Northampton Town: A History Tour
Join Kylie and Olivia from Team Social for their whirlwind tour of Northampton and its wonderful history!
1 selfie stick, 2 girls, 10 stops, let’s go!
Stop number 1 on the tour is a fountain. It’s dedicated to St Thomas a Beckett. He was Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Chancellor and BFF of King Henry II.
Long story short, they had a big ol’ falling out, Thomas went on trial at Northampton Castle, however he fled to France after the verdict. On his way out of the town, he stopped to drink at this well. Which is now a beautifully restored fountain!
This beautiful house in the Cultural Quarter of the town is the only house in England designed by the Scottish artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh for J. Bassett-Lowke (big up Avenue Halls!)
The house is an art gallery, restaurant, shop and event space. The art-deco style gives us total Great Gatsby feels!
Next we ventured right into the centre of the town to the Guildhall. This is Northampton’s stunning town hall! It was built in the 1860s in this beautiful neo-gothic style. It’s got dungeons, secret rooms and tunnels running underneath it all over the town!
If there’s one thing Northampton is famous for, it’s shooooes! Northampton Museum and Art Gallery is at the heart of the cultural quarter and has the largest collection of items telling the history of shoes IN THE WORLD!
Guys, its free as well. What’s not to love? They have Queen Victoria’s wedding shoes too, so pretty!
Northampton has 2 theatres in one building, win! The Royal Theatre was opened in 1884 and has been kept in the same lovely Victorian style since.
It’s a great setting to see some Shakespeare, or even a musical! It’s two doors down from the Museum so you really have no excuse not to pop in and have a look around ;)
Just outside the town centre is an absolute gem of medieval history in Northampton! The Holy Sepulchre church is a very rare circular church. It was built around 1100 by Simon de Senlis (big up Park Halls!).
There are only 4 of these churches left in England so we’re super lucky to have this important nugget of history in the town. The graveyard is also mega spooky but has some really interesting gravestones for you to have a look around.
We all know the fancy new train station in Northampton, but did you know that it was once Northampton Castle?! It was one of the most important castles in England for hundreds of years, before it was destroyed by the King himself in 1662.
The only part of the Medieval Castle still standing is this restored Postern Gate, hiding in plain sight right next to the train station!
This picturesque house sits in the leafy grounds of Abington Park, and it has been open as a museum since 1899. Before that, it was a lunatic asylum, and before that it was a manor house belonging to William Shakespeare’s granddaughter!
It’s seen some crazy history and the museum is open April-October for you to see it too.
Next we headed just outside of the town centre to Delapré Abbey. It was founded almost 900 years ago but the public have never had a proper peak inside, until now!
It’s been going through a humongous restoration and later this year it’s opening to the public for the first ever time. We’re mega excited for long walks in the park there (where the Battle of Northampton happened), a little nugget of local history with a tour of the house, and yummy tea and cakes in the new café.
Lastly, but certainly not least-ly(?!) we jollied up the road from Delapré to the famous Eleanor Cross. Good ol’ Edward I built this in 1291 when he was bringing his wife Eleanor of Castille’s body from Lincoln to London to be buried, and stayed at the castle here.
There’s only 4 left in England and Northamptonshire has 2! Oh yeah, winning the history game :D
