Hunsbury Hill Tunnel

Hunsbury Hill is an Iron Age hill fort two miles (3 km) south-west of the centre of the town of Northampton in the county of Northamptonshire.It is probable that defences were built at Hunsbury Hill between the 7th and 4th centuries BC. The deep ditch excavated has survived to the present day. A wooden rampart was also constructed; there is evidence that Hunsbury hill fort's inner ramparts were burned down and vitrified; this is rare in England.Ironstone extraction began at the hill fort in about 1883, after an attempt to have the site protected under the Ancient Monuments Act of 1882 failed due to the cost of compensating the landowner. Many of the fort's internal features were destroyed, but the work revealed up to 300 pits which, according to the curator of Northampton Museum in 1887, contained "numerous artefacts that now comprise one of the finest collections... of Prehistoric antiquities in England". The finds included iron weapons and tools, bronze brooches, pottery, glass and around 159 quern-stones. All were given to the town's museum.Hunsbury Hill fort is a designated Scheduled Ancient Monument. Parts of the fort's banks have been badly eroded because of the 19th century quarrying, the effects of burrowing European rabbits and damage from tree roots. It is now managed as a park by West Northamptonshire Council. Part of the route of the railway built for the quarrying remains and beginning in 1975 has been modified for use by the Northamptonshire Ironstone Railway Trust who added a new line. The track is used and maintained by the Trust. As the use of the quarries finished by 1920 the original 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) gauge track was not used. The Trust laid a mixture of standard gauge, 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) gauge and 2 ft (610 mm) track but from 1982 only standard gauge track has been used. The area around the hill is the large Northampton housing estate called West Hunsbury.

West Hunsbury is a housing estate in the south of Northampton, England, situated around 2 miles (3 km) away from the town centre, and 0.5 miles (1 km) away from the M1 via junction 15A. It is part of the Hunsbury residential area, which also constitutes East Hunsbury east of Towcester Road. Shelfleys is an earlier name for the area and still appears on signs, maps and bus destination indicators. However Hunsbury is an old name. Iron ore was formerly quarried in the area. This had begun by 1873 and an ironworks called Hunsbury Ironworks was in the course of being built in that year. The quarries were worked by several companies and individual owners, two of which companies used the name "Hunsbury" in their titles. The area is part of the Borough of Northampton. The area was developed in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s as part of the expansion of Northampton.

The Northamptonshire Ironstone Railway Trust operates a 1+1⁄2-mile (2.4 km) long heritage railway line at Hunsbury Hill, south-west of Northampton. The line is mainly dedicated to freight working, featuring many sharp curves and steep gradients which were typical of the industrial railway, but rides are available in a variety of vehicles including a converted brake van.

Far Cotton is a village and neighbourhood of Northampton and former civil parish, now in the parish of Far Cotton and Delapre, in the West Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England.

Cotton End is a small district of the town of Northampton, England, about half a mile south of the town centre, north of the area known as Far Cotton and west of the road from South Bridge to Ransome Road known as Cotton End. The district population is included in the Delapre and Briar Hill Ward of Northampton Council.

Abbeyfield School is a mixed secondary school and sixth form located in Northampton in the English county of Northamptonshire.It was previously known as Mereway Upper School which had an intake of 13- to 18-year-olds. Due to school reorganisation in Northamptonshire in 2004 the school expanded its intake to 11-year-olds to become a full secondary school, and it was renamed Mereway Community College. The school moved into a new building in 2008 and was renamed Abbeyfield School. In October 2012, the school was converted to academy status sponsored by the Creative Education Trust.Abbeyfield School offers GCSEs and BTECs as programmes of study for pupils, while sixth form students can choose to study from range of A Levels and further BTECs.

The Northamptonshire Record Office is the county record office for Northamptonshire. The archives are held at Wootton Hall Park, Wootton, Northampton, and run by Northamptonshire County Council.The site also houses the Northamptonshire Record Society.

Collingtree is a village and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England. It is part of the Northampton built-up area.

Storton's Pits is a 21.9 hectare Local Nature Reserve in Northampton. It is managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.This site on the bank of the River Nene has old gravel pits, meadow and fen ditch. Around 350 invertebrate species have been recorded, including some which are rare. Water birds include snipe, teal, tufted duck and the uncommon water rail.There is access from Edgar Mobbs Way. Another nature reserve, Duston Mill Meadow, is adjacent to the north-west corner of the site.

Duston Mill Meadow is a one hectare nature reserve in Northampton. It is managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire (WTBCN).This wet meadow on the bank of the River Nene is described by the WTBCN as important for dragonflies and butterflies. It has muddy areas where wading birds such as snipe and the uncommon water rail feed on invertebrates.There is access from Duston Mill Lane and from the adjacent Storton's Pits nature reserve.

East Hunsbury is a large residential area in the south of Northampton, England, situated around 3 miles (5 km) from the town centre and 1 mile (2 km) from junction 15 of the M1 motorway. For administrative purposes it is part of the unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. It is part of the Hunsbury conglomeration, which also includes West Hunsbury on the west side of Towcester Road. Shelfleys is the original name for the area of Northampton currently referred to as West Hunsbury. The name of West Hunsbury still appears on maps for the district as Shelfleys. Merefield is the corresponding name for East Hunsbury, together with the name "Blacky More" for the eastern part of East Hunsbury. All three names are still on local direction signs in Northampton, although older references are no longer in use by the local people living there. The areas developed in the 1980s and 1990s as part of the expansion of Northampton. The Northampton loop of the West Coast Main Line railway running between Northampton and London Euston runs under East and West Hunsbury via the Hunsbury Hill Tunnel emerging near Hill Farm Rise which follows the original course of Towcester Road prior to the 1980s. Ventilation shafts are visible in the housing estate in Yeoman Meadow. East Hunsbury was awarded ‘Best Large Village’ in 2019 by NorthantsAcre.[1]

The National Lift Tower (previously called the Express Lift Tower) is a lift-testing tower built by the Express Lift Company (a lifts division of the General Electric Company (GEC)) off Weedon Road in Northampton, England. The structure was commissioned in 1978 with construction commencing in 1980 and was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 12 November 1982. It has been a Grade II Listed Building since 1997.The tower can be viewed from Arbury Hill, the highest point in Northamptonshire.