Powerflush nearby to Towcester



Towcester is a market town in the English county of Northamptonshire. It is now in West Northamptonshire, but it was previously the administrative headquarters of the South Northamptonshire district council.

Towcester claims to be one of the country’s oldest continuously inhabited settlements. It was the Roman town of Lactodurum, which was located on Watling Street, which is now the A5. This was the border between the kingdoms of Wessex and the Danelaw in Saxon times. Towcester appears as one of Mr Pickwick’s stops on his tour in Charles Dickens’ novel The Pickwick Papers. Many national horseracing events have taken place at the local racetrack.



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HISTORY

The prehistoric and Roman eras

Towcester claims to be the oldest town in Northamptonshire, and possibly one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in the country, owing to the antiquity of recent Iron Age finds in the town. There is evidence that humans have lived there since the Mesolithic era (middle stone age). In addition, there is evidence of Iron Age burials in the area.

Watling Street, now the A5, was built through the area in Roman Britain, and a garrison town called Lactodurum was established on the present-day site. Church Stowe, located 4+13 miles (7.0 km) to the north, and Paulerspury, located 3 miles (4.8 km) to the south, are both potential sites for the Battle of Watling Street, which took place in 61AD.  A stone female head with Celtic and Roman influences was discovered on Watling Street outside of town and donated to the British Museum in 1903.

The Saxon and Medieval periods

The area was settled by Saxons after the Romans left in the fifth century. The Watling Street became the border between the kingdoms of Wessex and the Danelaw in the 9th century, and Towcester became a frontier town[citation needed]. In 917, Edward the Elder fortified Towcester. The Normans built a motte and bailey castle on the site in the 11th century. Bury Mount is the fortification’s ruins and a designated ancient monument. It was renovated in 2008, with the addition of an access ramp and explanatory plaques.

The Georgian and Victorian eras

During the heyday of the stagecoach and mail coach in the 18th and early 19th centuries, Watling Street became a major coaching road between London and Holyhead, and Towcester flourished, becoming a major stopping point. Towcester had many coaching inns and stabling facilities for travellers, many of which still exist.

The London and Birmingham Railway opened in September 1838, bypassing Towcester and passing through Blisworth; four miles away, but far enough to result in Towcester quickly reverting to being a quiet market town. By 1866, however, Towcester had been connected to the national rail network via the first of several routes that would eventually merge to form the Stratford and Midland Junction Railway.  Towcester railway station eventually allowed for four different routes out of town: to Blisworth (opened May 1866), Banbury (opened June 1872), Stratford-upon-Avon (opened July 1873), and finally Olney (for access to Bedford, opened December 1892). The latter line, on the other hand, was an early casualty, closing to passengers in March 1893, though it was still used by race specials until the outbreak of World War II. The Banbury line closed in July 1951, and the rest closed in April 1952. Goods traffic continued until it was finally phased out in February 1964 as part of the Beeching cuts. Towcester railway station has been replaced by a Tesco supermarket.

Towcester could have gotten a second station on the Great Central Railway’s branch line from Brackley to Northampton, but this branch was never built.

The twentieth century and beyond

Towcester received many evacuees from London during WWII because the government felt the town was far enough away from any major settlements that could be a target. The town was spared major aerial attacks, but it was bombed twice. The first time was by a plane dropping its final two bombs after an attack on nearby Rugby. A few months later, during a “drop and run” attack, a German bomber dropped eight bombs on the town.

The automobile era breathed new life into the town. Despite being bypassed by the A43, the A5 trunk traffic still passes directly through the historic market town centre, causing traffic jams at certain times of day. As a result of the pollution, the town centre has been designated as an air quality management area.  The West Northamptonshire Development Corporation is planning to expand the town, which will necessitate the construction of an A5 north-south bypass.

The population was 2,743 at the time of the 1961 Census, and it had grown to 9,252 by the 2011 Census, representing an annual growth rate of about 3%. It has since rapidly expanded, and there are plans to expand even further, with an additional 3,300 houses equating to an approximately 8,250 increase in population. In the first half of 2015, improvements to the links to the A43 and the Watling Street roundabout were made, including traffic light controls.