NORTHAMPTON, an inland county of England, is bounded N. by Lincoln, N.W. by Rutland and Leicester, W. by Warwick, S.W. and S. by Oxford, S.E. by Buckingham, and E. by Bedford, Huntingdon, and Cambridge. It has an area of 629,912 acres, or about 982 square miles. Its greatest length from north-east to south-west is about 70 miles; in breadth it varies from 7 to 26 miles. The surface is hilly and undulating, but the hills are for the most part small and rounded and the undulations monotonous, notwithstanding that the country is richly cultivated and in some parts finely wooded. The highest summits are Albury (804 feet) and Naseby (697 feet). In the western and south-western districts the scenery becomes almost picturesque, and in the centre and east, where greater monotony prevails, numerous fine trees add a pleas ing aspect of richness. For a long period Northampton has been famed for its ash trees, and there are also some very old oaks, as well as a few fine avenues of elm. The north-eastern extremity belongs to the great fen district. The county forms the principal watershed of central England, nearly all the more important rivers of this region having their sources within its boundaries. The Avon with a westward course forms for some distance the northern boundary of the county, till near Lilbourne it passes into Warwickshire. The Nene passes southward through Northampton, whence it takes an easterly course, skirting the eastern boundary of the county. The Welland flows in an easterly direction, forming the boundary of the county with Leicester, Rutland, and Lincoln. The Cherwell, after passing into Oxfordshire, forms for a considerable distance the southernmost portion of the western boundary with that county; the Learn forms a portion of the boundary with Warwickshire. The Ouse, which rises near Brackley, soon afterwards leaves the county, but again touches it near Stony Stratford, separating it for some distance from Buckingham. The Grand Junction Canal, which is connected with the Oxford Canal, enters the county at Braunston on the borders of Warwickshire and passes by Daventry and Blisworth into Buckinghamshire, a branch connecting it with Northampton. The Grand Union Canal unites with the Grand Junction near Daventry and runs north until it joins the Leicester Canal at Foxton, branches passing to Welford and Market Harborough.
Geology.— Lias forms the foundation of Northamptonshire, and above it rest the Oolite formations which crop to the surface throughout the greater part of the county. Lias prevails as the surface formation in the west and north-west. Its total thickness is about 800 feet, the Lower Lias clays which stretch in from Warwickshire having a thickness of 500 to 600 feet, the Middle Lias or marlstone of about 30 feet, and the Upper Lias clays, which form numerous outliers scattered over the marlstone plateau and also appear along the beds of several of the streams, a thickness of from 150 to 200 feet. Immediately above the lias come the inferior Oolite beds of Northamptonshire sand, which reach their greatest thickness in the neighbourhood of Northampton. The sandstone is strongly impregnated with oxide of iron, supposed to have been deposited by the percolations of water through the stone. Brown haematite iron is also found at Addington. The iron of Northamptonshire was made use of by the Romans, but the rise of the modern industry dates from about 1850. In 1881 iron was worked at thirty different places in the county, the total quantity obtained being 1,270,544 tons with an estimated value of ,£176,427. About one-fourth is smelted in the district, but the greater quantity is sent raw to Merthyr-Tydfil and Staffordshire. East and north-east of the county sandstone is largely quarried for building purposes, and is both easily worked and richly coloured. It is highly fossiliferous, containing many species not known in other districts. The upper division consists of a nearly white silicious sandstone frequently intercalated with clay. Above the sandstone rest beds of Lincolnshire limestone, and, where it is absent, a sandy clay. The slopes of the hills are frequently capped with cornbrash, sometimes overlaid with Oxford clay. Various isolated portions are covered with drift deposits. Where sandstone and limestone join the clay numerous springs occur, the proximity to which has in many cases determined the sites of villages and towns.
Soil and Agriculture.— The climate of Northamptonshire is mild and genial, while the absence of lofty hills renders it much drier than many other inland districts. The prevailing soil is a rich brown but light and crumbling mould, sometimes with a rocky subsoil. The richest soil is the black mould of the fen district, which is specially suited for grass, as are all the heavier soils. Nearly all the land is capable of cultivation, although there is some stiff wet soil on the slopes of the hills. In 1883 there were 559,536 acres, or about 88 per cent, of the total area under cultivation, of which no fewer than 304,654 acres were under permanent pasture, many of the heavier soils having been laid down during the past few years. Leases are the exception, and on this account grass land is more in request than arable. The farms in general are not large. Isolated houses are rare, both farmers and labourers living for the most part in villages. The farm buildings are thus frequently inconveniently situated as well as badly constructed, although improvements in both respects are being introduced. The usual rotation of crops is fallow, wheat, beans, and oats on heavy soils; but on the lighter soils wheat, pease or barley, with clover and roots, on a four or five years’ rotation is the system generally adopted. Frequently the land is left three years in grass. Of the 158,445 acres under corn crops in 1883, 59,613 were under wheat, 50,866 under barley or here, 24,914 under oats, 16,770 beans, and 6121 pease. Green crops occupied only 38,143 acres, 23,923 of these being under turnips and swedes, 4894 under mangolds, and only 2520 under potatoes. Clover occupied 34,137 acres, and fallow 24,157. Horses in 1883 numbered 21,901, of which 16,209 were used solely for agricultural purposes. Cattle numbered 117,790, of which 26,036 were cows and heifers in milk or in calf, the fattening of cattle being the chief occupation of the Northamptonshire farmer. The favourite stock for breeding purposes is the shorthorn, which has now almost entirely superseded the longhorn; but the most common custom is to buy in Hereford, Scotch, Welsh, and Irish cattle in the spring and fatten them off the rich pasture with or without artificial food, a few being retained and fed up for the Christmas market. In autumn additional cattle are bought in to eat the coarse grass off the pastures, and these are usually retained during winter. Sheep in 1883 numbered 413,075, of which 255,737 were one year old and above. The most common breed on the rich pastures is the improved Leicester, which is preferred on account of its length of wool; but the Southdown, on account of its superior flesh, is also largely kept.
According to the latest returns the land was divided among 14,665 proprietors, possessing 592,771 acres, with a gross estimated rental of £1,637,370, an average of about £2 15s. 3d per acre. Of the owners 10,010, or about 79 per cent., possessed less than one acre each; 33 proprietors possessed between 2000 and 5000 acres, 11 between 5000 and 10,000, and the following over 10,000 each :— Hon. G. W. Fitzwilliam, 18,116; duke of Buccleuch, 17,965; Earl Spencer, 17,031; Lord Overstone, 15,046; and the marquis of Exeter, 13,546.
Manufactures. — The iron industry is of great importance, and, though only a small proportion of the metal is smelted in the county, the number of furnaces in blast is increasing. The staple and the only manufacture of importance is that of boots and shoes, which is chiefly carried on in Northampton and the towns and villages in the centre of the county and along the eastern border.
Raihcays.— The main lines of the London and North-Western, the Great Northern, and the Midland Railways pass through portions of the county, and branch lines traverse it in all directions.
Administration and Population.— In Domesday Northampton is mentioned as containing 30 hundreds, but it then included a considerable part of Rutlandshire. These divisions were first reduced to 28, and in the reign of Henry II. to 20, their present number. The county includes the municipal boroughs of Daventry (3859) and Northampton (51,881); the principal part (20,123) of the city of Peterborough, which was incorporated under the Municipal Act in 1874; part (1171) of the borough of Stamford, of which the greater part is in Lincolnshire; part (2412) of the borough of Banbury, the greater part of which is in Oxfordshire; the borough of Higham-Ferrers (1468); and the urban sanitary districts of Hardingstone (4866), Kettering (11,095), Oundle (11,196), and Wellingborough (13,794). Before the Reform Act of 1832 Northamptonshire sent nine members to parliament, two for the shire, two each for the city of Peterborough and the boroughs of Northampton and Brackley, and one for the borough of Higham-Ferrers. By that Act the number was fixed at eight, Brackley and Higham-Ferrers being disfranchised, while the county was formed into two divisions, a northern and a southern, each returning two members. There are two courts of quarter-sessions, one for the county and the other for the liberty or soke of Peterborough, and nine petty and special sessional divisions, exclusive of the liberty of Peterborough. The boroughs of Northampton and Stamford have commissions of the peace and separate courts of quarter-sessions. The boroughs of Daventry and Higham-Ferrers form parts of the petty and special sessional divisions of Daventry and Wellingborough, the county justices having concurrent jurisdiction. The county contains 344 civil parishes, with parts of four others. It is almost entirely in the diocese of Peterborough. The population of Northamptonshire in 1801 was 131,757, which in 1821 had increased to 162,483, in 1871 to 243,891, and in 1881 to 272,555 (135,662 males and 136,893 females). The number of inhabited houses in 1881 was 57,540, and the average number of persons to an acre 0'43.
History and Antiquities.— The Coritani, who at the time of the Roman invasion inhabited Northamptonshire, are supposed to have been dependent on the Iceni. Of this period the only remains are a few traces of camps and earthworks, the principal being those at Borough Hill near Daventry, where some rude pottery of supposed British origin has been discovered; at Λrbury Hill near Staverton; and at Rockingham, on the site of the present old castle. Under the Bomans Northamptonshire formed part of Flavia Caesariensis. It was crossed by two great Roman roads, the Waiting Street and the Ermine Street: the former entered the county near Stony Stratford and passed by Towcester and Weedon to Lilbourne, where it crossed the Avon; the latter crossed over from Castor near Peterborough into Lincolnshire. From the large number of remains discovered within its limits Northamptonshire would appear to have been very extensively occupied by the Romans. The principal Roman stations within its limits were Irchester, on the north side of the Nene, where numerous pieces of pottery, coins, and slabs with inscriptions have been found; Castor, the seat of a celebrated Roman pottery, the extent of which and the finish of whose workmanship are attested by the tesselated pavements and other relics, as well as by the kilns for bricks and earthenware, that have been dug up; Benaventa, supposed to be Borough Hill, where excavations have brought to light traces of very extensive buildings; Lactodurnm, supposed to be Towcester, where, however, very few Roman remains are now visible; Isannavatia, probably at Burnt Walls, a large field covered with remains of Roman buildings; and Tripontium, supposed to be Lilbourne, where there are traces of camps on both sides of the river. There were also encampments at Arbury Hill, Barrow Hill, Castle Dykes, Chesterton, Guilsborough, Hunsborough, Rains-borough, Sulgrave, and Wallow Bank, besides numerous small camps and posts at other places, especially along the valley of the Nene, which is thickly strewn with tesselated pavements and other remains.
Northampton formed part of Middle Anglia, and was included in the Saxon kingdom of Mercia. In the time of Tostig, and according to some at an earlier period, it was attached to Northumberland, ami formed no part of Mercia. When the Northumbrians in 1065 rebelled against Tostig and chose Morkere for their earl they marched southwards to Northampton, where they were met by Harold and received from him the confirmation of Morkere in the earldom; but the shires of Northampton and Huntingdon were detached from it, and bestowed on Siward’s young son Waltheof, who became earl of Northampton and Huntingdon. After the Conquest the district became, on account of its extensive forest, a favourite resort of the kings of England, who occupied the castles of Northampton and Rockingham. During the Civil War Northamptonshire was the scene of many skirmishes in addition to the great fight at Naseby, while the battle of Edgehill took place on its borders.
Although Northamptonshire was rich in monastic foundations, remains, except of the abbey-church of Peterborough, afterwards the cathedral, are of small importance, the principal being the foundation and parts of the walls of St James’s Abbey at Duston near Northampton, part of the church of the Cistercian abbey of Pipewell near Daventry and of the Cluniae priory at Daventry, and the priory church at Ashby. At Geddington, and also at Northampton, there is an Eleanor cross in good preservation. For the architecture of its churches Northampton holds a place scarcely inferior to any other English county. To the Saxon period belong the tower of Earls Barton church, which stands on an eminence, probably the mound of an old English strong-house; the tower and other portions of Brigstock; the ground plan and other portions of Wittering; the remarkable tower of Barnack; and Brixworth church, constructed in part of Roman materials, and supposed to include part of a Roman basilica. Of Norman, besides the cathedral of Peterborough, the finest examples are St Peter’s and St Sepulchre’s, Northampton, and the tower of Castor. Higham-Ferrers, formerly a collegiate church, Early English and Decorated, is one of the most remarkable churches in the county, both on account of the beauty of its architecture and the number of monuments and brasses it contains. Of the other churches, most of them representing more than one style of architecture, Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular, the standard of excellence is generally so high that it is impossible to select a few for special notice’ in preference to others.
The last surviving fragments of the enclosing wall of Northampton Castle were only demolished in 1878. A gateway at Rockingham, and earthworks at Higham-Ferrers and Brackley are worthy of mention. Some castellated ruins remain of Fotheringhay Castle, which was founded soon after the Conquest by Simon de St Liz, was rebuilt by Edmund, son of Edward III., and for many years was a favourite residence of the princes of the house of York. To it Mary Queen of Scots was removed in September 1586, and it was the scene of her trial in the Octobeι - following, and of her execution, 8th February 1587. The current statement that the castle was razed by James I. after his accession to the English throne is a mistake, but it was allowed to go to decay, and its materials were gradually used for other buildings. Barnwell Castle, founded by William the Conqueror, and an interesting example of the defensive construction of the period, is still a fine ruin, which includes four of the round towers and an imposing gateway. Holdenby Manor House, where Sir Christopher Hatton was born, and where Charles I. was staying when he was carried away by Cornet Joyce, has been demolished. Among the ancient mansion-houses are Castle Ashby, the seat of the Comptons, the oldest portion belonging to the reign of Henry VIII.; Althorp, the seat of the Spencers, of various dates; Drayton House, of the time of Henry VI.; the vast pile of Burghley House, founded by Lord Burghley, but more than once altered and enlarged; and Kirby Hall, built by Sir Christopher Hatton.
There are histories of Northamptonshire by Norden (written 1610, pub. 1720), Bridges (1746, 1791), Baker (vol. i. 1822, 2 parts of vol. ii. 1841), and Whellan (1849, 2d edition 1874). See also Sternberg, The Dialect and Folklore of Northamptonshire (1851); Architectural Notices of the Churches in the Archdeaconry of Northampton (1848-49); Hudson, Brasses of Northamptonshire (1853); and North, Church Bells of Northamptonshire (1878).
Northampton, a municipal and parliamentary borough, and the county town of Northamptonshire, is situated on the slope and summit of an eminence rising above the river Nene, on the main line of the London and NorthWestern Company, on several branch railway lines, and on a branch canal connecting it with the Grand Junction Canal, 65 miles north-north-west from London. It is divided into four nearly equal parts by two main streets, each about a mile in length, running north and south and east and west, and crossing each other at right angles. In the centre of the town there is a very spacious market square, with a fine drinking fountain, erected in 1860 on the site of the old cross, destroyed by the fire of 1675 which levelled a great part of the town. The older houses are substantially built of stone, the newer ones of brick with stone facings. Formerly there were seven parish churches, but of these only four now remain, All Saints, St Giles’s, St Peter’s, and St Sepulchre’s. All Saints was rebuilt after the fire of 1675, but retains its old Decorated Gothic embattled tower, which scarcely harmonizes with the style of the modern building, the principal feature of which is the fine Ionic portico. The church of St Giles’s was originally a cruciform structure of the beginning of the 12th century, but has been greatly changed, and, besides a fine Norman doorway, contains specimens of Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular. St Peter’s, near the ancient castle, is supposed to be of the same date with it, and its interior is a fine specimen of Norman architecture. St Sepulchre’s, one of the four round churches still remaining in England, is supposed to have been built by the Knights Templars at the close of the 11 th century. The Roman Catholic cathedral, in the Gothic style, was founded in 1844, and greatly enlarged in 1863. Among the educational establishments are a free grammar school (1552), a Government school of art (1871), and a bluecoat school, in addition to charity, church, and school-board schools. The charitable foundations comprise St John’s Hospital, founded in the 12th century; St Thomas Hospital, founded 1450, in honour of Thomas Becket; the general infirmary (1747), the general lunatic asylum (1837), the union workhouse (1837), and the Royal Victoria Dispensary (1844). Among the public buildings are the town-hall in the Gothic style (1864), the county-hall in the Grecian, the corn exchange buildings in the Italian, the county jail, the borough jail, the barracks, and the theatre. There is a fine public promenade, and a racecourse with an area of 117 acres. A new cattle market was opened in 1873. Northampton is unrivalled in England for the manufacture of boots and shoes. There are also currying works, breweries, maltings, iron-foundries, flour and paper mills, and brick and tile works. The population of the municipal borough (area 1342 acres) in 1801 was 7020, which in 1831 had increased to 15,357, in 1851 to 26,658, in 1871 to 41,168, and in 1881 to 51,881, of whom 25,249 were males and 26,632 females. The parliamentary borough was enlarged in 1868 to 2046 acres, and the population in 1871 was 45,080, which in 1881 had increased to 57,544.
There is a tradition that Northampton was founded by Belinus, a British king, while according to some it is of Roman origin. Neither of these suppositions is supported by any tangible evidence. In the Saxon Chronicle it is called Hamptune. From 917 to 921 it was in possession of the Danes, and in 1010 was nearly wholly destroyed by Sweyn. After the Norman Conquest it was defended by embattled walls, bastion towers, and a strong fortress. Northampton has been more than once the scene of a parliament. The priory of St Andrew, founded before the Norman Conquest, was rebuilt by Simon de St Liz, and was of very great extent. During the Civil War the town was fortified for the Parliament. The borough received its charter of incorporation from Henry II., which was subsequently extended by the 36 of George III., and this continued to be the governing charter until the passing of the Municipal Act of 1835, when the government was vested in a mayor, six aidermen, and eighteen councillors, the town being divided into three wards. Northampton has returned two members to parliament since the time of Edward I.
