Daventry
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For other uses see Daventry (disambiguation)
High_Street,_Daventry.jpg
Daventry is a market town in Northamptonshire, England with a population of 22,367 (2001 census). The town is the administrative centre of the Daventry district.
It is located roughly 20 miles (35 km) west of Northampton. The town comprises a historic market centre surrounded by much modern housing and light industrial development. On the edge of the town centre is the popular Daventry Country Park and reservoir. Until recently Daventry had a small Battle of Naseby museum although this is currently (2004) being mothballed.
Daventry is near the M1 motorway and is served by the A45 road. Daventry once had a railway station on the former LNWR branch-line from Weedon to Leamington Spa but this was closed in the early 1960s; now the nearest railway station is at Long Buckby.
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Daventry_monument.jpg
Owing to its good transport links, Daventry is now a warehousing and distribution centre.
Nearby places to Daventry include: Rugby, Southam, Banbury, Northampton and Coventry. The town is twinned with Westerburg in Germany.
History
On the 653 foot (199 metre) high 'Borough Hill' that overlooks the town, remains have been found of an iron age hill fort - one of the largest found in Britain. Remains have also been found on the hill of later Roman buildings.
Daventy became a market town in medieval times, and the town was incorporated under a royal charter in 1606, and a new royal charter was granted in 1674. During the English Civil War, King Charles I stayed at Daventry along with many troops before the Battle of Naseby which occurred nearby in 1645 between Royalist and Parliamentarian forces.
In 1923 a BBC broadcasting station, which until recently had a large antenna farm, was built on Borough Hill outside the town. In 1935 the radio station at Daventry was used for the first ever practical demonstration of radar, by its inventor Robert Watson-Watt. The station closed in 1992 and only one of the radio masts now remains and is used as a radio beacon for aircraft.
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In the 18th and 19th centuries, Daventry suffered from poor transport links, largely as a result of this, the industrial revolution largely passed the town by. The canals passed around Daventry, (although the Grand Union passed a few miles north) and the railways did not connect Daventry until quite late in the century.
Daventry did not achieve a railway connection until 1888, when a branch from the main line at Weedon was built, and in 1895 was extended to Leamington Spa, although being only a branch line this failed to spur much growth. Daventry's economy remained largely rural, with shoe making as the main industry.
Daventry remained a small rural town until the 1950s; in 1950 it had a population of around 6,000. Real growth started in 1954 when the ball bearing manufacturer British Timken located a large factory in the town.
In the early 1960s the town was chosen as an overspill for people displaced by slum clearances in Birmingham. The town grew rapidly as a result: between 1955 and 1975 Daventry's population tripled to around 20,000.
In 2004, It found a new claim to fame as it was mentioned in a McDonalds advert. When a person said "I've got a job interview in Daventry — where's that?" it was met with the response of "Are you sure you don't mean Coventry?"
King's Quest
For some reason, Roberta Williams picked the name 'Daventry' for the name of the fantasy kingdom where the computer adventure game series King's Quest take place. The similarities with the real Daventry stop there.
External links
- Daventry community website (http://www.daventry-index.co.uk/community/index.html)
- Daventry Express (http://www.daventryexpress.co.uk/) - Local newspaper
- BBC Daventry Radio Stattion (http://www.daventry-index.co.uk/history/history02.html)