Daventry
For other uses see Daventry (disambiguation) |
Daventry Market Cross |
Daventry is a
market town in
Northamptonshire,
England with a population of 22,367 (
2001 census). The town is also the administrative centre of the much larger
Daventry district, population 71,838.
It is located roughly 12 miles (20 km) west of
Northampton. The town comprises a historic market centre surrounded by much modern housing and light industrial development. On the edge of the town centre is the popular
Daventry Country Park and reservoir.
There is a street market every Tuesday and Friday which is held in the High Street, although its original site was on the aptly named Market Square. On the first Saturday of each month a
Farmers' market is held in the High Street.Until recently Daventry had a small
Battle of Naseby museum in the
Moot Hall but this is now in use as an Indian Restaurant. The village of Naseby is approximately 14 miles NE of Daventry.
Daventry is near the
M1 motorway and is served by the
A45 road. Daventry once had a railway station on the former
LNWR branch-line from
Weedon to
Leamington Spa but this was closed in September
1958; now the nearest railway station is at
Long Buckby, about five miles to the north east.
Owing to its good transport links, Daventry is now a
warehousing and distribution centre. North of the town
Daventry International Railfreight Terminal (DIRFT) is a major terminal for freight interchange between road and rail.
Nearby places to Daventry include:
Rugby,
Southam,
Banbury,
Northampton and
Coventry. The town is
twinned with
Westerburg in
Germany.
An alternative pronunciation for Daventry used by locals is
"Danetre" but this has become less common.
On the 653 foot (199 metre) high '
Borough Hill' that overlooks the town, remains have been found of an
iron age hill fort - one of the largest found in Britain. Remains have also been found on the hill of later
Roman buildings.
Daventy began as a small village and became a
market town in the
13th century. In
1576 Queen
Elizabeth I granted Daventry
borough status.
During the
English Civil War, King
Charles I stayed at Daventry along with many troops before the
Battle of Naseby which occurred nearby in
1645 between
Royalist and
Parliamentarian forces.
Daventry thrived during the era of the
stagecoach but when the
London and Birmingham Railway was opened in
1838 the coaching trade slumped. The
industrial revolution largely passed Daventry by due to its poor transport links. The
canals passed around Daventry, (although the
Grand Union Canal passed a few miles north) and the
railways did not connect Daventry until quite late in the 19th century. A branch from the Grand Union Canal to Daventry was proposed but was never built.
Daventry did not achieve a railway connection until
1888, when a branch from the main line at
Weedon was built, and in
1895 was extended to
Leamington Spa, although being only a branch line this failed to spur much growth. Daventry's economy remained largely rural, with
shoe making as the main industry.
In
1923 a
BBC broadcasting station, which until recently had a large antenna farm, was built on Borough Hill outside the town. For many years the
BBC World Service was broadcast from there.
On
February 26,
1935 the radio station at Daventry was used for the first ever practical demonstration of
radar, by its inventor
Robert Watson-Watt. Watson-Watt used a radio receiver installed in a trailer to receive signals bounced off a metal-clad bomber flying up and down the radio beam. The station closed in
1992 and only one of the radio masts now remains. Incidentally a busy directional radio beacon (VOR), identifier "DTY", for aircraft is situated approx. four miles due south of the town.
Daventry remained a small rural town until the
1950s; in
1950 it had a population of around 6,000. Real growth started in
1954 when the
ball bearing manufacturer
British Timken located a large factory in the town.
In the early
1960s Daventry was designated an overspill site for people displaced by
slum clearances in
Birmingham; the target population was 36,000 by
1981 but actual growth was much slower than this; nevertheless, by
1981 the population had still soared to 16,178. In
2001 it was 22,367. More recently a new wave of development has been proposed, which could take the town's population to somewhere near 40,000 by
2021.
In
1974 the old
borough of Daventry was abolished and merged into the new
Daventry district, also containing a large rural area and a population in 2001 of 71,838. However in
2003 Daventry became a
civil parish and gained a new
town council. Daventry has an excellent record in
recycling household waste and boasts one of the highest recycling percentages in the country.
In
2004, Daventry found a new claim to fame when it was featured in a
television commercial for
McDonalds. A character mentioned that she was going to a sales event in Daventry, leading to responses of "Where is Daventry?" and "Are you sure you don't mean Coventry?". Some in the town, including the leader of Daventry District Council, were not happy with the jibe. Incidentally, McDonalds has a restaurant in Daventry on Vicar Lane.
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Daventry Town Council*
Daventry District Council*
Daventry Express - Local newspaper
