Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire is a traditional county in the East Midlands of England. The Soke of Peterborough in the northeast of the county had its own county council from 1888 to 1965 and has been Unitary since 1998, albeit with less restrictive boundaries.

Geography & Economy

The A5 in Towcester

Northamptonshire is a long, thin county stretching from the Cherwell Valley to the Fens. However, it is not known for its geographical extremes, with the majority of the county made up of gently rolling hills. Agriculture is still important. The county was once known for the manufacture of footwear; this has now largely moved elsewhere although Dr. Martens still has a presence in the county. Silverstone motor racing circuit is in the south of the county (actually straddling the border with Buckinghamshire) and so industries connected with motorsport have a nearby presence. Corby is a centre for steel, although the industry has declined from its heyday.

Roads

The eastern end of the M45

Owing to its shape, Northamptonshire is the northernmost county in England to contain three different Ax roads, the A5, A6 and A1. Furthermore, although the county has a good road network it has no obvious focus. The trunk road network may assume motorists are travelling through, rather than to, Northamptonshire. National Highways maintain a number of roads in the county, with the M1, A1, A14 and A43 only examples. Non-trunk roads within the county are maintained by a combination of West Northamptonshire Council, North Northamptonshire Council and Peterborough City Council.

Watford Gap, west of Northampton, is a natural pass through the hills, so is an obvious route for transport. As well as the A5 and M1, the Grand Union Canal and railway also pass this way. The northern end of the A361 is on the A5 at nearby Kilsby.

Route	From	To	Length
M1	Staples Corner, Middlesex	Hook Moor, Yorkshire	192 miles	View
M40	Denham, Buckinghamshire	Umberslade, Warwickshire	89 miles	View
M45	Watford Gap	Thurlaston	8 miles	View
M100	South Mimms	Pelaw	256 miles	View
A1(M)	South Mimms	Washington	122 miles	View
A1	London	Edinburgh	396 miles	View
A5	London	Holyhead	252 miles	View
A14	Catthorpe	Felixstowe	137 miles	View
A15	Hessle (W)	Norman Cross	99.3 miles	View
A16	Peterborough	Grimsby	82.8 miles	View
A43	M40 J10, Cherwell Valley	Stamford	66.0 miles	View
A45	Bordesley, Birmingham	Thrapston	75.8 miles	View
A47	Birmingham	Lowestoft	157.9 miles	View
A361	Ilfracombe	Kilsby	213 miles	View
A413	Tatling End	Silverstone	52.2 miles	View
A421	Barleymow Roundabout, Brackley	Black Cat Roundabout, Roxton	44.4 miles	View
A422	Spetchley, Worcester	Bromham	84.5 miles	View
A425	Warwick	Daventry	25.1 miles	View
A427	Market Harborough	Oundle	21.0 miles	View
A428	Coventry	Cambridge	79.3 miles	View
A506	Hockliffe	Northampton	27 miles	View
A508	Old Stratford	Market Harborough	30.4 miles	View
A509	Milton Keynes	Kettering	30.6 miles	View
A510	Wellingborough	Cranford St John	7.4 miles	View
A604	Barton Seagrave	Parkeston Quay, Harwich	85 miles	View
A605	Thrapston	Guyhirn	35.1 miles	View
A1073	Eye	Spalding	14.6 miles	View
A1109	New England	Newark	1.6 miles	View
A1119	Lincoln Road	Eastfield Road	0.5 miles	View
A1125	Thorpe Road	Westwood Street	1.3 miles	View
A1127	Peterborough	Eastfield	1.0 mile	View
A1139	Eye	Orton	9.6 miles	View
A1179	Bourges Boulevard	Nene Parkway	1.7 miles	View
A1260	Cygnet Park	Thorpe Wood	2.8 miles	View
A4256	Leamington Way, Daventry	Northern Way, Daventry	0.8 miles	View
A4300	Telford Way, Kettering	Stanion	7.5 miles	View
A4500	Harpole	Wellingborough bypass	14.6 miles	View
A4501	Wellingborough Road, Northampton	Bedford Road, Northampton	0.67 miles	View
A4508	A45	Kingsthorpe, Northamptonshire		View
A5001	Rushden Bypass	Sanders Lodge	3.5 miles	View
A5002	Irthlingborough Road	Wellingborough Road	0.1 miles	View
A5028	Higham Ferrers	Rushden	3.5 miles	View
A5076	Kingsthorpe	Upton	9.0 miles	View
A5080	Kingsthorpe Hollow	St Peters Way	1.2 miles	View
A5095	Bedford Road, Northampton	Kingsthorpe	2.9 miles	View
A5101	Abington Avenue, Northampton	Kettering Road, Northampton	0.54 miles	View
A5123	Rothersthorpe	Boothville	8.2 miles	View
A5128	Finedon Road, Wellingborough	Wilby	2.9 miles	View
A5193	Little Irchester	Hatton Park	2.4 miles	View
A5199	Leicester	Kingsthorpe, Northampton	28.5 miles	View
A6003	Barton Seagrave	Oakham	22.9 miles	View
A6013	Kettering bypass	Northfield Avenue, Kettering	0.8 miles	View
A6014	Great Oakley	Corby	2.5 miles	View
A6086	Steel Road	Stamford Road	1.9 miles	View
A6098	Barton Road	Stamford Road	1.1 miles	View
A6116	Islip	Rockingham	14.1 miles	View
A6118	Stibbington	Wansford	0.6 miles	View
A6183	Kettering	Weekley	1.3 miles	View
A6900	Montagu Street, Kettering	Windmill Avenue, Kettering	1.1 miles	View
B526	Newport Pagnell	Northampton	14.8 miles	View
B566	Bridge Street	Abington Street	0.7 miles	View
B567	Harlestone Road	Bridge Street	1.9 miles	View
B568	Leicester	Abington, Northampton	30.8 miles	View
B569	Rushden	Strixton	5.6 miles	View
B570	Irchester	Little Irchester	1.0 mile	View
B571	Wellingborough	Irthlingborough By-Pass	5.4 miles	View
B572	Wellingborough	Wellingborough station	0.4 miles	View
B573	Earls Barton	Wellingborough	7.2 miles	View
B573	Northampton Road	Finedon Road	1.3 miles	View
B574	Great Harrowden	Hill Top	1.8 miles	View
B575	Kettering	Kettering station	0.2 miles	View
B576	Desborough bypass (N)	Rothwell	4.1 miles	View
B645	Rushden	Eaton Ford	17.7 miles	View
B662	Old Weston	Wigsthorpe	5.1 miles	View
B663	Bythorn By Pass	Chelveston	7.6 miles	View
B664	Great Bowden	Uppingham	11.8 miles	View
B664	Stanion	Rockingham	3.4 miles	View
B664	Station Road	B663	0.1 miles	View
B665	Thrapston	Raunds	4.4 miles	View
B666	Raunds	Ringstead	0.7 miles	View
B667	Islip	Stanion	8.1 miles	View
B669	Rothwell	Wilbarston	6.5 miles	View
B670	East Carlton	Rockingham	2.8 miles	View
B1081	Tickencote	Carpenter's Lodge	4.7 miles	View
B1162	Northborough	Deeping St James	2.0 miles	View
B1165	Eye	Crowland	4.8 miles	View
B1380	Lincoln Road	Thorpe Road	1.3 miles	View
B1443	Stamford	Thorney	18.0 miles	View
B1524	Northborough	Market Deeping By Pass(N)	2.0 miles	View
B4031	Barley Mow Farm, Croughton	Swerford Heath	12.2 miles	View
B4036	Daventry	Long Buckby Wharf	3.1 miles	View
B4037	Badby	Dodford	3.0 miles	View
B4038	Hillmorton	Daventry (SE)	3.3 miles	View
B4525	Middleton Cheney	Syresham	9.4 miles	View
B4538	Western Avenue	The Market Place	0.4 miles	View
B5323	Warren Hill	Northampton Road	0.8 miles	View
B5346	Kettering Road	Abington Grove	0.29 miles	View
B5347	Black Lion Hill	Kingsthorpe Road	1.2 miles	View
B5348	Irthlingborough bypass (W)	Nene Park Roundabout	1.2 miles	View
B5385	East Haddon	Watford Gap	4.5 miles	View
B5386	Northampton Road	Finedon Road	1.4 miles	View
B5387	Kettering	Barton Seagrave	1.2 miles	View
B5388	Yardley Hastings	Olney	3.1 miles	View
B6481	Oakley Road	Phoenix Parkway	0.6 miles	View
T1	London	Scrabster		View
T11	London	Holyhead		View
T12	London	Inverness		View
T13	Winchester	Preston		View
T15	Birmingham	Great Yarmouth		View
T23	Norman Cross	Grimsby		View
T45	Ipswich	Weedon		View
T47	Oxford	Market Deeping		View
T48	Weedon	Brownhills		View

Key

Motorway

Primary Route

Non Primary Route

Former Motorway

Defunct Route

E Road

Future Motorway

Future Primary

Future Non Primary

Historical Route

Tourist Route

Roman Road

Unbuilt Motorway

Unbuilt Primary

Unbuilt Non Primary

National Cycle Network

Cycle Route

Eurovelo Cycle Route

Turnpikes

Main Article: Northamptonshire Turnpikes

Junctions

Main Article: Junctions in Northamptonshire

Bridges, Tunnels, and other Crossings

Main Article: Crossings in Northamptonshire