Northampton – Historic Sites

Mum&Dadwedding

I was back in England last month, to be with my parents as they celebrated their 65th Wedding Anniversary.

A 65th (Sapphire) Anniversary is quite a rare achievement – only 1% of couples stay married and alive that long – and Mum and Dad received a card from the Queen to mark the occasion (the Queen and Prince Philip celebrated their own 65th a couple of years ago).

Congratulations to my parents and we look forward to their 70th anniversary.

We were staying near the ancient town of Northampton, centrally located in the heart of England.

The town is best known for its shoe industry. In the 1830’s around a third of the male population were engaged in shoe making (hence the nickname of the town’s football team, Cobblers). That industry is virtually all gone now – one or two up-market brands survive such as Church’s, but the old factories are nearly all demolished or converted into flats or offices.

The town has successfully reinvented itself as a services and distribution hub and the southern half of the county currently enjoys the second lowest unemployment rate in Britain.

The town of Northampton is not especially renowned for its historic sites (thought the county of Northamptonshire has many) but a few gems exist and are worth a visit.

St Peter's Church, Northampton

St. Peter’s Church

St. Peter’s is reckoned to be the finest Norman church in the county and erected around 1170 by Simon de St.Liz (Senlis), first Norman Earl of Northampton, on the site of an earlier Saxon church. The fine two-tone banded stonework on the exterior and on the interior arches is a particular feature and reminiscent of Moorish architecture (perhaps an early Crusader brought back the idea from the Middle East). The church marks the location of the original Saxon settlement of Hamtun from which the town developed.

Anglo Saxon Grave Slab, St Peter's Church, Northampton

Displayed inside the church is this fine Anglo-Saxon grave slab, which was possibly the tomb lid of St. Ragener, a soldier who died in 870 fighting the pagan Vikings, for which he was awarded sainthood. Yes, Northampton even has its own saint! The slab depicts the face of the Green Man entwined in foliage and various animals and birds.

When this grave was discovered beneath the floor of the old Saxon church it was said to have helped a crippled woman to walk and performed other miracles. Impressed by this, King Edward the Confessor had a gold and jewel encrusted shrine erected here for the Saint. Sadly no trace of the precious shrine remains.

Hazelrigg House

Hazelrigg House, Northampton

This well preserved example of Elizabethan architecture is located close to St. Peter’s on Marefair. The building is thought to date from around 1570, with later additions. It is one of the few houses to have survived the Great Fire of Northampton in 1675. Folklore has it that Oliver Cromwell stayed here on the eve of the Battle of Naseby in June 1645. The town was known to have sympathies with the Parliamentarian side in the English Civil War and provided several thousand pairs of boots to Oliver Cromwell’s roundhead army, for which the makers never received payment. After restoration of the monarchy King Charles II punished the town by pulling down its castle and walls.

Guildhall

Northampton Guildhall

A much newer landmark is the Guildhall built in 1864 in imposing Victorian Gothic architectural style. They were holding a vintage fair during our visit so we were able to get a peek inside. The main hall is decorated with stain glass windows and portraits of British Kings and Queens (and that man Cromwell again!).

Church of All Saints

All Saints Church, Northampton

In the centre of town is All Saints which was built in 1680 following the Great Fire. Charles II supplied the timber and stone for its construction (perhaps feeling guilty about demolishing the castle?). In gratitude the townsfolk erected a statue of the king above the portico from where he has a good view of McDonalds but, as a snub, he is depicted wearing a Roman skirt tunic, which, together with his long hair, makes him look rather effeminate. Obviously the locals were still smarting over supporting the losing side in the Civil War.

Market Square

Market Square, Northampton

Talking of Romans, it was they who are said to have laid out the town’s market square and used it a marshalling point for distributing supplies to their forces around the region. Even those days the town’s strategic location was recognised as a logistics hub.

Today the Market Square is reputed to be the largest fully enclosed market square in England and many of its surrounding buildings have retained their historic old world charm. There are said to be secret tunnels running underneath the square.

St. Peter’s Church, Melaka

St.Peter's Church, Melaka

St. Peter’s Church in Melaka is the oldest functioning Roman Catholic church in Malaysia.

From 1511 until 1641, while under Portuguese rule, Malacca was described as a Christian town with a Roman Catholic church or chapel in every street. In 1618 there were 7,400 Christians in Malacca with 14 churches and 2 chapels.

In 1641 Malacca fell to the Dutch who, being predominantly Protestant and anti-Catholic, set about demolishing Portuguese churches and persecuting the Catholic population of the city. Priest were forbidden to preach. What must the local Malay population have thought about these two groups of Europeans who were so mean to each other despite being strangers in a foreign land so far from home and both professing to belong to a superior culture?

During the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), Holland and Portugal found themselves fighting on the same side as part of the Grand Alliance. As a result the Dutch eased up on their persecution of Catholics in Malacca and a Dutch Catholic called Franz Amboer was given permission to donate land for the construction of St. Peter’s Church which, as the date on the bell tower suggests, was finished around 1710.

Plaque outside St. Peter's Church, Melaka

One of the bells predates the church having been cast in Goa in 1608. It was salvaged from the ruins of an earlier church burnt down by the Dutch, possibly the Church of São Lourenço (St. Lawrence) which was built in the 1600s and located around the corner in what is now Jalan Bunga Raya. A chapel called Ermida de Rosario was built on the site of  St. Lawrence Church. This chapel itself fell into disrepair in the 1800s but its crumbling ruins can still be seen on a plot located next to the old Federal Cinema, adjacent to the Food Court.

Interior of St. Peter's Church

A book called “Historical Tombstones of Malacca” (not, I suspect, a best seller!) written by RV Bland in 1904 contained a photo of a grave located outside St.Peter’s Church. The grave was of Domingo D’Oliveira who died on 3 May 1598 which must make it one of the oldest surviving graves in Melaka if it is still around.

One of the newer additions to the church grounds is a water feature with a plaque quoting Jesus’s invitation to Peter to walk on water. The pool is only a few centimetres deep so you can create your own walking-on-water illusion if you don’t mind getting your feet wet.

St.Peter's Church, Melaka