Castle Park Heritage Part 1: Where Northampton Began

This park stands on the eastern edge of the great Northampton Castle, but before the castle was built people were already living on Chalk Lane.

The first people to visit the Northampton area were hunter-gatherers during the late Mesolithic period (also called the 'Middle Stone Age', around 6000 to 4000 BC). They used the land near the River Nene for food and left behind small flint tools, which were found by archaeologists during excavations at Chalk Lane, St Peter's Church and Briar Hill, and during quarrying at Duston.

After 4000 BC the first farmers of the Neolithic period (also called the 'New Stone Age') built a large ditched enclosure on the hillside at Briar Hill, probably used for seasonal gatherings, where they left behind flint tools and pottery.

From around 2500 BC, during the 'Bronze Age', more people were arriving, bringing with them the secrets of metalworking, using copper, bronze and gold. They are known as the 'Beaker People' because they produced fine highly decorated pots, often found with burials. Parts of Beaker pots were found at Chalk Lane as well as other areas within Northampton such as Duston, Ecton and Briar Hill.

Around 750 BC, local people were working with iron, and by 550 BC they had built an impressive hillfort on Hunsbury Hill. This acted as a main centre for the local tribe, with numerous small settlements around the Northampton area and along the Nene Valley.

Much of the interior of the hillfort was dug out for ironstone in the late 19th Century. Pottery and iron, bronze and bone tools, and over 100 stone rotary querns were found and given to Northampton Museum.

The nearest Roman small town was at Duston, where Roman pottery and coins have been discovered. Marefair may have been part of a small Roman road that travelled east from Duston along the Nene Valley, all the way to the walled Roman town of Irchester and beyond.

Last updated 17 October 2025