Monument record 7198/405 - Kettering Market

{1} The extent of the Peterborough Abbey estates in 1125-8 includes no reference to a market at Kettering whereas at Oundle the market income is recorded. It seems likely therefore that the Kettering market was indeed established with the grant of a Friday market in 1227.
It is impossible to establish the exact form of the original market place but, as at Thrapston and Oundle, the church lays well back from the late medieval market square, implying some degree of encroachment both in the area to the west of the church and to the west of the rectory..unlike Higham Ferrers, where the suggested funnel shaped market discussed by Beresford can be seen as the result of a cartographic error, at Kettering the market place had indeed assumed such a form by the post medieval period and it is possible that this was its original shape.
The Stocks House is again described in 1653, when it is said to lie to the north of two shops which were in the Rotten Row. The stocks, whipping post and pillory were next to the cross and the stocks still stood there on the 1721 map only later being moved to Hog Leys. A pump existed in the northen part of the market place in 1787 in the area where what appears to be a well is depicted in the 1587 map. (1) (2) (3)

{4}Brief synopsis of Market history
Market granted in 1227 to be held on a Friday
confirmed 1329
1661 Horse fair Thursday before Easter; fair Thurs before S.Michael,
Thurs before S.Thomas the Apostle
Market continues today

<1> Foard G.F., 2000, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Kettering (Medieval + Post Medieval), (unchecked) (Digital archive). SNN100747.

<2> Eayre T., 1721, A Plan of the Town of Kettering in Northamptonshire, (unchecked) (Map). SNN100753.

<3> Kettering 1587, (unchecked) (Map). SNN100752.

<4> Taylor J.; Foard G.; Ballinger J., 2002, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Overview, Appendix 2 (unchecked) (Report). SNN103118.

<5> Treswell, 1587, Map of Kettering (NRO Map 4434), (unchecked) (Map). SNN58272.

<6> Eayre T., 1721, A Plan of the Town of Kettering in Northamptonshire, (unchecked) (Map). SNN100753.

<7> Hennell J., 1785, Plan of The Market Place, Kettering, (unchecked) (Map). SNN109755.

<8> Smith R., 1826, Plan of The Town of Kettering, (unchecked) (Map). SNN109756.

<9> Mason P., 2010, Excavation of Post-Medieval Tenements at Market Place, Kettering, April-July 2010, (unchecked) (Report). SNN107022.

Record last edited

Sep 8 2014 1:04PM