Northampton
What to see
You’ll find accounts of Northampton’s tourist attractions in Towns of Two Halves (and of 91 other places: order the book now for £8 from info@townsof2halves.co.uk). For additional information plus shopping, eating out etc there’s Love Northampton. Links to local attractions include:
● 78 Derngate
● Abington Park Museum
● Delapré Abbey
● National Leather Collection
● NN Contemporary Art
● Northampton Cathedral
● Northampton Museum & Art Gallery
Towns of Two Halves extracts:
● “You will see no signpost to Northampton Castle; the railway station is built on its site and… was originally called Northampton Castle Station, but they dropped the suffix when it became the last remaining station in the town. The other stations were probably called Northampton Irreplaceable Iron Age Barrow and Northampton Exquisite But Bulldozed Art Treasures.”
● “The nuns [of Delapré Abbey] were perhaps not entirely blameless. According to legend two were disciplined for wearing sumptuous blue gowns. And the resident ghost, the Grey Lady, is said to be a nun restlessly searching the house for the wounded soldier she nursed and fell in love with.”
● “Northampton makes the most of a rather slender connection with the famously turbulent priest. Accused by Henry II of contempt and embezzlement, Becket was tried at Northampton Castle in 1164. During the trial Becket ‘lodged’ in St Anthony’s Priory, on the land of which the Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate & St Thomas of Canterbury now stands. Statues of the Virgin Mary and St Thomas a Becket stand on plinths on either side of the altar. The saint, lest there be any doubt over his identity, has a sword through his head.”
These are taken from the Northampton chapter of Towns of Two Halves, published in 2018. To buy a copy, email info@townsof2halves.co.uk.