Editing Northampton (section)

=== Ancient ===
[[File:Danes Camp Earthworks Northampton.jpg|thumb|upright|Earthworks at [[Hunsbury Hill]], which was a settlement during the [[Iron Age]]]]
Present-day Northampton is the latest in a series of settlements that began in the [[Bronze Age]]. Remains found in the Briar Hill district show evidence of a [[Neolithic]] encampment within a large circular earthwork where local farmers assembled for tribal ceremonies and seasonal events from approximately 3500&nbsp;BC to 2000&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{cite web |last=Deegan |first=Alison |title=Late Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman settlements and landscapes |url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/publications/mapping-ancient-landscapes-northamptonshire/mapping-ancient-landscapes-in-northamptonshire-chp6-7.pdf |access-date=12 September 2013 |publisher=english-heritage.org.uk}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=3500 BC: First Settlements at Briar Hill |url=http://www.northamptonshiretimeline.com/scene/3500bc-briar-hill/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140318103950/http://www.northamptonshiretimeline.com/scene/3500bc-briar-hill/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=18 March 2014 |access-date=17 July 2013 |publisher=Northamptonshire Timeline }}</ref>

During the [[British Iron Age]], people typically lived in protected [[hill fort]]s. Present-day [[Hunsbury Hill]] is an example of this settlement; a circular ditch and a bank faced with a wall of timber and enclosing an area of {{convert|160|acres|0|abbr=on}} which dates to around 400&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{cite web |title=400 BC: Hillfort Begun at Hunsbury Hill in Northampton |url=http://www.northamptonshiretimeline.com/scene/400bc-hunsbury-hillfort/ |access-date=17 July 2013 |publisher=Northamptonshire Timeline |archive-date=18 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140318092601/http://www.northamptonshiretimeline.com/scene/400bc-hunsbury-hillfort/ |url-status=usurped }}</ref> In the [[Roman Britain|Roman period]], a small rural settlement is thought to have existed in the present-day district of [[Duston]]; remains of [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] [[pottery]] were found there.<ref>{{cite web |last=Doyle |first=Tony |title=Roman remains |url=http://paintedpixels.co.uk/northampton/northampton/roman.html |access-date=29 August 2013 |publisher=Paintedpixels.co.uk |archive-date=3 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203035315/http://paintedpixels.co.uk/northampton/northampton/roman.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Following a [[Viking|Danish]] invasion, the central area of the town was turned into a stronghold called a ''burh'' probably by the Anglo-Saxons. By the time of the [[Peace of Wedmore]] in 878 the Burgh was in possession of the Danes and became the base for one of the Danish armies.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last=Ingram |first=Mike |title=We're a little bit Saxon and a little bit Viking |url=https://nenequirer.com/2019/05/28/were-a-little-bit-saxon-and-a-little-bit-viking/ |journal=Nene Quirer|date=28 May 2019 }}</ref>  A ditch was dug around the settlement and it was fortified with earth [[Defensive wall|ramparts]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Vince |first=Alan |title=An Archaeological Resource Assessment and Research Agenda for the Early and Middle Anglo-Saxon Period (c. 400–850) in the East Midlands |url=http://www.le.ac.uk/ulas/publications/documents/emidas_000.pdf |access-date=12 September 2013 |publisher=le.ac.uk |archive-date=12 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812152741/http://www.le.ac.uk/ulas/publications/documents/emidas_000.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Having conquered [[Mercia]], the Danes turned the settlement into a centre for military and administrative purposes, which was part of the [[Danelaw]]. The Danish army of Northampton however submitted to [[Edward the Elder]], Saxon King of [[Wessex]] (who controlled the southern and western part of the English Kingdom of Mercia) in 921<ref name=":0" />

In the 9th century ''Regenhere of Northampton'',<ref>The Liber Vitae of the New Minster, [[Winchester]], Stowe 944(Fl.964-1030AD)</ref><ref>William George Searle, Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum: A List of [[Anglo-Saxon]] [[Proper Name|Proper Names]] from the Time of [[Beda]] to that of [[John, King of England|King John]]  ([[Cambridge University Press]], 22 March 2012), [https://books.google.com/books?id=7t1vsmrHUj4C&dq=Regenhere&pg=PA397 page 387]</ref> an [[East Anglia]]n [[Saint]] with localised [[Venerate|veneration]], was buried in Northampton. By 918, Northampton had an [[earl]] and an army dependent upon it, whose territory extended to the [[River Welland]].<ref name=britishhistory />

Edward the Elder turned Northampton into the centre of one of the new shires, and it prospered as a river port and trading centre.<ref name=britishhistory /> In 940, it resisted the invading forces of Danish opposition in [[Northumbria]] when the Mercians successfully defended the town in a siege by [[Scandinavian York|King Olaf of York]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Roman saxon and Viking |url=https://northantsbattles.com/roman-saxon-and-viking/ |access-date=6 August 2020 |website=Northamptonshire Battlefields Society|date=31 March 2017 }}</ref> but was burnt in 1010 by a Danish army, and again in 1065 by the [[Northumbrian Revolt of 1065|rebellious northern earls]] [[Edwin, Earl of Mercia|Edwin]] and [[Morcar]]. Despite this, the ''Domesday Book'' records ''Northantone'' as possessing 316 houses with a population of 2000 people, ranking between [[Warwick]] and [[Leicester]] in size.<ref name=britishhistory /><ref name=visionofbritain />