Monument record 7378/1 - Towcester to Weston-On-The-Green/Brackley Turnpike

{1} The Towcester to Weston-on-the-Green turnpike was established in 1756. Towcester to Brackley (1762). It was completed in 1873 and amalgamated with the Buckingham, Brackley and Banbury turnpike in 1851.

{2} The New Town of Brackley was constructed along the new road that had been laid out cutting across the original road pattern. It is very unlikely that the Oxford to Northampton road through Brackley was newly constructed as part of the planning of the town, for a similar pattern is seen at Grafton Regis where the major Northampton to London Road similarly cuts across the earlier road pattern. Indeed the two roads are very similar in that they lead past most settlements rather than passing through them, implying the laying out of a major new component of the road network to serve the burhs or ports of the late Saxon period or early medieval period. The road pattern was significantly altered with turnpiking in the later 18th century. While the Northampton to Oxford road was not significantly altered at Brackley.
The positioning of the market place and the main street were determined by the presence of the major road, which presumably had been laid out to avoid the park or Grove and also to run along the level hilltop before dropping down over the shortest distance to the stream crossing.
The Towcester to Weston-on-the-Green road was established in 1756.

{3} Beyond this junction, Brackley Road (which in the 19th century was known as Park Lane as far as the edge of the built-up area) may not have been developed at all until the early 19th century, since the plots on which the existing houses stand look as though they have been cut piecemeal from adjoining fields.’ It was along Brackley Road that most of the limited amount of 19th-century building on new sites took place.
(Ref 3.5.3)Towcester continued to function as a thoroughfare town in later centuries. Watling Street was turnpiked in 1709.

<1> Ballinger J., 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Towcester (Industrial), (checked) (Digital archive). SNN100255.

<2> Ballinger J.; Foard G., 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Brackley, Section 3.7.1 Major Routes (checked) (Digital archive). SNN100499.

<3> Taylor J.; Foard G.; Laughton J.; Steadman S.; Ballinger J., 2002, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Towcester, 2.0, 3.5.3 (checked) (Report). SNN103132.

<4> Ballinger J.; Foard G., 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Brackley, (unchecked) (Report). SNN106655.

Record last edited

Jun 6 2016 1:43PM