Northamptonshire place-names: Difference between revisions
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<p id="byline">By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2014-10-19. Revised by {{#realname:{{REVISIONUSER}}}}, {{REVISIONYEAR}}-{{REVISIONMONTH}}-{{REVISIONDAY2}}.</p><div class="no-img"> | <p id="byline">By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2014-10-19. Revised by {{#realname:{{REVISIONUSER}}}}, {{REVISIONYEAR}}-{{REVISIONMONTH}}-{{REVISIONDAY2}}.</p><div class="no-img"> | ||
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=== County description === | === County description === |
Revision as of 07:01, 27 October 2017
By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2014-10-19. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2017-10-27.
County description
The Historic Counties Trust describes Northamptonshire as follows:
Northamptonshire is an inland county. It was once known as the county of "spires and squires"; the haunt of wealthy landowners and a place with several fine mediæval church spires. It is said to be fine foxhunting country. Industry and new town developments have changed the face of Northamptonshire though. Corby was until recently one of the greatest steelworks towns, working the local iron ore. Other towns around it have grown up to service Corby industry or to hug the transport links that cross the shire. Northampton has long been famous for shoes. The industry is no longer dominant, but Northampton is the top location for the leatherworking trade. The town has grown substantially in the last decade or two since it was declared a New Town. The New town elements are the growing outskirts of the town; the centre remains that of a traditional market town. The north-eastern extremity of Northamptonshire is known as the Soke of Peterborough. The Soke has its origin in the Mid-Saxon period, when King Peada of Mercia founded an Abbey at "Medehamstede" and granted it extraordinary civil and ecclesiastical exemptions (or so a charter conveniently discovered much later claimed). "Medehamstede" in time became named "Peterborough". At the heart of Peterborough is its Cathedral, a fine Barnack rag construction slightly incongruous in what has become a modern City Centre. (Barnack itself, with a fine Anglo-Saxon church, lies to the north.) Peterborough is also a New Town, but more comprehensively than Northampton; whole new town suburbs and concrete multi-lane roads have been spread across the land and across the Nene into Huntingdonshire. Away from the developments Northamptonshire still retains a good deal of its old halls and manor houses and villages.
Main Towns: Brackley, Brixworth, Corby, Daventry, Earls Barton, Irthlingborough, Kettering, Northampton, Oundle, Rushden, Peterborough, Silverstone, Towcester, Wellingborough.
Main Rivers: Nene, Welland, Avon, Swift.
Highlights: Eleanor Cross, Northampton; Fotheringhay; Kirby Hall; Naseby battlefield; Peterborough Cathedral.
Highest Point: Arbury Hill, 224.94 m.
Area: 2548.55 km3.[1]
Lists and gazetteers
- Dobson, R. B., ed.; Taylor, J., ed. Rymes of Robyn Hood: an Introduction to the English Outlaw (London, 1976), p. 300
- No relevant contents in Gover, J.E.B.; Mawer, A.; Stenton, F.M. The Place-Names of Northamptonshire (English Place-Name Society, vol. X) (Cambridge, 1933).
Background
- British History Online: Victoria County History – Northamptonshire
- The Historic Counties Trust: Historic Counties Descriptions
- Wikipedia: Northamptonshire.
Notes
- ↑ The Historic Counties Trust has kindly allowed me to quote its county descriptions in toto. I have converted square miles to km2 and feet to m.