The town of Towcester (pop 9,000) lies 100km (60 miles) north of London, England in rural Northamptonshire. It is the oldest town in the county with evidence of stone age and iron age settlements and was once an important Roman town, called Lactodurum lying at the junction of Watling Street, the Roman road from Dover to Chester and the Roman road to Alchester, one of the earliest Roman settlements.

It was a border town between the Saxon and the Vikings (c.900AD), and again during the Civil War between the Royalists and Parliamentarians (c.1643AD). The Normans (c.1185) built a motte and bailey castle, nowadays called "Bury Mount", which has undergone re-shaping. Towcester was a busy coaching town, until the railways came. Then it was a busy traffic thronged town on the A5 until the M1 motorway was built.

On this site you can

• Find out about the History of Towcester
• See Photographs and Line Drawings
• Research your Family History from the lists we provide
• Find out about Towcester People and Places, and of course
• Find information about the Towcester and District Local History Society, including our varied programme of meetings, social events, research projects, summer outings and the books and booklets we have published.

Click The Society / Guide to this web site to see what we have written about Towcester.
Click History / Towcester history external links to see what other people have written.

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