NORTHAMPTON VINDICATED
OR
Why the Main Line Missed the Town
A monograph was researched and written in 1935 by Joan Wake, Hon. Sec. Northamptonshire Record Society on the political goings-on in the early 19th century when Stephenson was planning his London to Birmingham railway through the County. It is a 31 page booklet and now out of print. Victor Hatley has also more recently reviewed this topic but, here, is a synopsis of Joan Wake's account.
What has become practically a legend is the idea that the main line missed Northampton by 4 miles (in skirting Blisworth) because 'the Town' was against it. The earliest mention of the legend is by Thomas Roscoe "the original line of the London and Birmingham railway, as marked out by Mr Stephenson, was through Northampton; so great, however, was the opposition that certain parties in authority entertained to it, that the bill was consequently lost." Ten years later Sir Francis Head repeated the story using colourful language, viz, "barbarous force" and there followed persistent screaming abuse, viz. "the idiocy of Northampton" and the previous term upgraded to "barbarous fury" in around 1888.
The railway project in its infancy, c. 1825, faced extreme engineering problems and an evident frenzied opposition from landowners virtual along the entire path, viz. "it will be injurious to property and ruin the noble sport of hunting . . ." The L & B R Company was formed on Sept 1830 with George Stephenson and son Robert appointed as engineers. A survey committee was set up. On Oct 27, this committee was lobbied in Birmingham by a party from Northampton that the town should be "on the line". At the time, the company was happy to comply. The survey proceeded and had chosen various lines which all, unfortunately, bypassed Northampton by about 4 miles. This was supposed to be because Northampton was too difficult to include and it is later reported that Stephenson had observed, "it easy to get an engine into the town but impossible to get it out again."
The Mayor and a group of Tory and Anglican councillors in the Northampton Corporation were outspoken in opposition to the railway in general - they were merely supporting the landowners in their fury. They went as far as damning railways either through or near the town - a branch line, which was included in the surveys, was not mentioned. Realising they had been misunderstood they however withdrew their dissent in 1831. However, this mattered not much to the railway planners who had received a further input that the railway should skirt closely by Weedon Barracks and the Ordnance Store on the Grand Junction Canal. Stephenson deposited in November 1831, at the County Hall in Northampton, the somewhat refined plan which favoured the westerly route, going through Bugbrooke and close to Weedon. Perhaps in tiring of the continuous clamour he omitted the branch line to Northampton, perhaps the issue of level differences was still too difficult to overcome. Action then shifted to Westminster as the plan was considered in a Bill. In committee, Stephenson declared that the line would be later enhanced with a branch line to Northampton. There was not a single word in opposition to this plan and its bill from the Northampton Corporation. Tradesmen and manufacturers in the town were vociferous in their insistence the line should go through Northampton. In point of fact, it was not until about 1880 that this faction had acquired any clout in the planning of the town.
The two key landowners, Wake and Grafton, objected to the line and the Bill was lost. In Oct 1832, the railway company resolved to try again with "much more attention to the great landowners, especially amongst the Lords". By Jan 1833, behind closed doors, Wake and Grafton had finally assented. The line would cut deeper into Blisworth Hill in a longer cutting and would enter the vale at a height of 15 yards above the earlier plan. In effect, the line was being placed somewhat nearer to Blisworth, passing on an embankment, and would skirt rather than bisect the all important land owned by the Northampton Corporation in Bugbrooke. The line was opened in Sept 1838 and a very simple station was place at the embankment arch near Blisworth, to be used by Northampton and Towcester. That a better station was built a few years later just to the west of the arch was very much due to the pressure from the Duke of Grafton - it was crystallised in an Act passed in 1843 which also included a branch line into Northampton, later to be extended to Peterborough. However, an additional loop off the main line, which allowed trains direct from Birmingham or London to pass into the Town, was not provided until 1875.
It was quite clear that the railway company never intended to take the line into Northampton - probably because of the difference in levels [a Northampton station located somewhere near Briar Hill, to the south of the river would have satisfied the levels problem but would have left the railway then facing east for an ongoing route for Birmingham and the station would have not been near the town centre] A large faction, without voice, wanted the railway and the ill-considered objections from the Corporation lasted for only 7 months. Long enough for Stephenson to not try too hard to overcome the level problems but attend to more pressing issues.