Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire (abbreviated Northants or N'hants) is a landlocked in central  with a population of 629,676. It has borders with, , , , , (including the ), , and  (England's shortest county boundary: 19 metres). The county town is.

Northamptonshire has often been called the county of "s and s" due to its wide variety of historic buildings and country houses. The county has also been described as "England's Pancreas", most notably by the popular presenter in has 2007 series. This is due to its shape and location within the UK, and because it is regularly overlooked, especially compared to neighbouring, known as "The Heart of England".

Northamptonshire's is the.

Geography
By the standards of the English, Northamptonshire is an upland county. It includes the watershed between the and. Several important rivers have their sources in the north west of the county, these include the (to The Wash) and the "" (to the Severn). In the 1820s it was boasted that "not a single brook, however insignificant, flows into it from any other district". The highest point in the county is nevertheless the modest at 225 m (738 ft).

is the largest town in the county, with a population of 194,122. This is followed by (53,500),  (51,063),   (46,959 ),  (25,849) and  (22,367). Most of the county's population is concentrated in a central north-south band which includes the four largest towns (corresponding to districts 2, 4, 5 & 6 on the map). The west (districts 1 & 3) and east (district 7) are predominantly rural with small towns and many villages. Northamptonshire is a long, thin county (more so with the ), running from south-west to north-east.

Places
These are the main settlements in Northamptonshire with a town charter, a population over 5,000, or otherwise notable. For a complete list of settlements see ''



Peterborough
The, including the , was historically associated with Northamptonshire as the county diocese is focused upon the cathedral there. Under the Peterborough became a district of.

History
Main article 

Pre-Celtic and ic peoples settled in the region, and there are some traces of settlements and roads. Most notably the passed through the county, and there was an important Roman settlement called Lactodorum on the site of modern day. There were other Roman settlements at the site of Northampton, and along the near.

After the Romans left, the area became part of the kingdom of, and Northampton functioned as an administrative centre. The area was overrun by the Danes (s) in the and briefly became part of the, but was later re-claimed by the Saxons. Consequently, it is one of the few counties in England to have both Saxon and Danish town-names and settlements.

The county was first recorded in the, as Hamtunscire: the  scire  of Hamtun (the homestead). The "North" was added to distinguish Northampton from the other important Hamtun further south: Southampton.

Later, was built for  and was used as a Royal fortress until  times. The now-ruined castle was used to imprison  before her execution. In, during the , the took place and King  was captured.



During the Northamptonshire strongly supported the  cause, and the  forces suffered a crushing defeat at the  in  in the north of the county. King was later imprisoned at.

In the and  centuries, parts of Northamptonshire became. Northampton and its surrounding areas, gained a sizeable making and  industry and by the end of the nineteenth century it was almost definitely the boot and shoe making capital of the world. And in the north of the county a large ing industry developed. In the, during the , the town of was established as a major centre of the  industry. Much of Northamptonshire nevertheless remains largely rural.

After the Northampton and Corby were designated as s.  the government is encouraging development in the  area, including Kettering and Corby.

National representation
Northamptonshire returns six. Following the, four MPs belong to the , while the other two represent the.

Local government
Like most English shire counties, Northamptonshire has a two-tier structure of. The county has an elected based in, and is also divided into seven  each with their own district councils.

These districts are:, , , , , , (see map). The district council offices for East Northamptonshire are based in, and those for South Northamptonshire are based in. Northamptonshire also has a large number of.

Until 2005, Northamptonshire County Council, for which each of the 73 s in the county elects a single councillor, had been held by the Labour Party since 1993; before then it had been under since. The councils of the rural districts &mdash; Daventry, East Northamptonshire, and South Northamptonshire &mdash; are strongly Conservative, whereas composition in the urban districts is more mixed. At the 2003 local elections, Labour lost control of Kettering, Northampton, and Wellingborough, retaining only Corby. Elections for the entire County Council are held every four years &mdash; the last were held on  when control of the County Council changed from the Labour Party to the Conservatives. The County Council uses a executive system and has recently (from April 2006) abolished its s.

Northampton itself is somewhat unusual in being the most populous urban district in England not to be administered as a (even though several smaller districts are unitary). During the, Northampton Borough Council petitioned strongly for unitary status, which led to fractured relations with the County Council.

Northamptonshire is policed by, and is covered by.

Before, the was considered part of Northamptonshire for , although it had had a separate county council since the , and separate  courts before then. The is now part of the county of.

Economy
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Northamptonshire at current basic prices published (pp.240-253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.

Northamptonshire has some nationally important companies. Historically, it is home to footwear manufacturing companies. The company in the UK is based in  near Wellingborough, where the boots used to be made. is made at near Kettering. is brewed in Northampton. Daventry has many distribution centres.

Education
Northamptonshire operates a complete comprehensive system with 30 state secondary schools and 4 independent schools. There are no selective schools. However, selection by house price instead may be taking place. At GCSE, for those obtaining 5 GCSEs at grades A-C including Maths and English, the England average is 45.8%; the Northamptonshire average is 42.1% - below average. The best state school in Northamptonshire is in Corby with 89%, followed by the  in Kettering with 81% and then the  with 80%. These are excellent results for comprehensive schools. For the Brooke Weston result, this is substantially (three times) better than other schools in Corby, and Brooke Weston is often in the top five comprehensives in England. It is almost like a selective system in Corby. The same could be said for Northampton, with only the Northampton schools for and  producing good results. Wellingborough is also the same to a lesser extent, with only the Sir School producing good results. At A level, the best state schools are the in, South Northamptonshire; followed by the  in Higham Ferrers; then the  in , Daventry district; and then the Northampton School for Boys. These produce good results for comprehensives. The Brooke Weston CTC does not achieve particularly high results at A level, but above average. Overall at A-level, the independent (girls school) in  is the best.

Northamptonshire boasts an extensive that provides peripatetic music teaching to schools in the area. It also supports 15 local Saturday morning music and performing arts centres around the county as well as providing a range of county level music groups.

Average score at GCSE by council district (%)
% of pupils with 5 grades A-C including English and Maths; compare this table to average house price by district.
 * 1. South Northamptonshire 51.5
 * 2. East Northamptonshire 48.4
 * 3. Kettering 47.8
 * 4. Daventry 44.0
 * 5. Northampton 37.5
 * 6. Corby 36.2
 * 7. Wellingborough 34.8

Transport
The gap in the hills at meant that many southeast to northwest routes passed through Northamptonshire. The Roman Road (now part of the ) passed through here, as did later canals, railways and major roads.

Roads
Major roads such as the and the  provide Northamptonshire with valuable transport links, both north-south and east-west. The A43 joins the M1 to the M40, passing through the south of the county to the Junction west of Brackley. The former steelworks town of Corby is now home to large areas of and  companies.

Rivers and Canals
See also: Rivers in Northamptonshire

Two major canals - the and the  &mdash; join in the county at. Notable features include a flight of 17 on the Grand Union at Rothersthorpe, the  at, and a tunnel at  which, at 3076 yards (2813 m), is the third-longest navigable canal tunnel on the.

A branch of the Grand Union Canal connects to the in Northampton and has been upgraded to a "wide canal" in places and is known as the Nene Navigation. It is famous for its guillotine locks.

For last five years Northamptonshire County Council is in partnership with WS Atkins, Europe's largest Engineering Consultants to manage and maintain all highways functions.

Railways
Two trunk railway routes, the and the  traverse the county. At its peak, Northamptonshire had 75 railway stations. It now has only five, at and  (on the WCML),  and  (on the Midland Main Line), along with, which is a matter of yards from the boundary with Oxfordshire on the.

Corby is one of the largest towns in Britain without a railway station. A railway runs through the town (from Kettering to in ), but is currently used only by freight traffic and occasional diverted passenger trains (which do not call). The line through Corby was once part of a main line to via  but the stretch between Melton and Nottingham was closed in. In the, an experimental passenger shuttle service was tried between Corby and Kettering, but this was proved unsuccessful. A bus link operated by provides access to Corby from Kettering station. As of 2005, there are plans to build a new station in Corby - one providing direct access to in  and not just a branch line service to Kettering, but these are not yet off the ground.

Northamptonshire was hit hard by the in the, with stations such as Towcester's being slowly left to rot. One of the most notable closures was that of the line connecting Northampton to by way of Wellingborough,, and. Its closure left eastern Northamptonshire devoid of railways. Part of this route has been re-opened as the, with a small section of line, and the station at junction being within Northamptonshire.

A section of one of the closed lines, the Northampton to line, is now the , while the route as a whole forms a part of the , as the.

As early as Northamptonshire had its own putative  rail link with the creation of the, which was intended to connect to a tunnel under the. Although the complete project never came to fruition, the rail link through Northamptonshire was constructed, and had stations at, , , and. It became part of the London and North Eastern Railway in (and of British Railways in 1948) before its closure in.

Before of the railways in  and the creation of ), Northamptonshire was home to three of the "Big Four" railway companies; the,  and . Only the  was not represented. Post nationalisation, it is served by , ,  and . So from having 75 stations in 1948 and three operators it has 5 stations with four operators.

Media
Northamptonshire has a local BBC radio station, , which broadcasts on two frequencies &mdash; 104.2 MHz for the south and west of the county (including  and surrounding area) and 103.6 MHz for the north of the county (including  and ). There are three commercial radio stations.  (96.6 MHz FM) is part of, whilst station Classic Gold (1557 kHz) also forms part of a national network. The former Kettering and Corby Broadcasting Company (KCBC) station originally broadcast on 1530 (later 1584) kHz AM before eventually moving to 107.4 MHz FM. Its studios and FM frequency are still in use following a merger with Wellingborough-based Connect FM which now broadcasts on 97.2 and 107.4 MHz.

National is also available in Northamptonshire, though coverage is limited. As of 2005 a multiplex for local DAB stations had yet to be set up.

In regional radio and television terms, the county is not usually considered as part of the East Midlands; unusually, it is associated with, being part of the region and the  region of , the latter having an office adjacent to BBC Radio Northampton in Abington Street, Northampton. These services are broadcast from the transmitter.

Sport
Northamptonshire is home to a number of teams, the most prominent being the professional sides  of  and, who are in the. Other teams include, who play in the , though having been higher. claims to be the sixth oldest in the country.

Northamptonshire is more successful in, though were relegated from the  (the highest league) at the end of the 2006/2007 season. is presently in Division Two of the.

has a major circuit, notably used for the.

in is the largest stadium in the UK with 130,000 seats. It is a US-style elliptical racing circuit (the largest of its kind outside of the US), and is used extensively for all kinds of events.

Places of interest
see also Visitor attractions in Northamptonshire

Annual events

 * at
 * Fair
 * Fair
 * Fair
 * Fair
 * Fair