Northampton
Northampton, the lively county town perched on the banks of the River Nene, has a history that stretches back at least to the Saxon period, for traces of pre-Conquest settlements have been found on the site of Northampton Castle. After the Conquest in 1066 it became one of the principal Norman towns in the Midlands, situated as it was equa-distant between York and Winchester, their northern and southern capitals respectively. Northampton received its first market charter in 1189. Throughout the Middle Ages the town flourished and its castle became a favourite royal residence where many councils and parliaments were held. King John was often resident at Northampton Castle and it was here that his father's troublesome archbishop, Thomas Becket, was tried and condemned in 1164. The castle was eventually demolished, by order of Charles II, after the Restoration, along with the town walls. Northampton also became a mecca for Crusaders who built a church on the model of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. From the battlefield of Northampton, fought at Hardingstone Fields in 1460, the pitiful figure of Henry VI fled stricken and defeated - this proved a crucial victory for the Yorkists in the Wars of the Roses. Just outside of Northampton stands the Eleanor Cross, one of twelve such crosses erected by Edward I, to mark the resting-place of his wife's coffin on its journey to London in 1290.
The medieval town was largely destroyed in the disastrous fire of September 1675, but was later rebuilt in such a spacious, well-planned way that Daniel Defoe (1661-1731) praised it as the "handsomest and best town in all this part of England". Those responsible for the rebuilding of Northampton adopted the policy of radiating out from the massive Market Square, one of the largest in the country. Many of the main streets that fan out from the square recall the town's medieval trades, such as Gold Street, Silver Street and Sheep Street.
Northampton lost much that was ancient during the September inferno, but some few and rare buildings were spared, in their entirety or in part, offering us a glimpse of pre 17 th century Northampton. The 14 th century almshouse and chapel of St John's Hospital, founded in 1137 in Bridge Street, is a charming and most pleasant sight, especially the Tudor west window of the chapel. Few secular buildings survived the great fire; two that did are Hazelrigg Mansion built in 1662, and Welsh House dating back to 1595. The latter is a relic of the days when Welsh drovers brought their cattle to Northampton market. Hazelrigg Mansion remains an attractive house with three round gables projecting from the roof; legend has it that Cromwell slept here after his victory at Naseby. The principal Hazelrigg in history was the ardent Cromwellian, Sir Arthur Hesilrige, a member of the Committee of Safety in the Commonwealth, who lived into the Restoration only to die in the Tower of London.
The town must be thankful that the fire spared three fine churches, the magnificent church of St Peter, the handsome medieval St Giles and the remarkable round church of the Holy Sepulchre. They remain three of the finest churches in Northampton and together with All Saints, rebuilt after the fire, make up a group, which any town would be proud of. St Peters is the most interesting Norman church in the county, large in size with a number of unusual features. Built around 1160 the long lines of Norman arcading and the remarkable buttresses of its Norman tower combine elegance with strength forming a most impressive whole. Standing on a former Saxon site the church still retains some Saxon carvings, one a fragment of a fine 9 th century cross-shaft. From the Norman period comes a carved stone, four feet high with a lion in a circle and monsters biting their own tales.
The dominant element in St Giles is the tall Norman crossing tower rebuilt in 1613; the earliest remaining parts are the Norman arches of the crossing. St Giles can boast the only peal of 10 bells in any church tower in the shire. The Norman church of the Holy Sepulchre is one of only five churches left in England modelled on the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Built in the round, a rarity in any country, this shape was favoured by the Knights Templars and the Knights Hospitallers in memory of the rotunda forming part of the Holy Sepulchre. It was constructed about 1100, most probably by Simon de Senlis first Earl of Northampton, who took part in the first Crusade and eventually died in France. The Round itself remains an impressive spectacle with its sturdy columns still intact where the Normans set them nine centuries ago. In the floor of the outer aisle are gravestones belonging to the family of Sir William Fleetwood, whose brother married Cromwell's daughter. There are some medieval coffin lids in the Round, original gargoyles on the tower, and an ‘upside down' scratch dial in the south porch.
The medieval church of All Saints was severely burnt in the Great Fire of 1675, every part of the building being devastated except for the west tower and the crypt below the chancel. The masonry of the lower parts of the tower may belong to the 12 th century and the crypt could possibly be 13 th century. In 1232 an indulgence was granted to contributors to the building of the church. Although All Saints has not the appeal of antiquity, having been rebuilt in the 17 th century, it still remains one of the finest buildings in the town and will reward the visitors' time.
The town and county halls stand within a stone's throw of each other; the County Hall, or Session's House, is the older of the two, being built in 1678, and was the first public building erected after the fire. The Town Hall, or Guildhall, is a characteristically Victorian edifice with an over decorated Gothic façade, built in 1864. Boot, shoe and leather manufacturing have long been associated with Northampton. King John is rumoured to have bought a pair of boots here for ninepence and most certainly the town made boots for his soldiers; Northampton boots also trampled with Henry VIII across the Field of the Cloth of Gold. The town provided 1500 pairs of shoes to Cromwell's Roundheads with whom they sided in the Civil War, and their boots have marched to victory with Marlborough, Wellington, Roberts, Kitchener, Haig, Alexander and Montgomery. Their importance to the town is reflected in the displays at the Central Museum, and Art Gallery. Here are Roman sandals, Queen Victoria's wedding slippers and Margot Fonteyn's ballet shoes. The strangest items are a set of boots made for an elephant in 1959, when the British Alpine Expedition re-enacted Hannibal's crossing of the Alps.
One of the most pathetic figures associated with Northampton is John Clare, the peasant poet, son of a poor labourer born in 1793. In 1841 he was housed in an asylum where he lived for 22 troubled years.