The county is characterised by low, undulating hills, particularly to the west. They are the source of several rivers, including theAvon andWelland, which form much of the northern border; theCherwell; and theGreat Ouse. TheRiver Nene is the principal river within the county, having its source in the southwest and flowing northeast past Northampton and Wellingborough. The highest point isArbury Hill southwest ofDaventry, at 225 m (738 ft).
There areIron Age andRoman remains in the county, and in the seventh century it was settled by theAngles andSaxons, becoming part ofMercia. The county likely has its origin in theDanelaw as the area controlled from Northampton, which was one of theFive Boroughs. In the later Middle Ages and Early Modern Period the county was relatively settled, although Northampton was the location of engagements, including the1264 Battle of Northampton during the Second Barons' War, the1460 Battle of Northampton during the Wars of the Roses, and the decisiveBattle of Naseby which destroyed the main Royalist army during the First English Civil War. During theIndustrial Revolution Northamptonshire became known for its footwear, and the contemporary county has a number of small industrial centres which specialise in engineering and food processing.[6][7]
Much of Northamptonshire's countryside appears to have remained somewhat intractable as regards early human occupation, resulting in an apparently sparse population and relatively few finds from thePalaeolithic,Mesolithic andNeolithic periods.[8] In about 500 BC theIron Age was introduced into the area by a continental people in the form of theHallstatt culture,[9] and over the next century a series of hill-forts were constructed atArbury Banks (Arbury Camp),Rainsborough camp,Borough Hill, Castle Dykes,Guilsborough,Irthlingborough, and most notably of all,Hunsbury Hill. There are two more possible hill-forts atArbury Hill (Badby) andThenford.[9]In the 1st century BC, most of what later became Northamptonshire became part of the territory of theCatuvellauni, aBelgic tribe, the Northamptonshire area forming their most northerly possession.[9] The Catuvellauni were conquered by theRomans in 43 AD.[10]
After the Romans left, the area eventually became part of theAnglo-Saxon kingdom ofMercia, and Northampton functioned as an administrative centre. The Mercians converted to Christianity in 654 AD with the death of thepagan kingPenda.[11] From about 889 the area was conquered by theDanes (as at one point almost all of England was, except forAthelney marsh inSomerset) and became part of theDanelaw – withWatling Street serving as the boundary – until being recaptured by the English under theWessex kingEdward the Elder, son ofAlfred the Great, in 917. Northamptonshire was conquered again in 940, this time by theVikings ofYork, who devastated the area, only for the county to be retaken by the English in 942.[12]
The county was first recorded in theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle (1011), asHamtunscire: thescire (shire) ofHamtun (the homestead). The "North" was added to distinguish Northampton from the other importantHamtun further south:Southampton – though the origins of the two names are in fact different.[13]
George Washington, the first President of the United States of America, was born into the Washington family who had migrated to America from Northamptonshire in 1656.George Washington's ancestor, Lawrence Washington, was Mayor ofNorthampton on several occasions and it was he who boughtSulgrave Manor fromHenry VIII in 1539. It was George Washington's great-grandfather,John Washington, who emigrated in 1656 from Northamptonshire toVirginia. Before Washington's ancestors moved toSulgrave, they lived inWarton, Lancashire.[18]
In the 18th and 19th centuries, parts of Northamptonshire and the surrounding area became industrialised. The local specialisation wasshoemaking and the leather industry and became one of Britain's major centres for these crafts by the 19th century. In the north of the county a largeironstonequarrying industry developed from 1850.[19]
In 1823 Northamptonshire was said to "[enjoy] a very pure and wholesome air" because of its dryness and distance from the sea. Its livestock were celebrated: "Horned cattle, and other animals, are fed to extraordinary sizes: and many horses of the large black breed are reared."[20]
Nine years later, the county was described as "a county enjoying the reputation of being one of the healthiest and pleasantest parts of England" although the towns were "of small importance" with the exceptions of Peterborough and Northampton. In summer, the county hosted "a great number of wealthy families... country seats and villas are to be seen at every step."[21] Northamptonshire is still referred to as the county of "spires and squires" because of the numbers of stately homes and ancient churches.[22]
Prior to 1901 the ancienthundreds were disused. Northamptonshire was administered as four major divisions: Northern, Eastern, Mid, and Southern.[23] During the 1930s, the town ofCorby was established as a major centre of the steel industry.
Corby was designated anew town in 1950[24] and Northampton followed in 1968.[25] As of 2005[update] the government is encouraging development in theSouth Midlands area, including Northamptonshire.[26]
The new county of Huntingdon and Peterborough was short lived; it was abolished in 1974. Upon its abolishment, the city of Peterborough and the other settlements that were once part of the former Soke, were transferred to the county of Cambridgeshire, instead of being transferred back to Northamptonshire. Additionally, the former historical county ofHuntingdonshire, which had been abolished along with the Soke of Peterborough in 1965 to create the County of Huntingdon and Peterborough, was not reinstated as a Shire county in its own right in 1974. Instead, Huntingdonshire was transferred to and became a district of Cambridgeshire.
Since 1965, Northamptonshire has been one of the small number of English counties that does not contain a city.
In 1879, alocal government district was created covering the three parishes ofMarket Harborough and Great Bowden andLittle Bowden.[29] When elected county councils were established in 1889, local government districts were placed entirely in one county, and thus the parish of Little Bowden, a neighbourhood of Market Harborough, was transferred from Northamptonshire toLeicestershire.[30]
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the southern part of theEast Midlands,[32] sometimes known as theSouth Midlands. The county contains thewatershed between theRiver Severn andThe Wash, and several important rivers have their sources in the north-west of the county, including theRiver Nene, which flows north-eastwards to The Wash, and theWarwickshire Avon, which flows south-west to the Severn. In 1830, it was boasted that "not a single brook, however insignificant, flows into it from any other district".[33] In the west of the county, the hills most commonly referred to as theNorthamptonshire Uplands can be found, in this area, the highest point in the county,Arbury Hill, at 225 metres (738 ft), can be found, just to the south ofDaventry.[34][35] The boundary with Lincolnshire is England's shortest ceremonial county boundary, at 20 yards (18 metres).[36]
There are several towns in the county,Northampton being the largest and most populous.
Built-up areas with over 10,000 inhabitants at the 2021 census.[37]
Northampton itself is the most populouscivil parish in England, and (prior to 2021) was the most populous urban district in England not to be administered as aunitary authority (even though several smaller districts are unitary). During the1990s local government reform, Northampton Borough Council petitioned strongly for unitary status, which led to fractured relations with the County Council.[citation needed]
In early 2018,Northamptonshire County Council was declared technically insolvent and would be able to provide only the bare essential services.[41] According toThe Guardian the problems were caused by "a reckless half-decade in which it refused to raise council tax to pay for the soaring costs of social care" and "partly due to past failings, the council is now having to make some drastic decisions to reduce services to a core offer." Some observers, such as Simon Edwards of theCounty Councils Network, added another perspective on the cause of the financial crisis, theUnited Kingdom government austerity programme: "It is clear that, partly due to past failings, the council is now having to make some drastic decisions to reduce services to a core offer. However, we can't ignore that some of the underlying causes of the challenges facing Northamptonshire, such as dramatic reductions to council budgets and severe demand for services, mean county authorities across the country face funding pressures of £3.2bn over the next two years."[42]
Northamptonshire before (left) and after (right) the 2021 structural changes
In early 2018, following the events above, Government-appointed commissioners took over control of the council's affairs. Consequently, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government commissioned an independent report which, in March 2018, proposed structural changes to local government in Northamptonshire. These changes, implemented on 1 April 2021, saw the existing county council and district councils abolished and two new unitary authorities created in their place.[43] One unitary authority,West Northamptonshire, consists of the former districts ofDaventry,Northampton andSouth Northamptonshire; the other,North Northamptonshire, consists of the formerEast Northamptonshire district and the former boroughs ofCorby,Kettering andWellingborough.[44]
Northamptonshire returns sevenMembers of Parliament (MPs). As of 2024[update], five are currently from theLabour Party and two from theConservative Party.[45] Several of the constituencies have been marginal in the past, including the Northampton seats, Wellingborough, Kettering, and Corby, which were all Labour seats before 2005. In the 2016 EU referendum, all of the Northamptonshire districts voted to Leave, most by a significant margin.
From 1993 until 2005, Northamptonshire County Council,[46] for which each of the 73electoral divisions in the county elected a single councillor, had been held by the Labour Party; it had been underno overall control since 1981. The councils of the rural districts – Daventry, East Northamptonshire, and South Northamptonshire – were strongly Conservative, whereas the political composition of the urban districts was more mixed. At the 2003 local elections, Labour lost control of Kettering, Northampton, and Wellingborough, retaining only Corby. Elections for the entire County Council were held every four years – the last were held on4 May 2017. The County Council used aleader and cabinet executive system and abolished itsarea committees in April 2006.
This is a chart of trend of the regional gross value added of Northamptonshire at current basic prices in millions of British Pounds Sterling (correct on 21 December 2005):[55]
Internationalmotor racing takes place atSilverstone Circuit[66] and, formerly,Rockingham Motor Speedway;[67]Santa Pod Raceway is just over the border inBedfordshire but has a Northamptonshire postcode.[68] A study commissioned by Northamptonshire Enterprise Ltd (NEL) reported that Northamptonshire's motorsport sites attract more than 2.1 million visitors per year who spend a total of more than £131 million within the county.[69]
Northamptonshire forms part of theMilton Keynes and South Midlands Growth area which also includesMilton Keynes,Aylesbury Vale andBedfordshire. This area has been identified as an area which is due to have tens of thousands additional homes built between 2010 and 2020. In North Northamptonshire (Boroughs of Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough and East Northants), over 52,000 homes are planned or newly built and 47,000 new jobs are also planned.[70] In West Northamptonshire (boroughs of Northampton, Daventry and South Northants), over 48,000 homes are planned or newly built and 37,000 new jobs are planned.[71] To oversee the planned developments, two urban regeneration companies have been created: North Northants Development Company (NNDC)[70] and the West Northamptonshire Development Corporation.[71] The NNDC launched a controversial[72] campaign calledNorth Londonshire to attract people from London to the county.[73] There is also a county-wide tourism campaign with the sloganNorthamptonshire, Let yourself grow.[74]
The county'smusic and performing arts trust provides peripatetic music teaching to schools. It also supports 15 local Saturday morning music and performing arts centres around the county and provides a range of county-level music groups.
Northamptonshire has one university, theUniversity of Northampton. It has two campuses 2.5 miles (4.0 km) apart and 10,000 students.[79] It offers courses for needs and interests from foundation and undergraduate level to postgraduate, professional and doctoral qualifications. Subjects include traditional arts, humanities and sciences subjects, as well as entrepreneurship, product design and advertising.[80]
In February 2011 a new satellite out-patient centre opened at Nene Park, Irthlingborough to provide over 40,000 appointments a year, as well as a minor injury unit to serve Eastern Northamptonshire. This was opened to relieve pressure off Kettering General Hospital, and has also replaced the dated Rushden Memorial Clinic which provided at the time about 8,000 appointments a year, when open.[81]
In June 2008,Anglian Water found traces ofCryptosporidium in water supplies of Northamptonshire. The local reservoir atPitsford was investigated and aEuropean rabbit which had strayed into it,[82] causing the problem, was found. About 250,000 residents were affected;[83] by 14 July 2008, 13 cases of cryptosporidiosis attributed to water in Northampton had been reported.[84] Following the end of the investigation, Anglian Water lifted its boil notice for all affected areas on 4 July 2008.[85] Anglian Water revealed that it would pay up to £30 per household as compensation for customers hit by the water crisis.[86]
The gap in the hills atWatford Gap meant that many south-east to north-west routes passed through Northamptonshire.Watling Street, a Roman Road which is now part of theA5, passes through here, as did canals, railways and major roads in later years.
Major national roads, including theM1 motorway (London to Leeds) and theA14 (Rugby to Felixstowe), provide Northamptonshire with transport links both north–south and east–west. TheA43 joins the M1 to theM40 motorway, passing through the south of the county to the junction west of Brackley, and theA45 links Northampton with Wellingborough and Peterborough.
The county road network (excluding trunk roads and motorways), managed by West Northamptonshire Council and North Northamptonshire Council, includes theA45 west of theM1 motorway, theA43 betweenNorthampton and the county boundary near Stamford, theA361 betweenKilsby andBanbury (Oxon) and all B, C and unclassified roads. Since 2009, these highways have been managed on behalf of the county council by MGWSP, a joint venture betweenMay Gurney and WSP.
A branch of the Grand Union Canal connects to theRiver Nene in Northampton and has been upgraded to a 'wide canal' in places and is known as theNene Navigation. It is famous for itsguillotine locks.
Corby was described as the largest town in Britain without a railway station.[87] The railway running through the town from Kettering toOakham inRutland was previously used only by freight traffic and occasional diverted passenger trains that did not stop at the station. The line through Corby was once part of a main line toNottingham throughMelton Mowbray, but the stretch between Melton and Nottingham was closed in 1968. In the 1980s, an experimental passenger shuttle service ran between Corby and Kettering but was withdrawn a few years later.[88] On 23 February 2009, a newrailway station opened, providing direct hourly access toLondon St Pancras. Following the opening of Corby Station, Rushden then became the largest town in the United Kingdom without a direct railway station. As of 2023, Corby is served by two regularEMR services per hour to London St Pancras International, branded as the Luton Airport Express and EMR Connect.
As early as 1897, Northamptonshire would have had its ownChannel Tunnel rail link with the creation of theGreat Central Railway, which was intended to connect to a tunnel under theEnglish Channel. Although the complete project never came to fruition, the rail link through Northamptonshire was constructed, and had stations atCharwelton,Woodford Halse,Helmdon andBrackley. It became part of the London and North Eastern Railway in 1923 (and of British Railways in 1948) before its closure in 1966.[citation needed]
The route of the plannedHigh Speed 2 railway line (between London and Birmingham) will go through the southern part of the county but without any stations.[citation needed]
Most buses are operated byStagecoach Midlands. Some town area routes have been named the Corby Star, Connect Kettering, Connect Wellingborough and Daventry Dart; the last three of these routes have route designations that include a letter (such as A, D1, W1, W2).Stagecoach's X4 route provides interurban links across the county, running between Northampton, Wellingborough, Kettering, Corby, Oundle and Peterborough. Uno and Centrebus also run services within the county,
Sywell Aerodrome, on the edge ofSywell village, has three grass runways and one concrete all-weather runway. It is, however, only 1000 metres long and therefore cannot be served by passenger jets.[91]
Northamptonshire is served predominantly byLondon Luton Airport in neighbouringBedfordshire, which can be directly accessed by train every 30 minutes from Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough.London Stansted Airport in neighbouring Essex is around 40 miles away and can be accessed by car but does not feature a direct rail connection from anywhere in the county.
Further afield, Northamptonshire is also within reach ofBirmingham Airport andEast Midlands Airport, both of which are around 45 miles away and can be accessed by direct trains from various stations within the county.
BBC Radio Northampton, broadcasts on twoFM frequencies: 104.2 MHz for the south and west of the county (includingNorthampton and surrounding area) and 103.6 MHz for the north of the county (includingKettering,Wellingborough andCorby). BBC Radio Northampton is situated on Abington Street, Northampton. These services are broadcast from theMoulton Park &Geddington transmitters. Some southern parts of the county (includingBrackley) is served byBBC Radio Oxford broadcasting on 95.2 MHz.
There are three commercial radio stations in the county. The formerKettering and Corby Broadcasting Company (KCBC) station was called Connect Radio (97.2 and 107.4 MHz FM), following a merger with the Wellingborough-based station of the same name. It is now part ofSmooth East Midlands. While bothHeart East (96.6 MHz FM) andAM stationGold (1557 kHz) air very little local content as they form part of a national network. Nationaldigital radio is also available in Northamptonshire.
Corby is served by its own dedicated station, Corby Radio (96.3 FM), based in the town and focused on local content.[92]
During the 2023/24 Season, Northampton Saints finished thePremiership season top of the table, securing them a Home Semi-Final against the reigning Gallagher Premiership ChampionsSaracens, with Saints winning and becoming Finalists for the first time since winning the league in 2014. Saints playedBath Rugby atTwickenham Stadium in the Final on 8 June 2024. Northampton Saints won the Match beating Bath Rugby 25–21 and becoming the Gallagher Premiership Champions for the second time. Over 35,000 fans of the 82,000 capacity crowd traveled from Northamptonshire to watch the final in London.
The only fully-professionalEnglish football league club in the county isNorthampton Town, which attracts between 4,000 and 6,000 fans on an average game day and has been part of the Football League since 1920.[97] Their home ground is Sixfields Stadium which opened in 1994. The first match there took place on 15 October against Barnet Football Club. The stadium can hold up to 7,500 people, with provisions for disabled fans.[98]
In 2013 the club won theFriends Life t20, beating Surrey in the final. Appearing in their third final in four years, the Steelbacks beat Durham by four wickets at Edgbaston in 2016 to lift theNatwest t20 Blast trophy for the second time. The club also won theNatWest Trophy on two occasions, and theBenson & Hedges Cup once.
Silverstone is a majormotor racing circuit, most notably used for theBritish Grand Prix. There is also a dedicated radio station for the circuit which broadcasts on 87.7 FM or 1602 MW when events are taking place. However, part of the circuit is across the border in Buckinghamshire.Rockingham Speedway, located nearCorby, was one of the largest motor sport venues in the United Kingdom with 52,000 seats until it was closed permanently in 2018 to make way for a logistics hub for the automotive industry, hosting its last race in November of that year.[99] It was a US-style elliptical racing circuit (the largest of its kind outside of the United States), and is used extensively for all kinds ofmotor racing events. TheSanta Poddrag racing circuit, venue for the FIA European Drag Racing Championships, is just across the border inBedfordshire but has aNN postcode.
Two Formula One teams are based in Northamptonshire, withMercedes atBrackley andAston Martin inSilverstone. Aston Martin also have a secondary facility in Brackley, whileMercedes build engines for themselves, Aston Martin,McLaren andWilliams atBrixworth.Cosworth, the high-performance engineering company, is based in Northampton.
There are seven competitive swimming clubs in the county: Northampton Swimming Club, Wellingborough Amateur Swimming Club, Rushden Swimming Club, Kettering Amateur Swimming Club, Corby Amateur Swimming Club, Daventry Dolphins Swimming Club, and Nene Valley Swimming Club. There is also one diving club: Corby Steel Diving Club. The main pool in the county isCorby East Midlands International Pool, which has an 8-lane 50m swimming pool with a floor that can adjust in depth to provide a 25m pool. The pool is home to the Northamptonshire Amateur Association's County Championships as well as some of the Youth Midland Championships.[100][101]
Northamptonshire is home to 2016 paralympian Ellie Robinson. She was talent-spotted in July 2012 and developed at Northampton Swimming Club, and was selected to compete for Great Britain at the2016 IPC Swimming European Championships. She won there three bronze medals, and one silver medal.[102]
Melrose Plant, a prominent secondary protagonist in theRichard Jury series of mystery novels byMartha Grimes, resides in Northamptonshire, and much of the action in the books takes place there.
Kinky Boots, the 2005 British-American film and subsequent stage musical adaptation, was based on the true story of a traditional Northamptonshire shoe factory which, to stay afloat, entered the market for fetish footwear.
Northampton is the birthplace of composerMalcolm Arnold (born 21 October 1921) and of actorMarc Warren (born 20 March 1967).
In recent years, Northamptonshire has become notable for producing regionalsocial media influencers and creatives who have gained national prominence, especially viaTikTok,Instagram andYouTube platforms—among them fashion and lifestylecontent creators from Northamptonshire towns who attract sizable online followings and contribute to contemporary UK influencer culture.[104]
^The Huntingdon and Peterborough Order 1964 (SI 1964/367), seeLocal Government Commission for England (1958–1967),Report and Proposals for the East Midlands General Review Area (Report No.3), 31 July 1961 andReport and Proposals for the Lincolnshire and East Anglia General Review Area (Report No.9), 7 May 1965
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