In the know about Northamptonshire
❍ The Gunpowder Plot was hatched at Ashby St Ledgers (page 38)
❍ The families of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin came from Sulgrave and Ecton respectively
❍ Northamptonshire has more historic houses than any other county
❍ 80% of the world’s Formula 1 cars are built in Northamptonshire
❍ The world’s first garden gnomes were introduced at Lamport House in 1843 by Sir Charles Isham
❍ The world’s first radar station was built at Daventry
❍ Shakespeare’s granddaughter (his last direct descendant) is buried in Northampton
❍ Francis Crick, who discovered DNA with James Watson, was born in Northampton
❍ Oak Apple Day has recently been revived as a reminder of the time when Charles II donated much of the oak to help restore Northampton after it was devastated by fire
The English Civil War battle that secured the future of parliamentary democracy was fought at Naseby in 1645
The head of Lord Cardigan’s horse from the Charge of the Light Brigade is still displayed at Deene Park
78, Derngate, a narrow terraced house in Northampton, is the only domestic building in England to be designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh
The River Nene, which rises in Northampton, is pronounced ‘nen’ to rhyme with hen in most of the county, but becomes ‘neen’ as you go east
❍ Open-space visitor attractions and gardens include the 750 acres of Stanwick Lakes, the late-tudor landscape design at Lyveden and the nationally important arboretum at Lord Heseltine’s Thenford House, containing 3,500 species. The long, deep borders and potager designed by Rosemary Verey at the quintessentially English Old Rectory garden at Sudborough are worth visiting all year
Northamptonshire County Cricket Club was founded in 1878 and became a First Class county in 1905
The Eleanor Cross at Geddington is the best preserved of only three remaining examples that marked the resting places on the journey south of Edward I’s beloved wife, Eleanor of Castile, after she died in Nottinghamshire in 1290
Richard III (below) was born at Fotheringay Castle and Mary, Queen of Scots was executed there