Originally published in soft cover by the St Peters Historical Group in September 2001.
Reprinted by Irthlingborough Historical Society in February 2018.
Revised and reprinted by the society in October 2022.
THE FIRST FARMERS
There have been farmers in Irthlingborough since long before the birth of Christ.
The Iron-Age inhabitants of Crow Hill cultivated the land surrounding their hill fort. After being harvested their grain would have been dried and stored in pits. They would certainly have kept and reared chickens, sheep, cows and other animals.
When the Romans came into the Nene valley they probably bartered with the local farmers for the supply of meat and grain, but in due course the Romans themselves appreciated the fertile acres of the valley and established a number of farms along the road between Irthlingborough and Irchester.
With the breakdown of Roman rule the area was penetrated by Anglo-Saxon migrants, they too were farmers. They infiltrated the countryside along the upland tracks searching for sites which they could cultivate. They were interested in warm loamy soils easy to cultivate, without too thick a forest cover.
The Crow Hill site was exactly what they were looking for, and they too settled there.
It would be a natural assumption that the hedged fields dotted with trees with which we are so familiar have always been a part of the landscape but this is not the case. In mediaeval times the landscape was open with most of the land arable and the only grass being permanent pasture alongside the streams and rivers.