37 Facts About Northampton

Northampton is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, 60 miles north-west of London and 50 miles south-east of Birmingham.

Medieval Northampton had many churches, monasteries and the University of Northampton, all enclosed by the town walls.

Northampton supported the Parliamentary Roundheads in the English Civil War, and Charles II ordered the destruction of the town walls and most of the castle.

Northampton continued to grow with the arrival of the Grand Union Canal and the railways in the 19th century, becoming a centre for footwear and leather manufacture.

Present-day Northampton is the latest in a series of settlements that began in the Bronze Age.

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The Danish army of Northampton however submitted to Edward the Elder, Saxon King of Wessex in 921.

Northampton Castle is thought to have been built by Simon de Senlis, who became the first Earl of Northampton, circa 1084.

In 1261, the medieval University of Northampton was established by royal charter from King Henry III.

However, after members of the university sided with supporters of Simon de Montfort and advisors to The Crown said that Northampton was a threat to Oxford's scholastic hegemony, Henry III dissolved the university in 1265.

The First Battle of Northampton took place in 1264 at the site of Northampton Castle where King Henry III and his son Prince Edward attacked with a large army, pillaged the town and took prisoners.

In 1460, the Second Battle of Northampton took place during the War of the Roses in the meadows between the River Nene and Delapre Abbey.

Royal connection to Northampton Castle became less significant, and by the time of the English Civil War, Northampton was decidedly pro-Parliament.

Northampton grew beyond the old town walls and industry grew rapidly with the mechanisation of factories by the middle of the 19th century.

Northampton was reconstituted as a non-metropolitan district which covered areas outside the former borough boundaries but inside the designated New Town.

On Good Friday 1998, Northampton suffered severe flooding, particularly in the areas of Far Cotton and St James; two people were killed and thousands of homes were affected.

Northampton applied for city status in 2000 to celebrate the new millennium, in 2002 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II and most recently in 2022 to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II, but failed on all three occasions and remains a town.

Northampton was inaugurated as a constituency in 1295; that is it returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons.

Northampton was granted modern borough status in 1974, when it was reconstituted as a non-metropolitan district, a subdivision of its non-metropolitan county .

Northampton General Hospital is an NHS trust hospital which founded in 1744 and moved to its present site in 1793, and has continued to provide healthcare to the local community for more than 200 years.

Northampton is formally in the East Midlands region but is referred to in Government planning as being part of the South Midlands "growth area".

Northampton is subdivided into suburbs, council wards, constituencies, ecclesiastical parishes, and other less formal areas.

The official Met Office weather station for Northampton is the Moulton Park Weather Station at the University of Northampton.

The University of Northampton is a major employer, as is St Andrew's Healthcare, a national mental health charity.

Two commercial cinemas in Northampton are Vue at Sol Central in the centre and Cineworld at Sixfields.

Gothic rock band Bauhaus formed in Northampton, often cited as the godfathers of goth, they helped pioneer the genre during the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s.

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Northampton is home to Northampton Outlaws, its first inclusive rugby team and the 9th gay-friendly team in the United Kingdom.

EFL League Two football club Northampton Town, known as "The Cobblers" from the town's shoemaking background, are based at Sixfields Stadium.

Northampton is home to Collingtree Park Golf Club, which hosted the British Masters in 1995.

Northampton is home to Be Military Fit in Abington Park where members can train up to 7 times a week with serving or ex-military fitness instructors.

Northampton has been used as a location for television, film and theatre.

Northampton Castle is featured in William Shakespeare's history play King John and in Becket, a play by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

Parts of the 2005 film Kinky Boots were made in Northampton and featured shots of the statue outside the Grosvenor Centre in the town centre and inside RE Tricker's shoe factory in St Michaels Road representing the original factory in Earls Barton.

Just south of the town centre Delapre Abbey, a former Cluniac nunnery, the County Records Office and site of the second Battle of Northampton, which was founded by Simon II de Senlis, the son of first Earl of Northampton, in 1145.

The A14 is close by to the north of Northampton, providing links to East Anglia and a secondary route to the areas of the Midlands which are situated to the north of the town.

Northampton is the terminus of an arm of the Grand Union Canal, which connects to the River Nene and from that to the River Great Ouse and the North Sea.

Northampton once had a horse-drawn tramway which opened in 1881.

Moulton College is another FE college just north of Northampton which provides many vocational courses, specialising in land-based subjects, sports and construction.