Northampton

Northampton, the capital of Northamptonshire, and a county, parliamentary, and municipal borough, is seated on rising ground on the left bank of the river Nen, 66 miles NW. by N. of London and 50 SE. of Birmingham. It has a fine town-hall (1861-64), to which other municipal offices have more recently been added at a cost of £24,000; a county hall, noticeable for its decorated ceiling; corn exchange (1850); museum, free library, and schools of science and art (enlarged 1889); several large hospitals; a theatre (1884); infantry barracks (1797; rebuilt 1877-78); and thirteen churches, the most interesting of which are St Peter's (Norman), St Sepulchre's (Norman and Decorated, one of the few remaining round churches in England), All-Saints' (rebuilt subsequent to 1675, but with a fine west tower partly Norman), and St Giles' (cruciform). The principal manufacture is that of boots and shoes, the town being the English centre of that industry; a considerable trade is carried on in the dressing of leather, some lace is made, and extensive breweries are also in operation. On the outskirts of the town is a fine racecourse, on which meetings are held annually in April and November. Pop. (1801) 7020; (1831) 15,351; of the municipal borough (1891) 61,016, and of the parliamentary borough, which returns two members, 70,872.—Of the many stirring events of which Northampton has been the theatre, the principal are its burning by the Danes (1010); the rebuilding, and erection of its castle (of which no traces now remain) by one Simon de St Liz (c. 1075); its siege by the barons (1215), when garrisoned for King John; the establishment of its university (1260), which was abolished some few years later; the conclusion of a treaty (1318) by which the independence of Scotland was formally recognised; the holding of many parliaments; royal visits by Richard I. (in whose reign a royal mint was established here), John, Henry III. (who here received homage from Alexander II. of Scotland), Edward I., Queen Elizabeth, and Charles I.; a battle (10th July 1460) fought in the meadows below the town between Henry VI. and the Yorkists, in which the former was defeated and made prisoner; a visitation of the plague (1637), which in five months claimed 500 victims; the mustering here in 1642 of the parliamentary forces under Lord Essex on the outbreak of the Civil War; and a great fire (20th September 1675) which almost entirely destroyed the town.