TOWCESTER Official Guide and Map Delivered by Royal Mail to residents and businesses in Towcester. Also available from Town Council offices and to view online at www.towcester-tc.gov.uk Please tell the advertiser you saw them in the Towcester Official Guide and Map Award winning salon ‘Creative Salon Award’ Award winning stylists Salon and stylists state registered - National Federation of Hairdressing AWARD LOOKING YOU! Please visit our website for current offers and discounts or contact one of our friendly staff on: 01327 353143 [email protected] || www.flamehairstudios.co.uk Unit 4 - 6 Shire Court, 25 Richmond Road, Towcester, NN12 6EX 1 Please tell the advertiser you saw them in the Towcester Official Guide and Map TOWCESTER Official Guide and Map Issued by the authority of Towcester Town Council www.towcester-tc.gov.uk © Designed and Published by Local Authority Publishing Co. Ltd. www.localauthoritypublishing.co.uk View the online version at www.officialguides.co.uk Newman & Reidy Isuzu, the leading independent used car & van sales and service centre, in the South Northants and Milton Keynes areas. Established over 20 years. We have been selling New and Used vehicles since 2000 and over the years supplied in excess of 6,000 cars and vans all over the UK. Our service and reputation is outstanding, with many customers returning again and again for repairs, MOT’s and vehicle purchases. We look forward to being of service to the local community for many years to come, please feel free to come and put us to the test. The Name For In Northamptonshire & Milton Keynes Relaxed and friendly environment On-site fully equipped workshop All our cars are of the very highest No pressure selling staffed by factory trained quality & subject to rigorous MOT Station technicians offering a very 82 point RAC Sales check and Specialist Body Shop competitive alternative to main service prior to delivery Valeting Bay dealer servicing costs OPENING TIMES Mon - Fri 8.30am - 6pm Tel: 01327 811110 • www.newmanandreidyisuzu.co.uk Sat 8.30am - 5pm Watling Street, Paulerspury, Towcester, Northamptonshire NN12 6LQ Sun Closed Designed and published by Local Authority Publishing Co. Ltd. International House, Northfield Business Park, Lower Dicker, East Sussex BN27 4BZ 2 Telephone: 01323 849962 • Web: www.localauthoritypublishing.co.uk • Email: [email protected] 3 No. L4420 Printed in England Copyright Please tell the advertiser you saw them in the Towcester Official Guide and Map Contents Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 9 History of Towcester ....................................................................................................................... 11 Towcester Timeline ......................................................................................................................... 15 Town Council .................................................................................................................................. 16 Places of Interest in the Town ......................................................................................................... 18 Location Map ................................................................................................................................. 20 Street Plan ...................................................................................................................................... 22 Towcester Street Index ................................................................................................................... 24 Places of Interest in the Locality ..................................................................................................... 26 Recreation and Leisure ................................................................................................................... 30 Useful Information .......................................................................................................................... 35 Front cover shows: Town Hall. Photographs courtesy of Cllr Peter Allen, Ben Bucklow, Lizzi Bucklow-Holt, Nick Holder and James Rudd www.aboutmyarea.co.uk/nn12 4 www.towcester-tc.gov.uk 5 Please tell the advertiser you saw them in the Towcester Official Guide and Map 6 7 Please tell the advertiser you saw them in the Towcester Official Guide and Map Introduction The town of Towcester, surrounded by the beautiful Northamptonshire countryside, has much to offer to both resident and visitor. Towcester is the oldest town in Northamptonshire and has a long, varied and interesting history. In recognition of this, many of the homes and businesses that line Watling Street are Grade 2 listed and the whole central area is designated a conservation area. It is a town of contrasts where the old mixes happily with the new; the lively Watling Street, the business and commercial lifeline of the town, lies alongside many areas of rural tranquillity. Towcester enjoys a strong sense of community and this is evidenced by the great variety of local clubs and societies that flourish in the town. The town is well served by road, being close to the M1 and A43/A5, providing routes north, south, east and west. Rail links to all parts of the country are available from Banbury, Milton Keynes and Northampton. It has a good range of small shops and services to cater for its 11,000+ inhabitants. During the next few years, several proposed developments will bring significant changes to Towcester. The Moat Lane regeneration scheme has provided a new civic building, community space, new homes offices and commercial outlets centred around the historic Bury Mount. The creation of a new mixed-use neighbourhood, to the south of Towcester will bring approximately 3,000 new homes to the town, together with associated schools, medical and leisure amenities is ongoing. Further developments are adding to the growth of the town. Towcester Town This brief guide, produced by Towcester Town Council, aims to give advice and information about Towcester, its amenities and places of interest. If you require further advice or assistance, please call at the Town Council Office, located in the Town Hall, where the Town Clerk will be pleased to help you. Further information on the activities of Towcester Town Council can be found on www.towcester-tc.gov.uk 8 www.towcester-tc.gov.uk 9 History of Towcester The modern town of Towcester is situated within a bend of the river Tove which was farmed in the Iron-Age and was taken by Roman forces early in their campaign of AD 43. Two new military roads met in this area, the main south east to north west route that we now call Watling street and a route through Chichester, Dorchester and Silchester that is known locally as the Alchester road. At this road junction the Roman Town of Lactodorum developed. Within 150 years it was enclosed within a stone wall and ditch and contained a few notable buildings ornamented with stone carvings. By AD 400 the Roman town was in terminal decline and within a century there were few, if any, families making a living within the Roman defences. This was the period of the “coming of the Saxons” which saw radical changes as the country became divided up into kingdoms with the old defences of Lactodorum being within the lands of the Middle Angles. The area was later subsumed into the Kingdom of Mercia. Danish raids on the east and south coasts started in earnest from AD 830 and within 50 years the eastern half of Mercia was under the control of the Danes. They also attacked Wessex but after a series of victories were finally repulsed by the Wessex army led by King Alfred the Great. His son Edward and daughter Arthelfled, Queen of Mercia, constructed a series of forts in a frontier war of attrition against the Danish colonists. Edward’s forces converted the ruined town walls of Lactodorum into one of these forts in 917 and successfully repulsed a day long attack by the Danes. After the fort was strengthened, the leaders of the Danes in the region capitulated and swore allegiance to King Edward. It was probably during the reign of Edward’s son, Athelstan, that the fort became the administrative centre of the ‘hundred court’, where the monthly meetings would be held of the inhabitants of seven parishes between Towcester and Northampton. This was the start of modern- day Towcester. The early town profited from the smiths who exploited the local iron ore deposits but may have been badly affected with the rest of south Northamptonshire by the pillaging of a Northumbrian army the year before William the Conqueror invaded in 1066. Towcester became part of the King’s estate but was passed to the Earls of Hertford, shortly after 1100. During the anarchy period following the death of Henry 1st, a castle was built close to the church by the first Earl of Hertford. Bury Mount in Moat lane was the motte of this castle. Although the market in Towcester is first recorded in 1275 it had probably been established in late Saxon times, as had the town’s watermill. By 1200 there was a hospital at the north end of town providing help and accommodation to those suffering from leprosy who were outcasts from the community. Disease was a constant problem and the plague of 1348 would have led to many deaths. In the 15th century the town was prospering with at least three large inns providing accommodation to travellers. Many improvements were made to the parish church in this period. The