[Histories of Towcester]   [Places in Towcester]   [People of Towcester]   [Family History]

Histories of Towcester

A brief History

An excellent two page history of Towcester.

Towcester - The Story of an English Country Town.

A detailed and comprehensive 300 page book by the Towcester and District Local History Society.

Chronology of Towcester

All the important historic events in Towcester listed century by century.

Whellan (1849) on Towcester

Extracts on Towcester from the "History, Gazetteer and Directory of Northamptonshire".

Places in Towcester

Towcester buildings marked with plaques.

Old and modern photographs of these buildings with their history.

Line Drawings of the buildings of Towcester.

A dozen buildings in Towcester drawn in the late 1980s with historical notes.

St. Lawrence's Church (1200-1990);

Tour the building (25 stops on your itinerary) and find out about the people.

Towcester Mill;

The buildings, the machinery and the millers.

Towcester Grammar School and Sponne School;

Northamptonshire's oldest grammar school, founded in 1430. The buildings, the headmasters and the Education Acts.

Pubs in Towcester and surrounding villages.

List of the pubs and inns in the late 19th century, with the names of the Landlords or Landladies.

Properties in Towcester and their occupiers .

A rating assessment of Towcester in 1855 listing all properties, owners and occupiers.

Enterprises in Towcester.

Lists of Towcester businesses and their proprietors in 1849 and 1877.

The Plank House;

A Towcester building.

People of Towcester

Victor James Ashby (1862-1938)

Founded a motor engineering firm, the Pioneer Motor Works

Victor Stapleton Ashby (1892 to 1953)

Designed the "Short-Ashby" car in the early 1920s

Thomas Bickerstaffe

A London Merchant who was born in Towcester in the 17th Century

Pope Boniface VIII (1235-1303)

As Benedict Cajetan, he was Rector of St. Lawrence's Towcester until he became Pope in 1294.

Gilbert Flesher (1772-1845)

Organised a party for 1,000 people in Towcester Market Square in 1839

Sir Henry St George

Chief Herald who lived at Easton Neston and who designed the Union Jack in 1801

James Mason Hutchings (b.1820 Towcester, d.1902 Yosemite)

First to publicise and promote what is now the Yosemite National Park.

John Jenkinson

Silk and Wool merchant who founded a bank in Towcester in 1871

James Cornelius Jones

Head Master of the National School from 1864 to 1909

Thomas Lord (b. c1582 Towcester, d. between 1650-1660, Hartford, Connecticut.)

One of the original settlers of what is now Hartford, Connecticut.

Miss Charlotte and Mis Ada Phipps

Founded a Young Men's Evening Institute in 1903

Walter (1749-1821) and Daniel (c.1780-1850) Prestidge

Watch and clock makers of Towcester and Eydon

Thomas Ridgeway

The tea magnate who erected the North End Baptist Chapel in c1853

Thomas Shepard (b.1605 Towcester, d.1639 Cambridge, Massachusetts)

Clergyman instrumental in founding Harvard University.

Archdeacon William Sponne (?-1448)

Chaplain to Henry VI, Archdeacon of Norfolk and a great benefactor to Towcester