A Brief History of Towcester
Towcester is the oldest town in Northamptonshire. Its origins can be traced back to the middle stone age and thus is can be said to be as old as any community in Britain.
It appears to have been settled continuously since, as besides the Mesolithic remains, there is also evidence of Bronze & Iron Age burials.
It was with the Romans that Towcester became established. Roman Towcester (Lactodorum) was a garrison town on the Watling Street, and the street has played a major role in the town’s history ever since. The ‘Battle of Watling Street’ may have been fought in 61AD at a site two miles south-east of Towcester between the armies of Boudica and the Roman Governor Paullinus, in a corner of Northamptonshire known as Cuttle Mill. If so, it would make Towcester the most significant battle site in the history of Britain, with over 80,000 people killed the battle decisively changed the course of British history.
When the Romans left in the 5th century the area was settled by Saxons. In the 8th century, the Watling Street became the frontier between the kingdom of Wessex and the Danelaw, and thus Towcester once again became a fortified settlement. According to the ‘Anglo-Saxons Chronicles’ the town was besieged for two days and a battle took place in Towcester in 982AD with the Vikings eventually being driven back by the Saxon Army of King Edward the Elder.
In the 11th century the Normans built a motte and bailey castle in the centre of Towcester. The ‘Bury Mount’ is what is left of the Norman fortification consisting of Motte and Bailey is a scheduled ancient monument, which has recently undergone repair and renovation.
In the English Civil War Towcester again became a frontier town, this time between Royalist Oxford and Roundhead Northampton. Towcester occupied a strategically important crossroads between the Watling Street and the Oxford-Northampton Road. In 1643 the Royalist Army occupied the town and Prince Rupert positioned canons on the ‘Bury Mount’ to defend Towcester from the parliamentarians. The town was attacked on a number of occasions and there were several skirmishes in the surrounding villages. The strategic significance of Towcester did not go unnoticed and after the Royalists were forced to withdraw the Parliamentarian Army was billeted in the town.
In the Georgian and early Victorian period, in the heyday of the stagecoach the Watling Street became a major coaching road between London and Holyhead. Towcester flourished, becoming a major stopping point for travellers on route to Dublin (the second largest city in Georgian Britain) with up to 40 coaches a day stopping in the town. Many fine coaching inns were provided for travellers in Towcester, many of which remain today. The railway saw an end to all that. The coaching trade died almost overnight. Towcester must have looked as though it had gone into the doldrums, even though it carried on the business of a small market town. The Watling Street might have been eclipsed by the new London to Birmingham Railway in 1836, but it had not entirely had it’s day.
With the twentieth century came the motor car, charabanc and lorry. Initially novelties, these were to become indispensable parts of living and they breathed new life into the Watling Street and through it the town. It did not seem that long before this new life came to resemble a lingering choking death only relieved by the opening of the M1 motorway in 1958.