A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



Habenaria viridis, R. Br. 

 Epipactis violacea, Bor. 

 Gyrostachis autumnalis, Dumort 

 Paris quadrifolia, L. 

 Polygonatum multiflorum, All. 

 [Ornithogalum nutans, L.] 

 Allium vineale, L. 

 Scirpus setaceus, L. 



Carex pendula, Huds. 

 Catabrosa aquatica, Beauv. 

 [Bromus secalinus, L.] 

 Cystoptcris fragilis, Bernh. Extinct 

 Asplenium Trichomanes, L. 

 Equisetum sylvaticum, L. 

 Osmunda regalis, L. Extinct 

 Chara hispida, L. 



6. Nene B. or Harpers Brook District 



occupies that part of the county which is bordered on the west by the Naseby or Nene A. 

 district already described, from the Buckinghamshire border near Salcey Forest northwards to 

 the Naseby watershed, when the Avon district bounds it for a short space to Sibbertoft. 

 Then the Welland district limits it as far as Brampton Ash. From this point a nearly 

 straight line across the county to Lutton on the Huntingdonshire border, separates it from the 

 third division of the Nene district. This line passes by Pipewell, Great Oakley, Stanion and 

 Benefield, and just west of Oundle. From Lutton southwards to Hargrave the county 

 boundary of Huntingdon limits it, and from that place to Bozeat Wood Bedford county 

 boundary acts in a similar manner. From Bozeat Wood to Laythick Copse near Salcey 

 Forest Buckinghamshire is the boundary. Strictly speaking it is possible that some small 

 portion of this district drains into the Ouse. 



The Nene B. district is drained by the main stream of the Nene between Northampton 

 and Oundle, and has a considerable extent of alluvial meadows, which are especially repre- 

 sented near Oundle, but the trough of the river is in the Upper Lias clay, while the 

 eminences such as Great Billing and Great Houghton are capped with Northampton sands. 

 In its course the Nene receives from the southern side some small brooks which come from 

 Whiston, Castle Ashby and Wollaston, Yardley Chase being on the Great Oolite, which 

 however in many cases has a thick deposit of drift clay with chalk. From Titchmarsh and 

 Barnwell Wolds come in other brooks, and the latter, which was formerly so renowned as an 

 entomological hunting-ground, is on the Oxford clay, which spreads out over the great part 

 of the neighbouring county of Huntingdon. 



The drainage of the northern part of the district into the Nene is chiefly performed by 

 two feeders — the Ise and the Harpers Brook. The Ise flows from near Desborough, Rushton 

 and Geddington in a fairly straight line to that village, when it turns off at nearly right angles 

 to Kettering and Wellingborough, where it joins the Nene. In its course it has cut down to 

 the Upper Lias clay and received several small brooks from the western portion of the 

 district, as from Loddington, Pytchley, Orlingbury and Wilby. Wellingborough was for- 

 merly visited by Royalty for its ferrugineous water which rose from the Red Well. Near this 

 well Goodyer a celebrated botanist, a friend of Johnson, who edited the second edition of 

 Gerard's Herha//, discovered in 1626 Sag'ina nodosa as a British plant, which he thus describes : 

 ^Alsine palustris foliis tenulssimis : she Sax'ifraga palustr'is alslne folia.' (See Gerard's Herball^ 

 p. 568, 1634.) 



The Harpers Brook takes its rise from some springs north of Desborough, and pursues an 

 easterly course nearly parallel with and not very distant from that of the Ise Brook, but the 

 Harpers Brook keeps north of Geddington, so as to drain the greater part of Geddington 

 Chase, which is on the Oxford clay, and passes by Brigstock, where Farming Woods are also 

 on the same formation, into the Nene near Aldwinkle. 



There is a considerable extent of woodland in the district, and ' that regular and 

 delightful Chase of Yardley,' as Morton describes it, which contains some fine oaks, of which 

 Gog and Magog have been figured in the "Journal of the 'Northamptonshire Natural History 

 Society. Here also the hornbeam {Carpinus Bctulus) is probably native. Among the other 

 plants found in and about the Chase are the columbine [Jquilegia vulgaris), the dropwort 

 {Spiraa Filipendula), the beam tree {Pyrus Aria), the mountain ash (P. Aucuparia), the hem- 

 lock {Conium maculatum), the great burnet saxifrage (Pimpinella major), the Danewort 

 [Sambucus Ehulus), the fly honeysuckle [Lonicera Xylostcum), the woodruff [Asperula odorata), the 

 shepherd's rod {Dipsacus pilosus), the tansy [Tanacetum vulgare), the Canterbury bell {Campanula 

 Trachelium), the yellow bird's-nest {Hypopitys Monotropa), the yellow-wort {Blackstonia or 

 Chlora perfoliata), the periwinkle {Vinca minor), the henbane [Hyoscyamus niger), the speedwell 

 {Veronica officinalis), the cow-wheat {Melampyrum pratense), the lousewort {Pedicularis sylvatica), 

 the white-flowered bugle {Ajuga reptans f. alba), the gromwell {Lithospermum officinale), the 



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