Much of Northamptonshire's countryside appears to have remained somewhat intractable as regards early human occupation, resulting in an apparently sparse population and relatively few finds from the
Palaeolithic,
Mesolithic 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, and over the next century a series of hill-forts were constructed at
Arbury Banks (Arbury Camp),
Rainsborough camp,
Borough Hill, Castle Dykes,
Guilsborough,
Irthlingborough, and most notably of all,
Hunsbury Hill. There are two more possible hill-forts at
Arbury Hill (
Badby) and
Thenford. 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 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,
Kettering and along the
Nene Valley near
Raunds. A large fort was built at
Longthorpe. After the Romans left, the area eventually became part of the
Anglo-Saxon kingdom of
Mercia, and Northampton functioned as an administrative centre. The Mercians converted to Christianity in 654 AD with the death of the
pagan king
Penda. From about 889 the area was conquered by the
Danes (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, 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. The county was first recorded in the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (1011), as
Hamtunscire: the
scire (
shire) 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 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. of the county shown in
John Speed's map of the county in his
Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, 1611. A depiction of the town of Northampton is inset in the top left, and the city of Peterborough in the bottom right. 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, 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's ancestor, Lawrence Washington, was Mayor of
Northampton on several occasions and it was he who bought
Sulgrave Manor from
Henry VIII 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. 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 "[enjoy] a 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. During the 1930s, the town of
Corby was established as a major centre of the steel industry. Corby was designated a
new town in 1950 and Northampton followed in 1968. the government is encouraging development in the
South Midlands area, including Northamptonshire.
Peterborough The
city and
Soke of Peterborough were part of the historic county of Northamptonshire; from the time that formal county boundaries were established by the Normans in the 11th century, to 1965. The
Church of England Diocese of Peterborough that covers Northamptonshire is still centred at
Peterborough Cathedral. The city of Peterborough had its own
courts of quarter sessions and, from 1889, the Soke had its own
county council,
Soke of Peterborough County Council, making it an autonomous district of Northamptonshire. In 1965, the Soke of Peterborough was abolished by the
Local Government Boundary Commission; the city of Peterborough and the surrounding villages that were previously part of the Soke, were transferred to the newly created county of
Huntingdon and Peterborough. The new county of Huntingdon and Peterborough was short lived; it was abolished in 1974. Upon its abolishment, the city of Peterborough and the other settlements that were once part of the former Soke, were transferred to the county of Cambridgeshire, instead of being transferred back to Northamptonshire. Additionally, the former historical county of
Huntingdonshire, which had been abolished along with the Soke of Peterborough in 1965 to create the County of Huntingdon and Peterborough, was not reinstated as a Shire county in its own right in 1974. Instead, Huntingdonshire was transferred to and became a district of Cambridgeshire. Since 1965, Northamptonshire has been one of the small number of English counties that does not contain a city.
Little Bowden In 1879, a
local government district was created covering the three parishes of
Market Harborough and Great Bowden and
Little Bowden. When elected county councils were established in 1889, local government districts were placed entirely in one county, and thus the parish of Little Bowden, a neighbourhood of Market Harborough, was transferred from Northamptonshire to
Leicestershire.
Stamford Until 1832 and 1835,
Stamford Baron St Martin which forms the southern part of the town of
Stamford in Lincolnshire was part of Northamptonshire as
St Martin's Without. It was later incorporated into the then Municipal Borough of Stamford under the then
Parts of Kesteven. ==Geography==