Heritage Open Days in Northampton

8-11 September 2011

While not outstanding, this year's HOD compared well with previous years. There were 35 openings / events - one fewer than last year.  However there was only one completely new venue - a village walk at Spratton, north of Northampton, which proved both popular and successful.

Again the Heritage Buses proved to be a vital part of the event in Northampton, acting as a focal point round the bus stop in George Row and alerting the public to the fact that something different was going on. The frequency of the services was lower than last year, since (a) fewer buses were available, and (b) some of last years' buses ran with only a few passengers on board. This year saw 882 passengers making 1,285 bus journeys, shared between 6 classic buses. One service on Sunday afternoon required a duplicate bus to cope with demand.

The JTrails walk was again well-subscribed, and the river trips were fully booked by the start of the weekend.

As usual the most popular buildings were the Guildhall (over 1000 visitors), Holy Sepulchre (600), Delapre Abbey (450) and St Peter's Church (c. 400).  These numbers are comparable with previous years, though both the Guildhall and Holy Sepulchre were down slightly from last year. Of the 35 participants, visitor numbers have been received from 23, totalling around 4,000 visitors (this figure does not include the bus passenger numbers). Twelve participants have not sent in their visitor numbers, including one building which normally receives several hundred visitors throughout the weekend. It seems reasonable, therefore to estimate that well over 5,000 visitors attended HOD in Northampton in 2011.

• Statistical summary
  

Heritage Open Days 2012

The dates for 2012 are 6th - 9th September.

If you wish to take part please contact the Council's conservation team:
Planning Policy & Heritage, The Guildhall, St Giles Square, Northampton. NN1 1DE
Tel: 01604 837633
Email: conservation@northampton.gov.uk

Heritage Open Days is part of European Heritage Days - a Council of Europe initiative.  English Heritage runs the event in England, with help with funding from the Open University. Northampton's contribution is co-ordinated by Northampton Borough Council.

More information on  Heritage Open Days can be found at www. heritageopendays.org.uk

Page updated: 03/10/2011 

Information Leaflets

Hazelrigg House

Describing the history and development of one of the few town centre buildings to have survived the 1675 fire.

Matthew Holding Information Sheet

Brief biographical information on one of Northampton's most prominent Victorian architects, with a map and illustrations of some of his buildings.

Town Centre Trail

This leaflet describes a walk round the town centre visiting the historic core of Northampton.

Northampton Heritage Trail

An updated version of the Town Centre Trail, visiting the historic core of Northampton.