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Oundle, North Street c1955 (ref. O103035) | Our journey starts in the superb stone-built town of Oundle, nowadays a popular tourist destination and home to Oundle School. Note the 17th-century houses on the left, with their richly gabled mullioned bay windows. The White Lion, dated 1641, is now part of the school. A tall Jacobean-style school building stands to the right, while in the distance is the market place. |  Add your own Memory
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Oundle, St Osyths Lane c1950 (ref. O103031) | This old view of St Osyths Lane includes the beautiful 14th-century spire of St Peter's Church in the distance, beyond the market place. Of the long terrace of 17th-century cottages on the right, only the former Anchor Inn remains, dated 1637 and now a private house. The rest have been replaced by the modern back wall of a stone clad Co-op supermarket. The cottages are clearly in a dilapidated condition in this 1950 view, but their loss is surely to be regretted. | Add your own Memory
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Oundle, Mill Road c1950 (ref. O103027) | West of the town centre, Mill Street climbs uphill to West Street and remains little altered since the 1950s, although the bus stop has gone. On the left are the paired chimneys of the 1877 courthouse, now no longer a magistrate's court and partly occupied by the Oundle Museum. The church with its octagonal central tower was built in the 1870s and is now the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Name of Jesus. | Add your own Memory
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Oundle, Laxton and Crosby School Houses c1950 (ref. O103010) | Oundle School, now a leading public school, started out as a small 16th century grammar school. Founded (or refounded) by Sir William Laxton in 1556, a prosperous London grocer, it remained modest until the mid 19th century, when it grew rapidly. A large number of its fine stone buildings now dominate the north part of the town. They are mostly Victorian and earlier 20th century, and the majority are in the Jacobean or Gothic style as seen here - the favoured architectural styles of most Victorian public schools. | Add your own Memory
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Oundle, School Science Block c1950 (ref. O103018) | With Laxton's motto 'God Grant Grace' below his heraldic shield adorning the buildings, the school expanded and since the 1950s has taken over a number of the older buildings in the centre of Oundle. This building, the School Science Block, however, is on the Glapthorn Road beyond New Street and dates from 1914. It is a distinguished Jacobean styled structure complete with an onion domed cupola. | Add your own Memory
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Rockingham, the Castle c1960 (ref. R353009) | By complete contrast, our tour now enters feudal Northamptonshire with this fine castle. Although relatively little of the medieval castle remains, the highlight is undoubtedly the late 13th-century gatehouse with the arched gateway flanked by massive drum towers. Described as ruinous in the earlier 16th century, the castle's character beyond the mighty walls is now that of a Tudor and 17th-century country house. The Watson family have lived here since 1553 and it is sometimes open it to the public. | Add your own Memory
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Rockingham, Post Office c1965 (ref. R353018) | The pretty ironstone village, once a market town, descends the lower slopes of the ridge along the Uppingham Road. It is a delightful village with mostly 18th-century houses, with a sprinkling of 19th-century estate cottages, such as those with the slate-roofed dormers on the left, dated 1858. The shop is now gone but the telephone kiosk remains. The taller building with dormers, in the middle distance, is the Sondes Arms, a coaching inn in the 18th century. | Add your own Memory
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Barton Seagrave, Old Cottages c1955 (ref. B700012) | Immediately east of Wicksteed Park, on the higher ground above the River Ise, Barton Seagrave has a small core of stone-built houses and cottages and a good Norman church around a triangular green. To the south are large modern housing estates. This view looks north towards Barton Seagrave Hall, just visible beyond the tall lime trees. Since the 1950s, the cottages have been restored and a road now cuts close to them. | Add your own Memory
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Barton Seagrave, Barton Hall c1960 (ref. B700014) | This is a fine house, dated 1725, but with an older inner core. Now a home for the elderly, its main frontage has gabled end wings and a central porch. This view looks east to the side of the west wing, which is big enough to be a house in its own right. | Add your own Memory
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Blisworth, High Street c1965 (ref. B283024) | This village is less well known than the prodigious Grand Junction Canal tunnel that emerges just to the south. The tunnel is 3075 yards (2811 metres) long and was a considerable feat of engineering when it opened in 1805. The village is largely stone built and was surrounded by stone-pits and small quarries at one time. Later brick houses also feature, including the Blisworth Post Office and Stores in the middle distance. The corner shop advertising Tizer is now a house. | Add your own Memory
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Blisworth, the Elm Tree c1955 (ref. B283008) | Only two of these cottages survived recent road improvements. They include the one on the left and the middle thatched dwelling on the right. Ironically the new A43 Northampton road now by-passes the village. The tree has also gone. | Add your own Memory
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Bozeat, Chequers c1955 (ref. B701005) | Bozeat, now by-passed by the A609, has since regained some of its tranquillity. Boot and shoe manufacturing led to the expansion of the village in the late 19th century, as it did in many Northamptonshire villages in this area. This view on the London Road reflects the changes brought about by the by-pass. The Chequers ceased to be a pub, although traces of the painted signs on the front wall can still be seen. The thatched cottage next to it has gone also, although bits have been retained as a garden wall. | Add your own Memory
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Bozeat, High Street c1955 (ref. B701012) | Road improvements in the 1960s swept away these stone houses to make way for the greater convenience of the motorist. The mature cyclist is about to free-wheel into the High Street off to the right. Note the Brooke Bond Tea advertisement – its packets included picture cards, collected eagerly by myself and numerous other children in the 1950s. Bozeat concludes our tour of industrial Northamptonshire. | Add your own Memory
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Brackley, Town Hall c1955 (ref. B698009) | The largest town in south-west Northamptonshire, Brackley had a market charter since before 1217, its wealth having come from wool. The architectural highlight is the Town Hall of 1707, sold to the town by the Earl of Bridgewater for the princely sum of one shilling (5p). Its ground floor was originally open and the clock is dated 1883. | Add your own Memory
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Brackley, the Crown Hotel c1955 (ref. B698012) | The town is a mix of stone, brick and colour-washed render. One of the best examples of the rendered buildings is the Crown Hotel, which has now expanded to take over Thorpe's the florist to its left. The colour scheme on the Georgian facades is now muted grey with white dressings. The houses beyond all have shopfronts now, instead of domestic windows. The house on the left, behind the Pre-War Austin Big 7, is now an estate agents. | Add your own Memory
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Braunston, the Canal c1965 (ref. B778026) | A little east of the junction with the Oxford Canal is the bustling Braunston Marina. Most of the marina with its boat-repairing shops, boat hirers and the chandlery remain today, though the petrol tank is now stored, wisely, underground. Blocks of 1980s flats and tall riverside apartments line the marina edge, Brindley Quay. | Add your own Memory
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Braunston, High Street c1955 (ref. B778006) | The Grand Union Canal emerges from the Braunston Tunnel east of Braunston village and descends past the village on a flight of six locks. This view looks west along the High Street. The pub on the right, a fine ironstone and thatch building, is now a house. The white-painted building was rebuilt in the 1960s as the village store and post office. On the far left is a rare sight amid the stone in this part of the county: a genuine timber-framed house, this one dated 14th century. | Add your own Memory
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Byfield, High Street c1955 (ref. B703004) | Just over two miles east of Upper Boddington, Byfield is a village that expanded with the arrival of the railway. This view is on the High Street, part of the A361 Banbury to Daventry road. In the 1950s this was the more minor B4036. Sadly, the long stone range on the left was demolished as a result of road improvement. The bank is now a house, but the Co-op survives as the Co-op Village Store. | Add your own Memory
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Byfield, the Village c1960 (ref. B703007) | Bell Lane descends to the west of the A361 and gives us a good idea of the variety of building styles that make up this little industrial village. The 1905 primary school is on the left beside the Ford Consul, next to a pair of 1920s brick houses. The pub and hotel at the end has been radically changed and is now Bell Lodge, a residence for the retired and elderly. On the right are 1970s stone-built houses. The road crosses a brook in the middle distance, a tributary of the young River Cherwell. | Add your own Memory
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Castle Ashby, the House c1955 (ref. C224014) | We now move away from boot and shoe country into the south of Northamptonshire close to the border with Buckinghamshire. Here, at the centre of what is still one of Northamptonshire's largest estates, a vast Elizabethan mansion replaces a ruined castle. Its construction was started in 1574 by the Comptons, who later became earls of Northampton, and the great courtyard house was completed in the earlier 17th century. It is famous for its unusual 1624 balustrade with, instead of balusters, letters forming a quotation from Psalm 127. | Add your own Memory
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