municipality in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
* Carlsberg Fjord, Greenland Other uses
* Carlsbe ...
brewery in
Northampton
Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...
,
Avon Products
Avon Products, Inc. or simply known as Avon, is an American-British multinational cosmetics, skin care, fragrance and personal care company, based in London. It sells directly to the public. Avon had annual sales of $9.1 billion worldwide in 2 ...
,
Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
,
Barclaycard,
Saxby Bros Ltd
Saxby Bros Limited was a food manufacturing company based in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, who manufactured pork pies, delicatessen, meat and pastry products. In 2007, the company was taken over by General Mills, which led to its closure a y ...
and
Golden Wonder.
In the west of the county is the
Daventry International Railfreight Terminal
Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT) is a rail-road intermodal freight terminal with an associated warehousing estate in Northamptonshire, England. The facility is located at the junctions between the M1 motorway, A5 and A428 ro ...
; which is a major rail freight terminal located on the
West Coast Main Line near
Rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
. Wellingborough also has a smaller railfreight depot on Finedon Road, called Nelisons sidings.
This is a chart of trend of the regional gross value added of Northamptonshire at current basic prices in millions of British Pounds Sterling (correct on 21 December 2005):
The region of Northamptonshire,
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
and the
South Midlands has been described as "
Motorsport Valley
Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...
... a global hub" for the motor sport industry. The
Mercedes-AMG and
Aston Martin
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is an English manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated with ...
Formula One teams have their bases at
Brackley and
Silverstone
Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...
respectively, while
Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines
Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains (previously known as Ilmor Engineering and Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines) is a Formula One engine manufacturer, owned by Mercedes-Benz.
The company supplied Sauber during the season, McLaren ...
and, formerly,
Cosworth
Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream automotive industrie ...
, are also in the county at
Brixworth and Northampton respectively.
International
motor racing takes place at
Silverstone Circuit
Silverstone Circuit is a motor racing circuit in England, near the Northamptonshire villages of Towcester, Silverstone and Whittlebury. It is the home of the British Grand Prix, which it first hosted as the 1948 British Grand Prix. The 1950 ...
and, formerly,
Rockingham Motor Speedway
Rockingham Motor Speedway is a former racing motorsport venue in Rockingham, Northamptonshire, England, United Kingdom, near the town of Corby. It hosted professional and club races, as well as testing, track days, driver training, exhibition ...
;
Santa Pod Raceway
Santa Pod Raceway, located in Podington, Bedfordshire, England, is Europe's first permanent drag racing venue for 1/4 and 1/8 mile racing. It was built on a disused Second World War air base, (RAF Podington), once used by the USAAF's 92nd Bomb ...
is just over the border in
Bedfordshire but has a Northamptonshire postcode. A study commissioned by Northamptonshire Enterprise Ltd (NEL) reported that Northamptonshire's motorsport sites attract more than 2.1 million visitors per year who spend a total of more than £131 million within the county.
Milton Keynes and South Midlands Growth area
Northamptonshire forms part of the
Milton Keynes and South Midlands Growth area which also includes
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...
,
Aylesbury Vale and
Bedfordshire. This area has been identified as an area which is due to have tens of thousands additional homes built between 2010 and 2020. In North Northamptonshire (Boroughs of Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough and East Northants), over 52,000 homes are planned or newly built and 47,000 new jobs are also planned.
[MSKM: North Northants](_blank)
Mksm.org.uk, Accessed 2 October 2010 In West Northamptonshire (boroughs of Northampton, Daventry and South Northants), over 48,000 homes are planned or newly built and 37,000 new jobs are planned.
[MKSM: West Northants](_blank)
Mksm.org.uk, Accessed 2 October 2010 To oversee the planned developments, two urban regeneration companies have been created: North Northants Development Company (NNDC)
and the West Northamptonshire Development Corporation.
The NNDC launched a controversial campaign called ''North Londonshire'' to attract people from
London to the county. There is also a county-wide tourism campaign with the slogan ''Northamptonshire, Let yourself grow''.
Education
Schools
Northamptonshire County Council previously operated a comprehensive system of state-funded secondary schools. From May 2021 compulsory education in the county is administered by North Northamptonshire Council and West Northamptonshire Council.
The county's
music and performing arts trust provides peripatetic music teaching to schools. It also supports 15 local Saturday morning music and performing arts centres around the county and provides a range of county-level music groups.
Colleges
There are seven colleges across the county, with the
Tresham College of Further and Higher Education having four campuses in three towns:
Corby,
Kettering and
Wellingborough. Tresham, which was taken over by Bedford College in 2017 due to failed Ofsted inspections, provides
further education
Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is education in addition to that received at secondary school, that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. I ...
and offers vocational courses and re-sit
GCSE
The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...
s. It also offers Higher Education options in conjunction with several universities. Other colleges in the county are:
Fletton House
Fletton is an area of the city of Peterborough, in the Peterborough district, in the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England, south of the River Nene.
Notable for its large brickworks, the area has given its name to "Fletton bricks",
Admin ...
,
Knuston Hall
Irchester is a village and civil parish in North Northamptonshire, two miles (3 km) south-east of Wellingborough and two miles south-west of Rushden. The population of the village at the 2011 Census was 5,706 and estimated in 2019 at 5,767. ...
,
Moulton College
Moulton College is a further education college based in Moulton, Northamptonshire, England. Although initially established as the Northamptonshire Institute of Agriculture in 1921, it now has expanded its teaching curriculum to cover a wide ...
,
Northampton College,
Northampton New College
Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...
and
The East Northamptonshire College
The East Northamptonshire College or TENC for short is a consortium of secondary schools in East Northamptonshire that offer Post-16 education.
Structure
The Consortium consists of three secondary schools, Rushden Community College based in Ru ...
.
University
Northamptonshire has one university, the
University of Northampton. It has two campuses apart and 10,000 students. It offers courses for needs and interests from foundation and undergraduate level to postgraduate, professional and doctoral qualifications. Subjects include traditional arts, humanities and sciences subjects, as well as entrepreneurship, product design and advertising.
Healthcare
Hospitals
The main acute
National Health Service hospitals in Northamptonshire
Northampton General Hospital, which also operates Danetre Hospital in Daventry, and
Kettering General Hospital. In the south-west of the county, the towns of Brackley, Towcester and surrounding villages are serviced by the
Horton General Hospital in
Banbury in neighbouring Oxfordshire for acute medical needs. A similar arrangement is in place for the town of
Oundle and nearby villages, served by
Peterborough City Hospital
Peterborough City Hospital is an acute teaching hospital on the Edith Cavell Healthcare Campus serving the city of Peterborough, north Cambridgeshire, areas of east Northamptonshire and Rutland. It is managed by North West Anglia NHS Foundation ...
.
In February 2011 a new satellite out-patient centre opened at Nene Park, Irthlingborough to provide over 40,000 appointments a year, as well as a minor injury unit to serve Eastern Northamptonshire. This was opened to relieve pressure off Kettering General Hospital, and has also replaced the dated Rushden Memorial Clinic which provided at the time about 8,000 appointments a year, when open.
Water contamination
In June 2008,
Anglian Water found traces of
Cryptosporidium
''Cryptosporidium'', sometimes informally called crypto, is a genus of apicomplexan parasitic alveolates that can cause a respiratory and gastrointestinal illness (cryptosporidiosis) that primarily involves watery diarrhea (intestinal cryptosp ...
in water supplies of Northamptonshire. The local reservoir at
Pitsford
Pitsford is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire in the United Kingdom. According to 2001 census, the parish's population was 636 people, increasing to 671 at the 2011 census.
The village's name means 'Peoht's ford'.
Pitsford ...
was investigated and a
European rabbit which had strayed into it was found,
causing the problem. About 250,000 residents were affected;
by 14 July 2008, 13 cases of cryptosporidiosis attributed to water in Northampton had been reported.
Following the end of the investigation, Anglian Water lifted its boil notice for all affected areas on 4 July 2008.
["Anglian Water"]
, Press Release Anglian Water revealed that it would pay up to £30 per household as compensation for customers hit by the water crisis.
Transport
The gap in the hills at
Watford Gap
Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne.
Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...
meant that many south-east to north-west routes passed through Northamptonshire.
Watling Street, a Roman Road which is now part of the
A5, passes through here, as did canals, railways and major roads in later years.
Roads
Major national roads, including the
M1 motorway (London to Leeds) and the
A14 (Rugby to Felixstowe), provide Northamptonshire with transport links both north–south and east–west. The
A43 joins the M1 to the
M40 motorway
The M40 motorway links London, Oxford and Birmingham in England, a distance of approximately .
The motorway is dual three lanes except for junction 1A to junction 3 (which is dual four lanes) a short section in-between the exit and entry slip-r ...
, passing through the south of the county to the junction west of Brackley, and the
A45 links Northampton with Wellingborough and Peterborough.
The county road network (excluding trunk roads and motorways), managed by West Northamptonshire Council and North Northamptonshire Council, includes the
A45 west of the
M1 motorway, the
A43 between
Northampton
Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...
and the county boundary near Stamford, the
A361
The A361 is an A class road in southern England, which at is the longest three-digit A road in the UK.
History
When first designated in 1922, the A361 ran from Taunton (Somerset) to Banbury (Oxfordshire). It was later extended west through B ...
between
Kilsby and
Banbury (Oxon) and all B, C and unclassified roads. Since 2009, these highways have been managed on behalf of the county council by MGWSP, a joint venture between
May Gurney
Kier Group plc is a British construction, services and property group active in building and civil engineering, support services, and the Private Finance Initiative.
Founded in 1928 in Stoke-on-Trent it initially specialised in concrete enginee ...
and WSP.
Rivers and canals
Two major canals – the
Oxford and the
Grand Union
A grand union is a rail track junction where two double-track railway or tramway lines cross at grade, often in a street intersection or crossroads. A total of sixteen railroad switches (sets of points) allow streetcars (or in rarer installati ...
– join in the county at
Braunston. Notable features include a flight of 17
locks on the Grand Union at
Rothersthorpe, the
canal museum at
Stoke Bruerne and a tunnel at
Blisworth which, at , is the third-longest navigable canal tunnel on the
UK canal network.
A branch of the Grand Union Canal connects to the
River Nene in Northampton and has been upgraded to a 'wide canal' in places and is known as the ''Nene Navigation''. It is famous for its
guillotine lock
A guillotine lock is a type of canal lock. The lock itself operates on the same principle as any normal pound lock, but is unusual in that each gate is a single piece, usually of steel, that slides vertically upwards when opened to allow a boat ...
s.
Railways
Two trunk railway routes, the
Midland Main Line and the
West Coast Main Line, cross the county. At its peak, Northamptonshire had 75 railway stations. It now has only six, at:
Northampton
Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...
and
Long Buckby on the West Coast Main Line;
Kettering,
Wellingborough and
Corby on the Midland Main Line; along with
King's Sutton
King's Sutton is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, Northamptonshire, England in the valley of the River Cherwell. The village is about south-east of Banbury, Oxfordshire.
The parish includes the hamlets of Astrop contiguous ...
, only a few yards from the boundary with Oxfordshire on the
Chiltern Main Line.
Before
nationalisation
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
of the railways in 1948 and the creation of
British Rail
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
ways, three of the ''Big Four'' railway companies operated in Northamptonshire: the
London, Midland and Scottish Railway
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally u ...
,
London and North Eastern Railway
The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...
and
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
. Only the
Southern Railway was not represented. As of 2019, it is served by
Chiltern Railways
Chiltern Railways, formally The Chiltern Railway Company Limited, is a British train operating company that has operated the Chiltern Railways franchise since July 1996. Since 2009, it has been a subsidiary of Arriva UK Trains.
Chiltern Railw ...
,
East Midlands Railway
Abellio East Midlands Limited, trading as East Midlands Railway (EMR), is a train operating company in England, owned by Abellio, and is the current operator of the East Midlands franchise.
History
In March 2017, the Department for Transport a ...
,
Avanti West Coast and
West Midlands Trains.
;Corby rail history
Corby was described as the largest town in Britain without a railway station. The railway running through the town from Kettering to
Oakham in
Rutland
Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire.
Its greatest len ...
was previously used only by freight traffic and occasional diverted passenger trains that did not stop at the station. The line through Corby was once part of a main line to
Nottingham through
Melton Mowbray, but the stretch between Melton and Nottingham was closed in 1968. In the 1980s, an experimental passenger shuttle service ran between Corby and Kettering but was withdrawn a few years later. On 23 February 2009, a new
railway station opened, providing direct hourly access to
London St Pancras. Following the opening of Corby Station, Rushden then became the largest town in the United Kingdom without a direct railway station.
;Closed lines and stations
Railway services in Northamptonshire were reduced by the
Beeching cuts in the 1960s. Closure of the line connecting Northampton to
Peterborough by way of Wellingborough,
Thrapston, and
Oundle left eastern Northamptonshire devoid of railways. Part of this route was reopened in 1977 as the
Nene Valley Railway. A section of one of the closed lines, the
Northampton to Market Harborough line
Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...
, is now the
Northampton & Lamport heritage railway
A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...
, while the route as a whole forms a part of the
National Cycle Network, as the
Brampton Valley Way.
As early as 1897, Northamptonshire would have had its own
Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. ...
rail link with the creation of the
Great Central Railway, which was intended to connect to a tunnel under the
English Channel. Although the complete project never came to fruition, the rail link through Northamptonshire was constructed, and had stations at
Charwelton,
Woodford Halse,
Helmdon and
Brackley. It became part of the London and North Eastern Railway in 1923 (and of British Railways in 1948) before its closure in 1966.
;Future
In June 2009, the
Association of Train Operating Companies
The Rail Delivery Group (RDG), previously the Association of Train Operating Companies, is the British rail industry membership body that brings together passenger and freight rail companies, Network Rail and High Speed 2.
History
From 24 Oc ...
(ATOC) recommended opening a new station on the former
Irchester railway station site for
Rushden,
Higham Ferrers and
Irchester, called
Rushden Parkway.
Network Rail is electrifying the Midland Main Line north of
Bedford, to Kettering and Corby.
[Network Rail: East Midlands Draft Route Utilisation Strategy](_blank)
Access date: 4 January 2010 An open access company has approached Network Rail for services to
Oakham in
Rutland
Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire.
Its greatest len ...
to London via the county.
The Rushden Historical Transport Society, operators of the
Rushden, Higham and Wellingborough Railway, would like to see the railway fully reopen between
Wellingborough and
Higham Ferrers.
The route of the planned
High Speed 2 railway line (between London and Birmingham) will go through the southern part of the county but without any stations.
Buses
Most buses are operated by
Stagecoach Midlands. Some town area routes have been named the Corby Star, Connect Kettering, Connect Wellingborough and Daventry Dart; the last three of these routes have route designations that include a letter (such as A, D1, W1, W2).
Stagecoach's X4 route provides interurban links across the county, running between Northampton, Wellingborough, Kettering, Corby, Oundle and Peterborough.
Airports
Sywell Aerodrome
Sywell Aerodrome is the local aerodrome serving the towns of Northampton, Wellingborough, Kettering and Rushden, as well as wider Northamptonshire. The aerodrome is located northeast of Northampton and was originally opened in 1928 on the edg ...
, on the edge of
Sywell
Sywell is a village and civil parish in North, Northamptonshire, England. At the time of the 2011 census, the population was 792.
The name Sywell is thought to mean seven wells.
Facilities
The facilities found in the village include:
*The c ...
village, has three grass runways and one concrete all-weather runway. It is, however, only 1000 metres long and therefore cannot be served by passenger jets.
Media
Newspapers
The two main newspapers in the county are the
Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph and the
Northampton Chronicle & Echo.
Television
;BBC regions
Most of Northamptonshire is served by the
BBC's
East region which is based in
Norwich. The regional news television programme,
BBC Look East, provides local news across the
East of England
The East of England is one of the nine official regions of England. This region was created in 1994 and was adopted for statistics purposes from 1999. It includes the ceremonial counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire ...
,
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...
and most of Northamptonshire. An opt-out in ''Look East'' covers the west part of the region only, broadcast from
Cambridge. This area also is covered by the BBC's
The Politics Show: East and
Inside Out: East. A small part of the north of the county is covered by
BBC East Midlands
BBC East Midlands is the BBC English Region covering Derbyshire (except High Peak, North East Derbyshire and the northern areas of the Derbyshire Dales), Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire (except Bassetlaw), Rutland, southern parts of South Kes ...
's regional news
BBC East Midlands Today, while a small part of
South Northamptonshire is covered by
BBC Oxford's regional news
BBC Oxford News
''BBC South Today'' is the BBC's regional television news service for the south of England, covering Hampshire, Isle of Wight, West Sussex, much of Dorset and parts of Berkshire, Surrey and Wiltshire.
Since 2000, an opt-out of the main program ...
which is part of the BBC South Today programme.
;ITV regions
Most of Northamptonshire is covered by
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
's
Anglia region (which broadcasts Anglia Today/Tonight); in the south-west of the county, primarily
Brackley and the surrounding villages, broadcasts can be received from the
Oxford transmitter
The Oxford transmitting station (sometimes known as the Beckley transmitter) is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility, situated on land above Ordnance Datum (mean sea level) to the north east of the city of Oxford, in Oxfordshire, E ...
which broadcasts
ITV Meridian's Meridian Today/Tonight.
Radio
BBC Radio Northampton, broadcasts on two
FM frequencies: 104.2 MHz for the south and west of the county (including
Northampton
Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...
and surrounding area) and 103.6 MHz for the north of the county (including
Kettering,
Wellingborough and
Corby). BBC Radio Northampton is situated on Abington Street, Northampton. These services are broadcast from the
Moulton Park
Moulton Park is a large industrial estate near the village of Moulton, Northamptonshire a few miles north of the town of Northampton.
Business park
Nationwide Building Society have a main office on the business park, near to the BLC Leather T ...
&
Geddington transmitters.
There are three commercial radio stations in the county. The former ''Kettering and Corby Broadcasting Company (KCBC)'' station was called Connect Radio (97.2 and 107.4 MHz FM), following a merger with the Wellingborough-based station of the same name. It is now part of
Smooth East Midlands
Smooth East Midlands is an Independent Local Radio station for the East Midlands, 107.4 MHz, 97.2 MHz, 106.8 MHz 106.0 MHz which replaced Saga 106.6 FM at 6am on Monday 26 March 2007. It is owned by Communicorp UK and operated ...
. While both
Heart East (96.6 MHz FM) and
AM station
Gold (1557 kHz) air very little local content as they form part of a national network. National
digital radio
Digital radio is the use of digital technology to transmit or receive across the radio spectrum. Digital transmission by radio waves includes digital broadcasting, and especially digital audio radio services.
Types
In digital broadcasting syst ...
is also available in Northamptonshire, though coverage is limited.
Corby is served by its own dedicated station, Corby Radio (96.3fm), based in the town and focused on local content.
Sport
Rugby union
Northamptonshire has many
rugby union clubs. Its premier team
Northampton Saints, competes in the
Aviva Premiership
Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...
and won the European championship in 2000 by defeating
Munster
Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...
for the
Heineken Cup
The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...
, 9–8.
Saints
In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness
Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual res ...
are based at the 15,249 capacity
Franklin's Gardens ground. In 2014 the club won the
Aviva Premiership
Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...
as well as the Challenge Cup. For the 2014/15 campaign the team finished top of the table for the first time in the premiership, eventually losing 24–29 to Saracens in the playoff semi-final.
Association football
Northamptonshire has twenty four
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
clubs operating in the top ten levels of the
English football league system
The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the Isl ...
. The sport in the area is administered by the
Northamptonshire Football Association
The Northamptonshire Football Association, also simply known as the ''Northamptonshire FA'', is the governing body of football in the English county of Northamptonshire.
Organisation
The purpose of the Northamptonshire FA is to lead the succe ...
, which is affiliated with the
United Counties League, the
Northamptonshire Combination Football League
The Northamptonshire Combination Football League is a football competition based in England. It has a total of five divisions with many reserve teams competing in the bottom three. The most senior league is the Premier Division, which sits at st ...
, the Northampton Town Football League, as well as the
Peterborough and District Football League
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
in neighbouring
Cambridgeshire. Only two clubs in Northamptonshire to have competed in
The Football League are Northampton Town and the defunct Rushden & Diamonds.
Northampton Town F.C.
The only fully-professional
English football league club in the county is
Northampton Town, which attracts between 4,000 and 6,000 fans on an average game day and has been part of the Football League since 1920.
Their home ground is Sixfields Stadium which opened in 1994. The first match there took place on 15 October against Barnet Football Club. The stadium can hold up to 7,500 people, with provisions for disabled fans.
Other clubs
The county also a number of semi-professional sides that compete in levels 6 to 8 of the
football pyramid
In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...
. These are
Kettering Town
Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at Latimer Park in Burton Latimer. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in ...
,
Brackley Town
Brackley Town Football Club is a Association football, football club in Brackley, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at St. James Park. The club won the FA Trophy in 2018.
History
Established in 1890, the club sp ...
,
AFC Rushden & Diamonds
A.F.C. Rushden & Diamonds is an English football club based in Rushden in Northamptonshire. They played their opening season at Kiln Park, the home of Raunds Town, in 2011–12 and subsequently shared the Dog & Duck ground with Wellingboroug ...
, and
Corby Town F.C. Nineteen teams compete in the
United Counties League (UCL), a league operating at levels 9 and 10 of the English League system, and which encompasses all of Northamptonshire and parts of neighbouring counties.
Cricket
Northamptonshire County Cricket Club
Northamptonshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Northamptonshire. Its limited overs team is called the Northa ...
(also known as The Steelbacks) is in Division Two of the
County Championship, and play their home games at the
County Cricket Ground, Northampton. They finished as runners-up in the Championship on four occasions in the period before it split into two divisions.
In 2013 the club won the
Friends Life t20
The T20 Blast, currently named the Vitality Blast for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket competition for English and Welsh first-class counties. The competition was established by the England and Wales Cricket Board (E ...
, beating Surrey in the final. Appearing in their 3rd final in 4 years, the Steelbacks to beat Durham by 4 wickets at Edgbaston in 2016 to lift the
Natwest t20 Blast trophy for the second time. It also won the
NatWest Trophy on two occasions and the
Benson & Hedges Cup
The Benson & Hedges Cup was a one-day cricket competition for first-class counties in England and Wales that was held from 1972 to 2002, one of cricket's longest sponsorship deals.
It was the third major one-day competition established in Englan ...
once.
Motor sport
Silverstone
Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...
is a major
motor racing circuit, most notably used for the
British Grand Prix. There is also a dedicated radio station for the circuit which broadcasts on 87.7 FM or 1602 MW when events are taking place. However, part of the circuit is across the border in Buckinghamshire.
Rockingham Speedway, located near
Corby, was one of the largest motor sport venues in the United Kingdom with 52,000 seats until it was closed permanently in 2018 to make way for a logistics hub for the automotive industry, hosting its last race in November of that year. It was a US-style elliptical racing circuit (the largest of its kind outside of the United States), and is used extensively for all kinds of
motor racing events. The
Santa Pod drag racing
Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, most c ...
circuit, venue for the FIA European Drag Racing Championships is just across the border in
Bedfordshire but has a
NN postcode.
Two Formula One teams are based in Northamptonshire, with
Mercedes
Mercedes may refer to:
People
* Mercedes (name), a Spanish feminine name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or last name
Automobile-related
* Mercedes (marque), the pre-1926 brand name of German automobile m ...
at
Brackley and
Aston Martin
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is an English manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated with ...
in
Silverstone
Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...
. Aston Martin also have a secondary facility in Brackley, while
Mercedes
Mercedes may refer to:
People
* Mercedes (name), a Spanish feminine name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or last name
Automobile-related
* Mercedes (marque), the pre-1926 brand name of German automobile m ...
build engines for themselves, Aston Martin,
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...
and
Williams at
Brixworth.
Cosworth
Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream automotive industrie ...
, the high-performance engineering company, is based in Northampton.
Swimming and diving
There are seven competitive swimming clubs in the county: Northampton Swimming Club, Wellingborough Amateur Swimming Club, Rushden Swimming Club, Kettering Amateur Swimming Club, Corby Amateur Swimming Club, Daventry Dolphins Swimming Club, and Nene Valley Swimming Club. There is also one diving club: Corby Steel Diving Club. The main pool in the county is
Corby East Midlands International Pool
Corby East Midland International Swimming Pool (also known as Corby Pool) is a sports facility located in Corby, Northamptonshire, England, which is owned and run by Corby Borough Council. The centre, which cost £19 million, was opened in July 2 ...
, which has an 8-lane 50m swimming pool with a floor that can adjust in depth to provide a 25m pool. The pool is home to the Northamptonshire Amateur Association's County Championships as well as some of the Youth Midland Championships.
Northamptonshire is home to 2016 paralympian Ellie Robinson. She was talent-spotted in July 2012 and developed at Northampton Swimming Club, and was selected to compete for Great Britain at the
2016 IPC Swimming European Championships
The 2016 IPC Swimming European Championships was an international swimming competition. It was held in Funchal, Madeira running from 30 April to 7 May. Around 450 athletes from 50 different countries attended the competition. This was the last ma ...
. It was here she won three bronze and one silver medal.
Culture
Jane Austen
Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...
set her 1814 novel ''
Mansfield Park
''Mansfield Park'' is the third published novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1814 by Thomas Egerton. A second edition was published in 1816 by John Murray, still within Austen's lifetime. The novel did not receive any public reviews unt ...
'' mostly in Northamptonshire.
Melrose Plant, a prominent secondary protagonist in the
Richard Jury
Richard Jury is a fictional character in a series of mystery novels written by Martha Grimes.
Initially a chief inspector, later a superintendent, Jury is invariably assisted in his cases by Melrose Plant, a British aristocrat who has given up h ...
series of mystery novels by
Martha Grimes
Martha Grimes (born May 2, 1931) is an American writer of detective fiction. She is best known for a series featuring Richard Jury, a Scotland Yard inspector, and Melrose Plant, an aristocrat turned amateur sleuth.
Biography
Grimes was born in ...
, resides in Northamptonshire, and much of the action in the books takes place there.
''
Kinky Boots'', the 2005 British-American film and subsequent stage musical adaptation, was based on the true story of a traditional Northamptonshire shoe factory which, to stay afloat, entered the market for fetish footwear.
Rock and pop bands originating in the area have included
Bauhaus,
Temples
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
,
The Departure
The Departure was an English rock band from Northampton, formed in October 2003. Their debut album, ''Dirty Words'', was released 13 June 2005 by Parlophone. A second album, ''Inventions'', was expected to be released in early 2008, but was not ...
,
New Cassettes
New Cassettes were an English five piece indie rock band from Northampton, England, formed in 2005.
History
New Cassettes were a five-piece band formed in 2005. The band's debut album 'The Art of...' was released in 2009, with second album '' ...
,
Raging Speedhorn and
Defenestration
Defenestration (from Modern Latin ) is the act of throwing someone or something out of a window.
The term was coined around the time of an incident in Prague Castle in the year 1618 which became the spark that started the Thirty Years' War. Th ...
.
Richard Coles, an English musician, partnered in the 1980s with
Jimmy Somerville to create
The Communards band. They made three Top Ten Hits and made the Number 1 record in 1986 with their song '
Don't Leave me this way'. In 2012,
The University of Northampton awarded him an honorary doctorate. He is now the vicar of
Finedon in Northamptonshire.
Northampton is the birthplace of composer
Malcolm Arnold (born October 21, 1921) and of actor
Marc Warren (born March 20, 1967).
Places of interest
Annual events
*
Gretton Barn dance
A barn dance is any kind of dance involving traditional or folk music with traditional dancing, occasionally held in a barn, but, these days, much more likely to be in any suitable building.
The term “barn dance” is usually associated w ...
*
British Grand Prix at
Silverstone
Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...
*
Burghley Horse Trials
The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials is an annual three-day event held at Burghley House near Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, currently in early September. Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials is classified by the FEI as one of the six leading th ...
*
Crick Boat Show
*
Hollowell Steam Rally
*
Northampton Balloon Festival
The Northampton Balloon Festival was an annual hot air balloon festival held in Northampton, England.
The original festival was held in The Racecourse and managed by the (now defunct) Borough Council, and took place over a Friday, Saturday and Su ...
*
Rothwell Fair
*
Rushden Cavalcade
Rushden Cavalcade is a 3-day event run by the Rushden Historical Transport Society (RHTS).
The Cavalcade of transport and country fair is traditionally held over the May Bank Holiday on a field just south of Rushden
Rushden is a market tow ...
*
St Crispin Street Fair
The St Crispin Street Fair is a fair held periodically in the Market Square of Northampton, England. It is organised by Northampton Borough Council.
The event is a travelling funfair with over 100 amusement rides, usually operating on several d ...
*
Wellingborough Carnival
*
World Conker Championships
* Buckby Feast
*
Corby Highland Gathering
See also
*
Custos Rotulorum of Northamptonshire - List of Keepers of the Rolls
*
Grade I listed buildings in Northamptonshire
*
High Sheriff of Northamptonshire
*
History of Northamptonshire
*
List of places in Northamptonshire
*
Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire
*
Northamptonshire (UK Parliament constituency) - Historical list of MPs for the Northamptonshire constituency
*
Northamptonshire Police
*
Northamptonshire Police and Crime Commissioner
The Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (PFCC) is the elected official charged with overseeing Northamptonshire Police and the Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service and ensuring both, the police and the fire service are operatin ...
*
:People from Northamptonshire
Notes
References
*
* .
External links
Northamptonshire County Council
*
1894/5 description
Local Theatre in NorthamptonshireNorthamptonshire History WebsiteNorthamptonshire Tourism WebsiteNorthamptonshire Guide WebsiteVisit Northamptonshire WebsiteNorthamptonshire Online ForumImages of Northamptonshireat the
English Heritage Archive
{{Use dmy dates, date=December 2018
Non-metropolitan counties
East Midlands
Counties of England established in antiquity