Discover Towcester, Northamptonshire

Towcester, Northamptonshire, England: Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Watling_Street_Towcester_2008_05_18.jpg
Author: Cj1340


Towcester is a small town in South Northamptonshire, England. It has a population of some 10,000 people (2012 estimate). It is claimed to be the oldest town in Northamptonshire and possibly the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in Britain.

Archaeological excavations have provided evidence that people have settled in the Towcester area as early as the Mesolithic era. During the Roman occupation of Britain, the Romans established a town here called Lactodurum.

Towcester Town Hall: Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Towcester_Town_Hall.jpg
Author: Cj1340


Many of the buildings in Towcester were built over Roman sites. Among them, the present-day St Lawrence's Church is said to occupy the site of a Roman civic building or temple. The fact that habitation of the area has been continuous from Lactodurum to present-day Towcester helped it to claim the position of being one of the oldest continuously inhabited towns in the country.

After the Romans withdrew in the 5th century, the settlement was taken over by the Saxon. It was absorbed into the Kingdom of Wessex, and then into the Danish territory of Danelaw. Control passed to the Normans in the 11th century.

St Lawrence's Church, Towcester: Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Lawrence%27s,_Towcester_-_geograph.org.uk_-_143168.jpg
Author: Andrew Smith


Towcester was relatively insignificant for much of the medieval period. It became important towards the Georgian and Victorian periods, as it was used as a stopover for stagecoaches between London and Holyhead. Today Towcester is a small, historic town, visited mostly by history enthusiasts.

Visiting Towcester

Take the M1 motorway to Junction 9, then continue on the A5 road until reaching Towcester.

Places of Interest in Towcester

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Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.