The Northamptonshire market town of Kettering in the UK mixes up-to-date amenities with a long and illustrious history. If you travel the 130 kilometers from London to visit Kettering, you will immediately note that it has a full range of businesses. There are clothing shops, fine restaurants and public houses, antique dealers, etc. Commercial cleaners in Kettering provide busy homeowners and businesses with top-notch cleaning services. And of course there are the full complement of municipal services, such as the police and fire department.
Kettering, on the west bank of the River Ise, has a population of over 50,000. The town’s name is believed to refer to the “kinsfolk of Ketter”, an unknown historical figure. Prehistoric settlement of the general area is attributed to the Hallstatt culture, which entered the Iron Age around 500 BC. These people were responsible for constructing a series of hillforts, especially in the neighboring Irthlingborough vicinity.
Skipping forward to Roman times (early first century BC), the region was populated by a Belgic tribe, the Catuvellauni. In 43 AD, the Romans conquered the land. The Kettering locale traces its roots to an unwalled Romano British settlement on the north end of the current town. Roman occupation extended into the fourth century, and the area was known for its iron-smelting activities. The Roman settlement grew and reached the parishes of Geddington and Weekley.
There seems to have been a period between the Roman and Anglo-Saxon eras in which Kettering was unoccupied. However, a Saxon burial site dating back to the fifth century AD indicates that Kettering was occupied early on in the Anglo-Saxon era. The kingdom of Mercia arose, and by the seventh century, had converted from paganism to Christianity (in 654 AD). Then, in 889 AD, the area was conquered by the Danes. King Edward the Elder captured the territory for England in 917, but it was briefly conquered by the Vikings of York in 940. The English retook the territory two years later.
Kettering as an established village dates back to the tenth century, when some land primarily occupied by scattered family farmsteads was chartered in 956 by King Edwy to Aelfsige the Goldsmith. The monastery of Peterborough was chartered by King Edgar in 972.
When you visit Kettering, make sure to walk the ancient grounds and try to imagine all the generations of early settlers who helped establish the town – it’s a fascinating look into the past.