Northampton Town Wall

In the civil parish of Northampton. In the historic county of Northamptonshire (Modern Authority of Northamptonshire, 1974 county of Northamptonshire).

The wall was built by the 1st Earl of Northampton, Simon de senlis I, between 1090-1111. Grants of murage were made in 1224, 1251, and 1301, the latter so large that it suggests a rebuild rather than repair. The four main gates were on the Market Harborough, London, Kettering and Daventry roads. After falling into disuse in C16, it was repaired in 1642-3. Demolished on Royal orders in 1662. Speed's map of 1610 shows two triangular bastions towars the south-east corner on the south side. Excavations in Green street in 1986-7 recovered the most complete sequence yet found. The earliest defences were a clay bank revetted in timber of early C10 date. This was later refaced in stone and a gateway ceated. The latter was blocked in C12 when the Mediaeval town wall was built. Evidence of Civil War usage was seen in two ditches cut into the Medaeval infilled ditch.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SP748604

Air Photo from Air Photo and general mapping	1st edition OS Map from Mid to late 19th century maps
Modern Map from Landscape form and features	Modern Map from General location and route planning
Geograph British Isles occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 1396861
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record. In particular 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website, or elsewhere.

• Books
  • Blanchard, Ian, 2007, Twelth Century: A neglected Epoch in British Economic and Social History (Newlees E-book) p165-7 [plan] http://www.ianblanchard.com/Folder/Chapter%208.pdf
    Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p24, 39, 45, 67, 93, 109, 175, 237, 267, 279
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p169 [slight]
    Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report) p92-116
    RCHME, 1985, ‘Medieval defences’ and ‘Northampton Castle' An inventory of the historical monuments in the county of Northampton. 5. Archaeological sites and churches in Northampton (London: HMSO) p50–1, 327–30, 332–5 [the main entries are on microfiche]
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p320
    Barley, M.W., 1975, 'Town Defences in England and Wales after 1066' in Barley (ed) Medieval Towns in England and Wales (CBA research reports) pp57-71 plan p64
    Turner, H.L., 1971, Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p120
    Page, Wm (ed), 1930, VCH Northampton Vol3 p1-32 [sparse notes] http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=66254
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co) p223
• Journal Articles
  • 2004, South Midlands Archaeology Vol34 p37
    Hiller, Jonathan, Hardy, Alan and Blinkhorn, Paul, 2002, 'Excavations at Derngate, Northampton. 1997-2000' Northamptonshire Archaeology Vol30 p31-62
    Chapman, Andy, 1998-9, 'Excavation of the Town Defences at Green Street, Northampton, 1995-6' Northamptonshire Archaeology Vol28 p25-60
    1997, South Midlands Archaeology Vol27 p37-8
    1993, South Midlands Archaeology Vol23 p33-4, 48
    1990, South Midlands Archaeology Vol20 p40
    1989, South Midlands Archaeology Vol19 p29-31
    1988, South Midlands Archaeology Vol18 p62
    Youngs, S.M. et al, 1988 ‘Medieval Britain and Ireland in 1987' Medieval Archaeology Vol32 p265 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
    Williams, J.H., 1982, 'Four small excavations on Northampton's medieval defences and elsewhere' Northamptonshire Archaeology Vol17 p60–73
    1981, CBA Group 9: South Midlands Archaeology newsletter Vol11 p31-2
    Greenall, R.L., 1979, ‘The demolition of Northampton’s walls, July 1662' Northamptonshire Past and Present, 6.2 p83-4
    Mynard, D.C., 1976, 'Excavations on the Mayorhold, Northampton, 1971' Northamptonshire Archaeology Vol11 p134-50
    Mynard, D.C., 1972, CBA Group 9: South Midlands Archaeology newsletter Vol2 p17
    Lee, F., 1954, 'A New Theory of the Origins and early growth of Northampton' Archaeological Journal Vol110 p164-74
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Calendar of Patent Rolls (1216-1225) p499; (1247-1258) p127; (1292-1301) p608; (1399-1401) p361 [murage grants]
    [The 1301 original roll entry fully transcribed/transcribed in Christopher Markham (ed), 1898, The Records of the Borough of Northampton, (Northampton), vol1 p58-59 and online at http://www.trytel.com/~tristan/towns/florilegium/economy/ectol13.html ]
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p324