Tudors and Stuarts

Reformation, Restoration and Revolution! The period saw major political, social and religious changes.

The Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536 led to social changes and, in the Elizabethan period, new laws were introduced to deal with the poor. It was the parish that was responsible for administering law and order in the countryside. Queen Elizabeth I made a law that all baptisms, marriages and burials be kept in Parish registers. (Family historians have Elizabeth to thank for being able to trace their ancestry back to Tudor times.) The Civil War irrevocably altered the relationship between Crown and Parliament; from the making of shoes for the army to the decisive Battle of Naseby local connections can be found.

Northamptonshire saw its fair share of the constant threat of religious and political subversion that characterised this period; from the potentially explosive gunpowder plotters, to the execution of Mary Queen of Scots. The Newton Rebellion was a social protest against private landowners enclosing lands.

The first of the new buildings after the Great Fire that destroyed Northampton were those concerned with imposing law and order: The Sessions House and county goal. This period also saw John Dryden, the first of our county's literary figures emerging

Places to visit include Sulgrave Manor, Kirby Hall, Canons Ashby and Northamptonshire Record Office.