Kettering heritage
When Thomas Eayres sketched Kettering in 1721, he captured a town still shaped by its medieval bones: narrow lanes, grazing closes, manor lands, and ponds at every decent crossroads. Many streets we know today were already there, often under different names. This page gives a guided tour of the map, plus key information for the 45 numbered locations.
Eayres’ map is not just a sketch of streets. It is a snapshot of how Kettering worked: where animals were traded, where water was found, how routes left town, and where the big estates and institutions sat in relation to everyday life.
Tip: Use the search on the right to filter the 45 points and the number shortcuts at the same time.
Each point includes a quick “then and now” summary plus the key historical note.
The name likely drifted from “Dunmowes Peece” (1587) to “Dunmore”, with Eayres misspelling it as “Dulmore”. Later it became Swan Street after the Swan Inn, and then Montagu Street for the Montagu family of Boughton House. Eastwards it becomes Stamford Road.
A communal holding pen for stray livestock, overseen by the pinder who collected fines. Pounds are medieval in origin and typically sat at prominent junctions. Earlier mapping places an older pound further out, around the modern Telford Way Industrial Estate.
“Newlands” appear as early as 1292 and show early expansion beyond the market place. A 1405 document describes two rows of tenements, one facing what is now Montagu Street and the other facing the future Rockingham Road. In Victorian times it was Fleur-de-Lis Street.
A horse-washing pond with a stone cross set into one wall. Crossroads ponds were essential stopping points: water, rest, and a landmark.
A “close” is an enclosed field. Vestry entries from 1713 to 1723 mention a Joseph Baker, likely behind the name. It fronted onto the Hogleys near the site of the Earl of Dalkeith public house.
Began as pasture for pigs, later the town’s animal trading area. Part became Horsemarket. Stocks were moved here from the Market Square. The map shows School Lane and Job Roughton’s yard (Job’s Yard).
The church has stood here since at least 1125. In 1721 the churchyard extended east to what is now London Road. The main entrance was via the north door rather than the west gate on Sheep Street.
Land flanking the churchyard on both sides, now occupied by the former police station site and the swimming pool car park.
A recreation space shown on London Road. By the 19th century it became Drovers Hall and the Cattle Market. The name survives in Bowling Green Road.
Eayres labels the great house of Mr Sayers, actually the Sawyer family, lords of the manor for 150 years. The Manor House Museum stands here today. Beneath it lay the medieval abbot’s hall (1233 to 1246) and associated grange landscape, later reshaped into formal gardens.
Likely linked to Thomas Woodford (died 1723). Shown as a substantial house with gardens next to the manor and parsonage grounds.
Founded in 1577, this served as Kettering’s grammar school until 1913. It survived until the 1960s when it was demolished during town centre redevelopment.
The original workhouse was built 1718 to 1720 for £180. The adjacent lane became Workhouse Lane, later Dryland Street. A new workhouse on London Road replaced it in 1837.
Named for the bakehouse at its foot. Later buildings came and went. Today the site is marked by Kettering’s clock monument and forms part of modern Gold Street.
“Jitty” means a narrow passage. This may be one of the earliest recorded uses. The lane later became Workhouse Lane and finally Dryland Street.
Probably the northern edge of the early market square. Renamed Market Street in the mid 19th century.
The Rectory Manor was separate from the secular manor and had its own court. It existed by the 13th century and by 1405 had tenements along the east side of the market place. After the Dissolution, it was leased to the Watsons until 1802. The medieval Rectory House was later demolished.
Close to the church with a gateway decorated with the shields of St Peter (keys) and St Paul (sword). One shield survives set into a garden wall of the modern rectory.
An important trading spot at the foot of Park Stile Lane, by the market place.
The market dates to 1227. The Market House (1629) was demolished in 1805. The Market Cross once had a dungeon beneath; later replacements were removed in the early 1800s. Rotten Row ran along the western edge and divided the Sheep Market from Butchers Row before being demolished in the late 1700s.
A substantial house once stood where Lower Street meets Northall Street today.
The pond survived until 1831 when the vestry ordered it filled in, calling it a nuisance.
Recorded as early as 1527. The 1587 map shows it leading towards the north bridge area; by 1719 it had shrunk into a semicircular lane returning to the High Street.
Eayre cast more than 200 bells, including those of St Peter and St Paul in 1733. His foundry stood off the High Street on the lane now called Bellfoundry Lane. The sign still survives. He lived on Gold Street.
Glovers Pond stood at the junction of High Street and Mill Lane, once marked by a medieval cross. By 1808 it was known as Goosepasture Lane Pond and considered a health problem. Vestry resolutions called for it to be filled in during the early 1800s.
Recorded by 1405. A mill once stood at its foot, powered by a mill pond mentioned in 1321. The adjacent pasture gave the lane the name Goosepasture Lane. With the arrival of the gasworks it became Gas Street, now Meadow Road.
Separated from the market place by Rotten Row, this area later became Sheep Street, reflecting its long association with sheep trading.
The Swan Inn was a major local coaching inn and its yard became a key hub for travellers, meetings and deliveries. The inn also gave its name to Swan Street (later Montagu Street).
The White Hart hosted vestry meetings and later took the name “Royal” after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited in 1844.
George Street was once Cock Lane, named after the Cock Inn (recorded 1639). Archaeological hints suggest habitation here back to at least 1292, including tenements held by the town’s acremen.
Built in 1688 with money from Henry Sawyer, who died in Aleppo. The inscription survives on the wall today.
The old name for Lower Street and the road to Rothwell. “Staunch” refers to a powdered stone used to stop bleeding.
Brick kilns once sat on the north side of Staunch Lane (Lower Street), stretching down toward Broomhill, across what is now the Northfield Road retail area.
A small stone bridge near today’s major roundabout where Northfield Avenue, Rothwell Road and Lower Street meet. It was a key crossing point in 1721.
The old maps are vague, but it sat in meadows west of the centre and was likely linked to grazing rights and the White Hart’s sphere of influence.
First mentioned in 1292. A hedged croft where woad (“wad”) was grown for blue dye, supporting the woollen trade. It stayed common land until the 1801 Enclosure Act. Today it is around the Commercial Road car park and nearby streets.
An orchard once covering the ground now occupied by Commercial Road and Meadow Road, beside Wadcroft.
The map shows long rows of tenters, meaning the meadow was used to stretch, dry and bleach cloth, tying into the woad and woollen working landscape.
Stood at the far western end of Mill Lane, where Westfield Gardens is today.
Pastureland that gave the lane its older name Goosepasture Lane.
A plank crossing over the Slade Brook at the bottom of Mill Lane. A mill is recorded here in 1405 but gone by 1488, leaving the plank and place names as memory.
Just east of Goose Pasture, roughly where Northfield Avenue runs now. It belonged to the manor. The name “Bazely” remains uncertain.
Named after the grand Manor Hall complex (built around 1233, demolished in the 16th to 17th century). The lane survives as Northampton Road.
A bridge crossing the Slade at the bottom of Hall Lane, preserving the memory of the manor hall landscape.
Meadowland named from the vanished hall. Today it relates to the area around Thurston Drive, Lake Avenue and the surrounding estate.
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