West Northamptonshire: Shoes, Silverstone, and Spencer Country
Northampton was the shoe capital of England. The boot and shoe industry here dates back to the English Civil War, when the town supplied Cromwell's New Model Army with footwear. By the Victorian period, hundreds of factories lined the streets around St James and Far Cotton. Dr. Martens, Church's, Crockett & Jones, Tricker's, Edward Green, and Loake all have or had Northampton connections — several still manufacture in the town, and the Museum and Art Gallery on Guildhall Road holds one of the largest shoe collections in the world. The industry contracted through the late 20th century as mass production moved overseas, but the surviving makers have positioned themselves at the luxury end, with hand-welted shoes selling for hundreds of pounds.
Silverstone Circuit, just over the border into the West Northamptonshire authority area, hosts the British Grand Prix and is the centre of "Motorsport Valley" — the cluster of Formula One teams, engineers, and suppliers based across Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, and Buckinghamshire. The circuit sits on a former RAF bomber station, and the flat landscape of south Northamptonshire still carries the geometry of wartime runways beneath the tarmac.
Althorp House, the Spencer family seat where Diana, Princess of Wales grew up and is buried, lies near Great Brington, north-west of Northampton. Daventry and Towcester, smaller towns within the authority, have their own characters — Towcester (pronounced "toaster") has a racecourse and Roman origins, while Daventry has expanded significantly through housing development and distribution warehousing along the M1 corridor.
Show more
Northampton was the shoe capital of England. The boot and shoe industry here dates back to the English Civil War, when the town supplied Cromwell's New Model Army with footwear. By the Victorian period, hundreds of factories lined the streets around St James and Far Cotton. Dr. Martens, Church's, Crockett & Jones, Tricker's, Edward Green, and Loake all have or had Northampton connections — several still manufacture in the town, and the Museum and Art Gallery on Guildhall Road holds one of the largest shoe collections in the world. The industry contracted through the late 20th century as mass production moved overseas, but the surviving makers have positioned themselves at the luxury end, with hand-welted shoes selling for hundreds of pounds.
Silverstone Circuit, just over the border into the West Northamptonshire authority area, hosts the British Grand Prix and is the centre of "Motorsport Valley" — the cluster of Formula One teams, engineers, and suppliers based across Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, and Buckinghamshire. The circuit sits on a former RAF bomber station, and the flat landscape of south Northamptonshire still carries the geometry of wartime runways beneath the tarmac.
Althorp House, the Spencer family seat where Diana, Princess of Wales grew up and is buried, lies near Great Brington, north-west of Northampton. Daventry and Towcester, smaller towns within the authority, have their own characters — Towcester (pronounced "toaster") has a racecourse and Roman origins, while Daventry has expanded significantly through housing development and distribution warehousing along the M1 corridor.
Country selected
Region selected
Optional — select or proceed
