INDUSTRIES 



river silting up altogether, but the floods along 

 the valley are unfortunately still to be reckoned 

 with. 



The roads of Northamptonshire, except per- 

 haps the great Roman highways, from the nature 

 of the soil through which they pass have not 

 always gained warm commendation. The pa- 

 triotic Morton, indeed, declared ' the roads in 

 general are not much to be complained of,' but 

 shrewd observers at the beginning of the last 

 century, when the traffic by road had reached a 

 maximum, noticed not only their material de- 

 ficiency, but the mischief wrought by the inces- 

 sant passage of prodigious numbers of cattle and 

 carriages. In wet weather the droves of cattle 

 were nearly as injurious as the wheeled traffic, 

 while the statutory duty of repair was very 

 irregularly performed.' 



Lying as Northamptonshire does, ' in the 

 trade way,' ^ the carriers from an early period 

 formed an important class. An incidental re- 

 ference to the close connexion between the 

 carriers and the local traders is contained in a 

 Chancery Bill' which may be attributed with 

 some confidence to the last year of Henry V or 

 the beginning of the reign of his infant son. 



By an Act passed 3 & 4 William and Mary 

 the justices of the peace in each county were 

 empowered ' to yearly assess and rate the prices of 

 all land carriage of goods whatever.' At the April 

 sessions,'' 1743, the Northamptonshire magis- 

 trates declared that divers waggoners and other 

 carriers, by combinations amongst themselves, 

 have raised the prices of carriage of goods in 

 many places to excessive rates, to the great 

 injury of trade, and they therefore proceeded to 

 make a new assessment for the year. From 

 London to the places named, the same amount 

 being allowed ' from every of the said places 

 back again to London,' the rates were as fol- 

 lows : 35. bd. per cwt. to Northampton, 

 to Brackley, Towcester, Daventry, Higham 

 Ferrers, Thrapston, Wellingborough ; 4^. to 

 Kettering, Rothwell, Oundle ; and 4^. bd. to 

 Weldon and Rockingham.^ 



The advent of the railways reduced carriage 

 by the highroad to very small proportions. At 

 present the London and North Western main 



' Pitt, Gen. View of A ^tc. Northt-.nts (1809), 231, 

 232. 



' Morton, op. cit. 18. He mentions th.it one of 

 the Towcester inns (in 1 71 2) was commonly said to 

 have the best custom of any single inn on the Chester 

 road, op. cit. 25. 



' Early Chanc. Proc. -£f^ (P.R.O.). 



' Northanls N. and Q. i, 260. 



* According to an advertisement in the first num- 

 ber of the A'i3r//{ijm//on Mercury, May 2, 1720, each 

 passenger by the Flying W.aggon, which left the 

 Fleece Inn on Tuesday, May 10, at ; a.m. to arrive 

 at the ' Rose and Crown,' in St. John's Street, 

 London, on Wednesday, was to pay 6s., and for all 

 goods above 141b. to pay id. per lb. The return 

 journey was on the Thursday and Friday. 



line running parallel with the Grand Junction 

 Canal, passes through Blisworth, Weedon, and 

 Welton to Rugby. A branch from Blisworth 

 connects Northampton, Wellingborough, and 

 Peterborough. Peterborough is also a station 

 on the main line of the Great Northern, and 

 thence a branch passes to Stamford by way of 

 Wansford. At Wellingborough the Midland 

 main line enters the county, passing through 

 Kettering into Leicestershire. From Kettering 

 a branch runs to Huntingdon and Cambridge, 

 and another to Manton in Rutland, and thence 

 by way of the Leicester and Stamford line there 

 is communication through Helpston and Wal- 

 ton with Peterborough. The Great Western 

 line from Oxford to Banbury passes through the 

 extreme south-west of the county, and the 

 Great Eastern branch from Ely finds a terminus 

 at Peterborough, while the Great Central, the 

 youngest of the main trunk lines, enters the 

 county by a tunnel 3,000 yards long at Catesby, 

 and leaves it not far from Brackley. The 

 evolution of Peterborough into a considerable 

 railway centre is one of the most salient features 

 of the economic history of the county during the 

 last century. 



The more important industries of the county 

 receive special attention in the articles that follow, 

 and it is only necessary to mention here a few 

 which, in spite of their intrinsic interest, the 

 limitations of space have debarred from similar 

 treatment. Charcoal-burning, fully described by 

 Morton in his Natural History of the shire, 

 naturally prevailed at one time to a considerable 

 extent in the forest regions of Rockingham, 

 Salcey, and Whittlewood. The very early pottery 

 of Castor has already been treated in the section 

 on the Roman period. At a later time clay 

 from Cosgrove and its neighbourhood was manu- 

 factured at Potterspury into a coarse ware, such 

 as flower-pots and vases, an industry now dis- 

 continued. Brick-making is still as it has been 

 for centuries, a natural outcome of the excellent 

 material which the shire affords. 



A curious local trade now practically extinct 

 was the preparation of the famous Finedon dried 

 apples. They resembled the Normandy pippins 

 of the present day, but instead of being dried in 

 the sun, were placed on trays and set in the 

 bakers' ovens some hours after the bread was 

 drawn. When taken out they were cautiously 

 pressed betwixt finger and thumb, as it was of 

 the utmost importance not to break the skin, and 

 then set apart to cool. This process was gone 

 through again on nine or ten successive days, and 

 in their final form the apples, which would keep 

 for months and were esteemed as delicacies for 

 dessert, had been pressed quite flat in form, and 

 were not more than half-an-inch thick. A 

 tough-skinned apple was naturally in request, 

 Meltons, Beaufins, and Norfolk pippins being 

 amongst those used. About the time of the 

 battle of Waterloo the trade was most flourishing, 



291 



