Place record 1842/0/17 - Huntingdon Road

{2} The origins of Thrapston may lie in a manorial site of the middle Saxon period underlying the site of the medieval castle and manor. However the primary element of the town plan may prove to be the Huntingdon to Leicester road, along or to the side of which the settlement was laid out.
The major road through Thrapston was that from Huntingdon to Kettering, Market Harborough and thence to Leicester, the medieval replacement for the Roman Gartree road. Though not appearing in Ogilby's national itinerary in 1675 and only north westward from Thrapston on Morden's late 17th century map of the county, it is likely that this was a major medieval road connecting the two Domesday boroughs.
The Huntingdon road enters the town along a small valley running off the higher ground straight down to the flood plain. Only when the road reaches the south west corner of the market place does it turn slightly south westward to approach the bridge. This step in the alignment of the road might suggest that in the early medieval or late Saxon period, prior to the construction of the bridge, the road ran straight on to a ford on a slightly different location to the later bridge.

<1> 1781 (circa), Thrapston Inclosure Map, (unchecked) (Map). SNN100461.

<2> Foard G., 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Thrapston (Medieval + Post Medieval), (unchecked) (Digital archive). SNN100460.

Record last edited

Mar 11 2015 3:44PM