Cultural Quarter, Northampton

Northampton Museum and Art Gallery is a public museum in Northampton, England. The museum is owned and run by West Northamptonshire Council and houses one of the largest collection of shoes in the world, with over 15,000 pairs, which was designated by Arts Council England as being of local, national and international importance. The town's museum was established in 1865, but moved to the current site in 1884, where it shared its space with the town's library. After the library moved in 1910, the museum took over the whole building. The museum was extended in 1935 and again in 1988. In 2012, the museum was refurbished for better access.The museum closed between 2017 and 2021 for a major £6.7m expansion project. The new museum reopened in July 2021, more than a year later than planned due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Northampton is a civil parish covering the greater part of the urban area of the town of Northampton, including the town centre, in the West Northamptonshire district, in the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England. In 2021 the parish had an area of 38.79 square kilometres (14.98 sq mi), and a population of 137,387, making it one of the most populous civil parish in England.

Northampton Guildhall is a municipal building in St Giles' Square in Northampton, England. It is a Grade II* listed building.

Market Square is a historic market square in the centre of Northampton, England. In use as a marketplace since 1235, it is one of the oldest and largest market squares in Britain. The square underwent a £12.4 million refurbishment between 2023 and 2024, during which archaeologists recorded extensive medieval remains beneath its surface. Since reopening, the square has served as the town's principal outdoor events venue, hosting the annual Northampton Pride festival, the town's Diwali Festival of Lights, and Christmas celebrations, alongside a regular retail market.

West Northamptonshire is a local government district in the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England, created in 2021. West Northamptonshire Council is a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council. By far the largest settlement in West Northamptonshire is the county town of Northampton. Its other significant towns are Daventry, Brackley and Towcester; the rest of the area is predominantly agricultural villages though it has many lakes and small woodlands and is passed through by the West Coast Main Line and the M1 and M40 motorways. The district includes the site of the Roman town of Bannaventa, and the grade I listed Althorp House and its estate.

Northamptonshire Central Library, also known as Northampton Central Library, is a public library in Abington Street, Northampton, England. It is the principal library of the West Northamptonshire Council library service and occupies a purpose-built Grade II listed building of 1910 funded in part by the industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. As well as lending and reference collections, the library houses the "Discover" local and family history collection, the county registration service, and the hub of the Business & IP Centre Northamptonshire. A phased programme of refurbishment, including the creation of a family hub, began in June 2026.

The Sessions House is a former judicial building on George Row in Northampton, England. The Sessions House, which was the main courthouse for Northamptonshire, is currently used as a tourist information centre and is a Grade I listed building. The building is adjacent to County Hall, the meeting place of Northamptonshire County Council.

The County Hall is a municipal facility on George Row in Northampton, Northamptonshire, England, which was the headquarters of Northamptonshire County Council until it was dissolved in 2021. It is a Grade II* listed building. The building is adjacent to the former Sessions House which is now used as a Tourist Information Centre.

Northampton War Memorial, officially the Town and County War Memorial, is a First World War memorial on Wood Hill in the centre of Northampton, the county town of Northamptonshire, in central England. Designed by architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, it is a Stone of Remembrance flanked by twin obelisks draped with painted stone flags standing in a small garden in what was once part of the churchyard of All Saints' Church. Discussion of a war memorial for Northampton began shortly after the armistice in 1918, and from July 1919 a temporary wooden cenotaph stood on Abington Street in the town centre. The Northamptonshire War Memorial Committee commissioned Lutyens to design a permanent memorial. The monument's design was completed and approved quickly, but its installation was delayed by six years until the site could be purchased from the Church of England, which required a faculty from the local diocese. The memorial was finally unveiled on 11 November 1926 after a service and a parade including local schoolchildren and civic leaders. Northampton's memorial is one of the more elaborate town memorials in England. It uses three features characteristic of Lutyens's war memorials: a pair of obelisks, the Stone of Remembrance (which Lutyens designed for the Imperial War Graves Commission), and painted stone flags on the obelisks, which were rejected for his Cenotaph in London but feature on several of his other memorials. Today it is a Grade I listed building; it was upgraded from Grade II in 2015 when Lutyens's war memorials were declared a "national collection" and all were granted listed building status or had their listing renewed.

Northampton St. John's Street was a railway station and the northern terminus of the Midland Railway's former Bedford to Northampton Line which served the English county town of Northampton from 1872 to 1939. Its closure came about as a cost-cutting measure implemented by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway which diverted services to the nearby Northampton Castle station. After closure the elegant station building was used as offices and the line for the storage of rolling stock; the site was cleared in 1960 to make way for a car park. The car park has now been built on and is the location of St Johns Halls of Residence for The University of Northampton.

According to some sources several tunnels run underneath the streets of the town of Northampton in England, along with many medieval cellars and ancient crypts. Much of the present town's development took place during medieval times, and some cellars from the period remain. Although some of these chambers are connected and others may have been connected in the past, it is doubtful if they ever have formed an extensive connected network.West Northamptonshire District Council say that to their knowledge there is only one tunnel which runs from All Saints Church across Mercers Row. The Northampton Chronicle and Echo published a plan of this provided by the Council showing the tunnel beginning on the north side of the church in Mercers Row where there was a man hole cover. The tunnel was then shown running eastwards across the mouth of Wood Hill where it turned north across the end of Abington Street into the Market Square on the east side just north of the junction with Abington Street The newspaper further reported that cellars which form part of the tunnel shown on the plan, along with other cellars nearby were used as air raid shelters during World War 2. An employee of the Shipmans Public House said the pub had a cellar with a door in it and there was a tunnel behind the door.Many of the medieval cellars are thought to have originated from the church buildings, that today are centred on All Saints Church – for instance underneath the Northampton & County Club in George Row (opposite the church) some fine vaulted cellars can be seen. There are similar tunnels on the other side of the church at Drum Lane – underneath the Shipman's public house. John Speed's map of Northampton from 1610 shows that the church was then the largest landowner in the town. Clashes took place over the years between the church and the monarchy – such as the banning of markets being held in the churchyards. It is thought that some of these tunnels were established as escape routes for clergy during times of trouble. The various religious houses in early times were found at all the main 8 compass points – giving rise to a series of radial tunnels heading out from All Saints Church at the centre of town to the various houses. Some tunnels had a more mundane function – channelling water from the springs on what is now the Racecourse and Springfield into the town centre. These conduits were known respectively as the Great and the Little Conduits. Northampton Castle was once one of the most important in the country and there is a suggestion that at least one tunnel linked the castle to All Saints Church – and even that such a tunnel might have been utilised by Thomas Becket in his escape from the castle and the town on his way to France. Another theory suggests that the cellars may have been used as a refuge from town fires common in timbered medieval towns such as Northampton – as seen in 1516. It is also thought that a tunnel may have allowed the nuns of Delapré Abbey, on the outskirts of the town to escape the Battle of Northampton (1460) which raged in their grounds. It is thought that this tunnel ran via St John's Church at the bottom of Bridge Street.

Weston Favell shopping centre sits on the outskirts of Northampton, in the East Midlands region of England and comprises 330,000 sq ft of retail space with 68 units across 2 levels. The scheme is anchored by Tesco which is one of the Top 10 Tesco Extra format stores in the UK in terms of size. Weston Favell shopping centre also has a great selection of multinational retailers including, Wilko, Boots, WH Smith and Costa Coffee as well as a unique selection of independent retailers and service providers. The centre, which opened in 1974, is located close to many other public facilities including Lings Forum Leisure Centre, a doctors surgery, Northampton Academy, two churches and a police station. There is also a small retail park at the rear of the centre.