of wool; but the Southdown, on account of its superior flesh, is also largely kept.
Manufactures.—The iron industry is of considerable importance, though only a small proportion of the metal is smelted in the county. The industry is carried on in the central part of the county, as in the Kettering, Wellingborough and Thrapston districts, and in the north near Stamford. But Northamptonshire is more famous for its manufacture of boots and shoes, which is chiefly prosecuted in the towns and villages of the central and southern districts, and along the eastern border. This trade occupies some three-quarters of the total number of hands employed in factories in the county.
Communications.—The main line of the London & North Western railway passes through the south-western portion of the county, with an alternative route to Northampton, and branches to Peterborough and elsewhere. With it are connected at Blisworth junction the East and West Junction railway to Towcester, Woodford and Stratford-on-Avon, and the Northampton and Banbury Junction railway. The Great Central main line, crossing the county in the south, has connexion with the Great Western railway at Banbury from Woodford. The Midland railway serves Wellingborough, Kettering and Northampton, and an important junction of systems is effected at Peterborough, which is on the main line of the Great Northern railway. Branch lines of this and the Midland system complete the railway communications of the county. The Grand Junction Canal, which is connected with the Oxford Canal, enters the county at Braunston on the borders of Warwickshire, and passes by Daventry and Blisworth into Buckinghamshire, a branch connecting it with Northampton. The Grand Union Canal unites with the Grand junction near Daventry, and runs north until it joins the Leicester Canal at Foxton, branches passing to Welford and Market Harborough.
Population and Administration.—The area of the county is 641,992 acres, with a population in 1891 of 302,183 and in 1901 of 338,088. The area of the administrative county of Northampton is 585,148 acres, and that of the administrative county of the soke of Peterborough 53,464 acres. In Domesday the county is mentioned as containing 30 hundreds, but it then included a considerable part of Rutland. These divisions were first reduced to 28, and in the reign of Henry II. to 20, their present number. The administrative counties include four municipal boroughs, namely, Brackley (pop. 2467), Daventry (3780), Higham Ferrers (2540) and Peterborough (30,872), together with the municipal and county borough of Northampton (87,021). The urban districts are: Desborough (3573), Finedon (4129), Irthlingborough (4314), Kettering (28,653), Oundle (2404), Raunds (3811), Rothwell (4193), Rushden (12,453), Wellingborough (18,412). There are one court of quarter sessions and nine petty sessional divisions. The borough of Northampton and the liberty of the soke of Peterborough have each a separate court of quarter sessions and a separate commission of the peace. The total number of civil parishes is 346, of which 33 are in the soke of Peterborough. The ancient county contains 297 entire ecclesiastical parishes or districts, wholly or in part, most of them being in the diocese of Peterborough; but small parts of the county fall within the dioceses of Oxford, Ely and Worcester. For parliamentary purposes the county is divided into four divisions (Northern, Eastern, Mid and Southern), and includes the parliamentary borough of Northampton, and part of the parliamentary borough of Peterborough, each returning one member, except the borough of Northampton, which returns two members.
History.—At some time in the 7th century the district which is now Northamptonshire suffered a simultaneous invasion by the West Saxons from the south and the Anglian tribes from the north, and relics discovered in the county testify to a mingling of races, at the same time showing that West Saxon influence never spread farther north than a line from Daventry to Warwick, and with the extension of the Mercian kingdom under Penda and the conversion of the midland districts ceased altogether. The abbey at Medehamstede (now Peterborough) was begun by Peada in 655, and about the same time foundations were established at Peakirk, Weedon Beck, Castor and Oundle. In 870 the district was overrun by the Danes, and Northampton was one of the five Danish boroughs, until in 921 it was recovered by Edward the Elder, who fortified Towcester in that year. In the 11th century Northamptonshire was included in Tostig’s northern earldom; but in 1065, together with Huntingdonshire it was detached from Northumbria and bestowed on Waltheof. The only monastic foundation which survived the Conquest was Peterborough. Norman castles existed at Rockingham, Barnwell, Lilbourne and Northampton.
As a shire Northamptonshire was probably of Danish origin, representing in the 10th century the area which owed allegiance to Northampton as a political and administrative centre. In 921 this area extended to the Welland, the present northern limit of the county, and at the time of the Domesday Survey the boundaries were approximately those of the present day. Northamptonshire is first mentioned by name in the Historia Eliensis, in connexion with events which occurred at the close of the 10th century.
The Geld roll of the time of William I. and the Domesday Survey of 1086 mention 28 hundreds in Northamptonshire, and part of Rutland is assessed under this county. By 1316 the divisions had undergone considerable changes, both in name and in extent, and had been reduced to their present number, 20, since which date they have remained practically unaltered. The names of the hundreds point to primitive meeting-places gradually superseded by villages and towns, and the court for Fawsley hundred met under a large beech tree in Fawsley Park until the beginning of the 18th century, when it was transferred to Everdon. The shire-court originally met at Northampton.
Northamptonshire was originally included in the diocese of Lincoln. The archdeaconry of Northampton is mentioned in the 12th century, and in 1291 included the deaneries of Peterborough, Northampton, Brackley, Oundle, Higham, Daventry, Preston, Weldon, Rothwell and Haddon. The diocese of Peterborough was created in 1541, and in 1875 the archdeaconry of Oakham was formed and included in this county the first and second deaneries of Peterborough and the deaneries of Oundle, Weldon and Higham Ferrers. Northampton archdeaconry now includes the first, second and third deaneries of Brackwell and Rothwell; the first and second deaneries of Haddon and Preston, and the deaneries of Daventry, Northampton and Weldon.
At the time of the Domesday Survey the chief lay-tenant in Northamptonshire was Robert, earl of Mortain, whose fief escheated to the crown in 1106. The estates of William Peverel founder of the abbey of St James at Northampton, also escheated to the crown in the 12th century. Holdenby House was built by Sir Christopher Hatton, privy councillor to Queen Elizabeth, and Yardley Hastings was named from the Hastings, formerly earls of Pembroke. Higham Ferrers was the seat of the Ferrers family; Braybrook Castle was built by Robert de Braybrook, a favourite of King John; and Burghley House gave the title of baron to William Cecil.
Northampton was a favourite meeting-place of the councils and parliaments of the Norman and Plantagenet kings. In 1215 John was besieged in Northampton Castle by the barons, and in 1264 Henry III. captured the castle from the younger Simon de Montfort. During the Wars of the Roses Henry VI. was defeated at Northampton in 1460. In the Civil War of the 17th century the county declared almost unanimously for the parliament. A royalist garrison was placed at Towcester by Prince Rupert in 1644, but almost immediately withdrawn.
The iron-mines and stone-quarries of Northamptonshire were worked in Roman times, but the former were entirely neglected from the Plantagenet period until their rediscovery in 1850, while the two most famous quarries, those of Barnack and Stanion, were exhausted about the 16th century. The wool and leather industries flourished in Norman times. In the 17th century the weaving industry declined in the Northampton district, but became very flourishing about Kettering. Other early industries were charcoal-burning, brick and tile manufacture and brewing. The industries of whip-making, pipe-making, silk-weaving and paper-making were introduced in the 17th and 18th centuries.
In 1290 Northamptonshire returned two members to parliament, and in 1295 Northampton also returned two members.
