About Northampton

A great fire destroyed Northampton in 1675, but it was rebuilt in such a spacious, well-planned way that Daniel Defoe (1661-1731) called it “the handsomest and best built town in all this part of England”.

Boot, shoe and leather manufacturing became major industries in the late 18th century. Their importance to the town is reflected in the Central Museum and Art Gallery, which displays Roman sandals, Queen Victoria’s slippers and Margot Fonteyn’s ballet pumps. The strangest item is a huge boot worn by an elephant which was taken across the Alps in 1959 in a re-enactment of Hannibal’s crossing.

The rebuilding of Northampton after the fire took place around a massive market square, one of the largest in the country. The main streets which radiate from it recall the town’s medieval trades; among them are Gold Street and Sheep Street.

Five fine churches survived the fire. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built around 1100 in imitation of the original in Jerusalem, is one of only four round churches in the country.

Delapre Abbey, a mainly 17th century house, incorporates the remains of a medieval nunnery and now houses the County Records Office. Two of the secular buildings to survive the fire were Haselrigg House, built in 1662, and Welsh House, built in 1595 – a relic of the days when Welsh drovers brought their cattle to Northampton market.

Abington Park Museum and the Regimental Museum occupy a manor house that was originally medieval but was greatly altered in the 17th and 18th centuries. Shakespeare’s grand-daughter once lived in it.