Towcester

Towcester
St Lawrence's Church and Towcester Town Hall
Towcester is located in Northamptonshire
Towcester
Towcester
Location within Northamptonshire
Population11,542 (2021 Census)[1]
OS grid referenceSP691481
• London57 miles (92 km) SE[2]
Civil parish
  • Towcester
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townTOWCESTER
Postcode districtNN12
Dialling code01327
PoliceNorthamptonshire
FireNorthamptonshire
AmbulanceEast Midlands
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Northamptonshire
52°08′N 0°59′W / 52.13°N 0.99°W / 52.13; -0.99
St Lawrence's Church, Towcester
Watling Street, looking north
Chantry House, Watling Street

Towcester (/ˈtstər/ TOH-stər) is an affluent market town and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority area of Northamptonshire, England. From 1974 to 2021, it was the administrative centre of the South Northamptonshire district.

Towcester is one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in the country. It was the Roman town of Lactodurum, located on Watling Street, today’s A5. In Saxon times, this was the frontier between the kingdom of Wessex and the Danelaw. Towcester features in Charles Dickens's novel The Pickwick Papers as one of Mr Pickwick's stopping places on his tour. The local racecourse has hosted many national horseracing events.

  1. ^ "Towcester". City population. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference DistCalc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).