Northampton

Northampton Bridge Street is a former railway station in Northampton, the main town of Northamptonshire, on the Northampton and Peterborough Railway which connected Peterborough and Northampton.

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.

The Northampton Carnival has had strong traditions in the town from the 1960s through the Midsummer Meadow times in the 1980s, to its short break in the late 1990s, until its revival in 2005.The current carnival spans two days from a Friday to Saturday in June and includes concerts, events, community stalls and a fair ground in Delapre Park, a carnival procession through the town centre, including the Abington Street pedestrianised area, which taplace on the Saturday, and a series of events featuring performers, dancers and workshops from community groups from Northampton and other towns that take place in the Market Square on the final day, Sunday.

The Cultural Quarter of the town Northampton, England, is a local council initiative to promote the area of the town centre which contains the theatre and museum. Part of it was referred to as Derngate, the name of a gate in the old town walls. The re-branding was launched in early 2013. It encompasses the Northampton Museum, theatre complex Royal & Derngate, a historic house 78 Derngate, an art gallery NN Contemporary Art and a cinema, the Errol Flynn Filmhouse. Bars, restaurants, pubs, hair salons and fashion shops, housing and offices are included. Northampton High School for Girls was once located in the zone. Its site has since been sold for housing.

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.

78 Derngate is a Grade II* listed Georgian house in the Cultural Quarter of Northampton, England, originally built in 1815. Its interior was extensively remodelled in 1916 and 1917 by the architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh for businessman Wenman Joseph Bassett-Lowke as his first marital home. Mackintosh's designs for the house are considered to be one of the first examples of the Art Deco style to be seen in Britain. The rear elevation also features an extension with two elevated balconies which, in 1916, overlooked meadowland to the edge of Northampton. The design origins of this extension have been the subject of some scholarly debate and a myth of Mackintosh as a modernist pioneer in his late career has persisted. Recent research suggests that Bassett-Lowke and Alexander Ellis Anderson (a Northampton-based architect who supervised the remodelling) may also have had a hand in the design of this structure as well as Mackintosh. In 1926 the Bassett-Lowkes moved to New Ways, a modernist house designed by Peter Behrens close to Abington Park; this house is also Grade II* listed.Between 1964 and 1993 the building was used by Northampton High School for girls, initially as offices but later as classrooms. In 2002 work started to restore the house to Mackintosh's original design. This work was under the direction of architects John McAslan + Partners and involved a team of specialist contractors for restoration, or replication of, the original features of the Mackintosh period scheme. After eighteen months of restoration, the house was opened to the public in late 2003. Small group guided tours or self-guided visits are available and provide an insight into this Mackintosh-designed house in England. A supporting museum adjoins 78 Derngate and is housed in number 80. In 2003, the Discovery Channel aired a documentary series hosted by Eric Knowles titled The House That Mackintosh Built. The series followed aspects of the property restoration as it was in progress. In May 2007 a new visitors centre at 82 Derngate was opened to provide further facilities and exhibitions for visitors. This building, also restored by John McAslan + Partners, houses a restaurant, art galleries, meeting rooms, shop, visitor reception and administration offices. A regular programme of exhibitions and events is offered and an active 'Friends of 78 Derngate' group continues to raise funds for ongoing development of the project. On 3 October 2013, Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, visited 78 Derngate to commemorate the 10th anniversary of its opening to the public.On 21 March 2017 a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the marriage of W. J. Bassett-Lowke and Florence Jane Jones was held at 78 Derngate. A centenary exhibition, "Charles Rennie Mackintosh & The Great War" ran from 1 February – 29 April 2017. This comprised exhibits from the late career of Mackintosh and examined the wider context for his work on 78 Derngate against the background of the First World War. The exhibition was the largest display of Mackintosh design in England. A series of related events during the exhibition run featured experts giving public talks and workshops on related themes. Artist and television presenter Lachlan Goudie featured 78 Derngate in his BBC documentary, Charles Rennie Mackintosh: Glasgow's Neglected Genius. This was produced to mark the 150th anniversary of Mackintosh's birth and was first broadcast on BBC Two Scotland on 5 June 2018. Goudie assessed the work on 78 Derngate as "[t]he dazzling work of an artist willing to risk losing control", with the interior decor being presented as a bold 'comeback attempt' by Mackintosh which was to prove to be in vain against the background of the First World War.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Delapré Abbey is a neo-classical mansion in Northampton, in Northamptonshire, England. The mansion and outbuildings incorporate remains of a former monastery, the Abbey of St Mary de la Pré (the suffix meaning "in or of the Meadow"), near the River Nene 1 mile (1.6 km) south south-east of Northampton. It was founded as a nunnery about the year 1145 devoted to the congregation of the major Abbey of Cluny in Burgundy, France. The Abbey's expansive sloping grounds are a nationally protected Wars of the Roses battlefield, as a one-time site of the advance of the Yorkists during the Battle of Northampton (1460).