NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 
218 
NORTHAM'PTON, a large uneven county of Penn¬ 
sylvania, in the north-eaft corner of the ftate, on Dela- 
ware-river, which feparates it from New Jerfey and New 
York; it is divided into 27 townftiips, and contains 
30,062 inhabitants.—Alfo, a town in the fame county, on 
the fouth-weft bank of Lehigh river, five or fix miles 
fouth-weft of Bethlehem, containing 573 inhabitants. 
NORTHAM'PTON, a county of Halifax diftrift, 
North Carolina, bounded north by the ftate of Virginia, 
containing 12,331 inhabitants, of whom 6206 are flaves. 
NORTHAM'PTON, a maritime county of Virginia, 
on the point of the peninfula which forms the eaft fide 
of the entrance into Chefapeak-bay; having the ocean 
eaft, and Accomack-county north; its fouthern extre¬ 
mity being Cape Charles, in lat. 37. 11. N. and Ion. 75. 57. 
W. off which is Smith’s Hland. This county, the lands 
of which are low and Tandy, contains 6763 inhabitants. 
NORTHAM'PTON, a refpeftable poll-town and capi¬ 
tal of Hampfhire county, Maffachufetts, fituated within 
a bend of Connefticut river, on its weft fide; forty miles 
north of Hartford, and containing a fpacious congrega¬ 
tional church, a court-houfe, gaol, and about 250 dwel- 
ling-houfes, of which many are handfome buildings. Its 
meadows are extenfive and fertile, and it carries on a 
confiderable trade. This townfhip was incorporated in 
1685, and contains 2190 inhabitants. 
NORTHAM'PTON, a townfhip in Burlington-county 
New Jerfey, comprehending about 56,000 acres, half im¬ 
proved and half moftly pine-barren. The chief place is 
Mount Holly. It contains about 150 houfes, an epifco- 
pal church, aFriends’ meeting-houfe, and a market-houfe: 
twenty-two miles from Trenton.—A townfhip of New 
Hampfhire, in Rockingham county, containing 653 in¬ 
habitants; incorporated in 1742.— A townfliip in Mont¬ 
gomery county, New York; containing 996 inhabitants. 
NORTHAM'PTONSHIRE, a county of England, and 
nearly in the centre of theifland, is bounded by Rutland¬ 
shire and Lincolnfhire on the north; by Cambridgefhire, 
Bedfordfhire, and Huntingdonfhire, on the eaft; by Buck- 
inghamfhire and part of Oxfordfhire on the fouth; and 
the Charwell fecures it from another part of Oxfordfhire, 
whilft the river Learn, for a fliort diftance, and the old 
Roman Watling-ftreet, feparate it from Warwickfhire on 
the weft. The extent of Northamptonfhire may be efti- 
mated at nearly fixty-fix miles in its longelt diameter, 
viz. from its moft weftern verge at Ay.nho to the re- 
moteft north-eaftern limit near Crowland. Its greateft 
breadth, from Hargrave in the eaft to Barby in the weft, 
is eftimatedat about thirty miles ; yet its average width, 
perhaps, is not twenty miles ; and from Brockley acrofs 
to Aftrop in the fouth, alfo from Peterborough in a 
northerly direction to'Peakirk, it does not exceed eight 
miles. The circumference may be confidered 216 miles, 
and the fuperficial area of the whole has been computed 
at 550,000 acres; but the lateft authorities, referred to in 
the poor-returns to parliament, ftate it to be 617,000 
acres, of which 290,000 are laid to be arable, 235,000 in 
pafturage, and about 86,000 uncultivated, including 
woodlands. It contains 1 city, 11 market-towns, 336 
parifhes ; and, according to the population return of 1811, 
there were then 28,995 houfes, and 141,353 inhabitants ; 
males 68,279, females 73,074; families employed in agri¬ 
culture, 15,235; in trade, 12,100; in neither, 3525; total, 
30,860. Gent. Mag. Dec. 1818. 
At the time of the general Norman furvey, there were 
thirty hundreds and wapentakes in the county of North¬ 
ampton, as we find them recorded in Domefday Book. 
When this furvey was made, a confiderable part of Rut- 
landlhire was included in the county of Northampton ; 
but in the fifth year of king John we have mention made 
of it as a feparate ftiire; and, by an inquifttion taken in 
the fourth of Edward I. it was certified to have been 
given by Henry III. to the king of Almaine. By a later 
divifion the hundreds were reduced to twenty-eight, and 
in the reign of Edward II. they were further contracted 
to the prefent number of twenty, and were called by the 
names wdiich they now bear; ten being comprehended in 
the eaftern divifion of the county, and ten in the wefterni 
When the Romans took poffeflion of the central part 
of Britain, they found it occupied by a tribe of people 
known by the name of Coritani; thefe being fubju- 
gated, their conquerors foon began to form military 
roads and fortreffes. Two great roads, or via-ftrata, 
crofted the county; and were, direftly or collaterally, 
connected with feveral permanent ftations, temporary 
encampments, and vicinal ways. The Watling-ftreet, 
in proceeding from the fouth towards the north, en¬ 
ters Northamptonfhire at or near Stratford, and, con¬ 
tinuing in almoft a direCt line acrofs the county, leaves 
it at Dove-bridge. On this courfe there appears to have 
been three ftations, as mentioned both in the fecond and 
ftxth Iters of Antoninus; and alfo in the Itinerary of 
Richard of Cirencefter. Thefe were LaCtodorum, feven- 
teen Roman miles from Magiovinium ; Bennavenna, or 
Ifannavotia, twelve miles from thefirft; and Tripontium, 
twelve miles diftant from the latter. Much difference of 
opinion has prevailed among antiquaries refpeCting the 
fcites of thefe ftations ; but, from the known and indif- 
putable ftation of Verulam, St. Alban’s, we are pretty 
certain that the Watling-ftreet, in its progrefs northward, 
pafled Durocobrivis near Dunftable, and Magiovinium 
in the vicinity of Stratford. From this to LaCtodorum 
was feventeen miles; which diftance, with the name ftill 
retained of Towcefter, and the veftiges of the place, are 
tolerably fatisfaCtory proofs as to the fcite of this ftation. 
The next Roman town on this road was Benaventa, or 
Bennavenna, which has been placed at Wedon-Bec, at 
Caftle-Dykes,and near Daventry ; but the fuperior claims 
of the latter are decifivefrom amerecurfory view of each 
place. In an adjoining wood, dole to the prefent turn¬ 
pike road, are other military works, called John of 
Gaunt’s caftle, which probably conftituted part of the 
Roman ftation. Twelve miles north of this was Tripon¬ 
tium, a name defcriptive of its fituation and character. 
This ftation is ufually aftigned to Lilburn, where is a co¬ 
nical artificial hill, poflibly the keep of a fortrefs, and 
fome callrametations. Caufeways, pavements, and other 
ancient veftiges, have been found here. 
Befides the ftations already noticed, there appear to 
have been other w r orks of the Romans on the wejle.ru fide of 
this county. The great encampment called Caitle-Dykes, 
fouth-weft of Wedon, appears to have been either formed 
or altered by the Romans. It was a fortrefs of great 
ftrength and magnitude. About three miles to the eaft 
is Nethers Heyford, where part of a tefl’ellated pavement 
was difcovered in 1699. This w'as, howevfer, only a frag¬ 
ment of a common floor, though Moreton defcribes it as 
“ a noble piece of art, exceeding all that I have feen or 
read of.” It is evident that the weftern fide of North- 
amptonfhire abounded with military polls during the Ro¬ 
man colonization of England. 
On the eajiern fide, the Roman road called the Forty- 
foot-way, or Ermine-ftreet, enters the county from Hun¬ 
tingdonfhire near the village of Caflor, where it pafled 
the Nen river. Parts of this road are ftiil lofty, and con- 
fpicuous between Caftor and Upton; and again in the pa- 
rifh of Barnack. The only ftation in this county on the 
line was Durobrivse, which was at or near Caftor. 
In order to fhovv that the Romans occupied places and 
eftablifhed permanent habitations in other parts of the 
county, it will be fufficient to point out the fpots where 
veftiges of thofe people have been found. The moft con¬ 
fiderable of their remains are fome teffellated pavements, 
or floors of different rooms, which were found at Wel¬ 
don in the year 1738. The plan difplayed a long gallery 
about 90 feet by 10; which communicated with feven 
other apartments. The whole formed nearly a parallelo¬ 
gram of 100 feet by 30; and confided of foundation- 
walls and floors made of tefleras, laid in the common 
patterns. Numerous coins of the Roman empire, and. 
1 feveral 
