Diatance: just over 10 miles

Difficulty of the Terrain: Medium

Get the route: via Ordnance Survey Maps

Walk from the centre of Northampton along the banks of the River Nene into the countryside following the Nene Path to the small hilltop town of Earls Barton with its Anglo-Saxon church tower.

The Story

The Walk

Getting Back

Ancestral Village

Perched on gentle hills above Northamptonshire’s pretty River Nene valley, with its interesting mix of industrial waterways, quarrying and extensive rewilding projects, the little town of Earls Barton is undoubtedly well worth a visit.

Predominantly an affluent dormitory for Northampton, Wellingborough and further afield, today. Earls Barton has pleasant stone cottages, a striking yellowstone church with an Anglo-Saxon tower and a well kept dignified green lined with smart old fashioned shops.

My reason for wanting to visit however, is that it is where my paternal Grandmother was born in the late 1920s, and lived up until she went to teacher training college just after the end of the Second World War. Her family had lived in and around the village for generations, indeed a great uncle of mine and distant cousins still reside in that part of south Northamptonshire.

I publish walks across the English midlands, and elsewhere in my professional life I often draw heavily on my midlands connections. However, Earls Barton and a single branch of my family’s history there, is the only really significant ancestral grounding I have in the midlands. My Mother’s family is from North West England (and before that mostly Ireland), whilst my paternal Grandfather came from just north of London.

Earls Barton, like Northampton and Wellingborough which it nestles between, was much smaller in the early and mid 20th Century decades of my Grandmother’s childhood. Her family were non-conforming Christians, part of the village’s small petty bourgeoise. 

My Great Grandfather owned a building company which did jobs here and there. They included works on the village’s Anglo-Saxon church tower during which he found arrowheads hundreds of years old. On another occasion whilst carrying out earthworks for a client he uncovered a burial ground, also Anglo-Saxon, and a sign that people in central England have always clustered along the wide, gentle, fertile valley of the River Nene. His company also occasionally ventured into speculative housebuilding, constructing several of the inter-war properties that form one layer of the village’s development across time. But which ones exactly I do not know. 

Other parts of my Grandmother’s family were small-time capitalists in the shoemaking industry, which was big business in Northamptonshire prior to the development of big apparel agglomerations and offshoring. One of these companies was Barker Shoes – which today is owned by “an international group” – but still maintains a factory and other operations in central Earls Barton. Another scion of shoemakers ran Brooks shoes, whose travails in the late 1990s formed the basis of the BBC2 business documentary that inspired the film and later broadway musical Kinky Boots.

I grew up hearing stories about my Grandmother’s childhood, playing in the fields around Earls Barton, cycling to the girls grammar school in Kettering, of the nosy post office clerk who liked to listen in on people’s phone calls after she had connected them. As well as other stories, like that family’s connections to the increasingly fractious, frail and fading Liberal Party which was being completely outpaced by the chameleon like Tories and the increasingly assertive Labour movement. This included them putting up David Lloyd-George during the era’s frequent General Elections campaigns. Which thanks to David Lloyd-George’s freelance appeasement activities in the mid to late 1930s, means I guess there are three degrees of separation between me and Adolf Hitler.   

Having left Earls Barton my Grandmother has not lived in Northamptonshire since. As such I had never actually visited the village that she speaks of so often. So, early one morning I caught the London Northwestern Railways train to Northampton from Birmingham, and headed to the River Nene to begin walking there.

The Walk

Get the route: via Ordnance Survey Maps

From the top of the steps out of Northampton’s recently redeveloped Railway Station, turn left and walk a short distance towards a major road junction.

As you walk on your left you survive the few surviving chunks of Northampton Castle which was razed in the late 1870s to build the train station that stands to this day.

On reaching the junction turn right and use the crossing lights to head across the junction.

Then keep heading right straight down the road which is very busy with cars and lorries trundling around the edge of central Northampton.

Presently you come to a large roundabout planted with grass and trees.

At this point head right again and cross the roundabout interchange.

On the far side turn right down the exit of the roundabout on the far side.

Walk along the road on the far side for some distance, passing the entrance to Northampton’s Carlsberg brewery – a fine early 1970s vintage modernist structure apparently inspired by viking longships – on your right.

Soon you reach a junction with a large early 20th Century partly timbered inn on your left.

Use the crossing lights to cross here and carry straight on past the inn.

Keep walking heading straight past a large branch of Morrison’s constructed in the distinctive brick intensive, vaguely PoMo on a budget, grandiose-cum-rural style, favoured by the former Safeway chain in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Just after the Morrison’s you near a park on your right, passing several large office blocks, in a not entirely dissimilar style to the supermarket, on your left along the way.

At the entrance to the park turn right and walk into it.

Follow the path down an avenue of trees.

After a short distance you approach the River Nene which you will follow for most of the rest of the way to Earls Barton.

The River Nene drains most of Northamptonshire, as well as a chunk of northern Cambridgeshire and south Lincolnshire, however, despite being around 100 miles long, making it the tenth longest river in the UK, it is relatively little known outside of the places it passes through.

This is a shame in my view, as in recent decades a lot of effort has been put into making the river attractive through rewilding schemes and other conservation projects. It is also an industrial river, having been extensively canalised as far as Northampton (though today it has pretty much no commercial use west of Wisbech in Cambridgeshire near The Wash), some reflected in sets of locks, bridge and culverts criss crossing the river’s multiple channels and little islets. Taken in harmony amidst the rolling hills and fertile valleys and dells of Northamptonshire, it makes for a very pleasant environment. Something clearly recognised by local government and civil society in Northamptonshire who have put a lot of effort into developing the excellently signposted Nene Way – part of which – much of this walk comprises.

Nearing the river you approach the ramp of a footbridge bridge.

Turn left here and walk towards the river side, where there is a path which you follow.

You walk through a park, on the far side of which there stands the campus of the University of Northampton and a big office block home to the cosmetics firm AVON Products. Until the 2010s this was the site of the remains of the coal fired Northampton Power Station which shut in the late 1970s.

Presently you reach a bridge that grants cars access to the campus and office blocks on the far side.

Walk under the bridge.

On the far side keep walking along the path.

Presently you pass quite a large white boat tethered up to the bank of the Nene, which apparently is home to a vegan restaurant and events venue.

After passing this boat you approach a bridge across the main channel of the river on your right.

Cross over this bridge.

Having reached the other side, follow the path as it heads to the left.

Soon you are walking across the scrub land of a nature reserve in the centre of an island between two channels carrying the Nene.

Follow this path for some way until you approach a major road interchange.

An impressive series of concrete bridges carries the carriageways over the river channel and surrounding wastelands and wetlands to a major interchange in the middle of the island.

After the bridges – after a little way – you approach a series of locks.

Here there is a narrow bridge on your right, use it to cross the river.

On the other side of the bridge follow the path across a weir.

Then take a path to the right.

Presently the path heads off sharply to the left.

Here you cross a bridge over a canalised arm of the River Nene.

Immediately after crossing the bridge, head down a path, with a few steps to your left.

Follow this path along the river bank for a bit across scrubby meadows and past narrowboat moorings.

After passing a set of lock gates the path meanders through scrub land, and underneath road bridges, adjoining office parks on the edge of Northampton.

This section has the feel of a canal towpath.

Presently after passing through a lightly wooded section the path emerges by a wooden fence with a gate set into it.

Once through the gate turn left and head up and along a grassy bank making for a lock gate, or some kind of flood defence.

Here you join a gravel path and head right for a short distance heading for a wide, quite straight section of the river.

Presently the path turns right and you walk along the top of a dyke type construction with the river on your left hand side and a flat vista comprising small lakes apparently serving as flood defences to your right.

It makes for a pretty spectacular sight and it is possible to make good time as you follow the path along the embankment beside the river.

Having walked some distance you approach a major curve in the line of the dyke. Here take a path running to your left across a bridge.

Once across the bridge turn right and head across a patch of gravel trackway.

Take a flight of steps running down the side of the bank to your left.

This leads to a gate on the other side of which is a horse paddock.

Cross the pasture heading in the direction of a modern guillotine style lock to your left.

Just behind the lock there is a gangway style bridge across the river.

Walk across this bridge and down the steps on the far side.

On the far side turn right and walk towards a small boatyard.

Before you reach the boatyard the river path turns into a snicket.

This ends by a tall gate topped with razor wire.

Turn left here and begin walking along a lane.

You follow the lane for a short distance.

Presently as the lane approaches a major road you pass through a gate.

Then turn right down a small lane.

Here almost immediately on your right there is a gate leading into a horse’s paddock.

Which was pretty muddy when I walked the route, but still passable, especially in walking boots.

Walk along the path down the paddock.

Soon you are reunited with the River Nene.

Here the path turns left and you begin following the river again.

The path is clear to follow throughout this section as it weaves along the river bank.

After some distance you reach a metal gate set in a metal fence.

Once on the far side of the gate to your left the chalets and static caravans of Billings Aquadrome come into view.

Billing Aquadrome is a vast leisure complex, centred around a series of lakes and pools created from gravel extraction pits dating back to the middle of the 19th Century.

The site has a long history. My Grandma used to go there in the 1930s and 1940s, and today in true midlands fashion, it provides an inland water based resort for people from Northamptonshire and beyond.

Inside the park initially the path runs close to the river.

Presently the path joins one of the tracks allowing access to the holiday chalets.

Remain on this track for quite some distance as you trek across the vast site.
After some distance you pass the Clifford Hill Motte on your right on the far side of the river. This incongruous and evidently human made mound, was an early Norman castle intended to assert a feudal lord’s control over this section of the Nene Valley.

It is also by my reckoning more or less the midpoint of the walk.

Keep on walking along the track and grass verge beside the river.

Not all that long after passing the motte you come to a fence line where the track swings to the left into the heart of the park.

Here I took the liberty of heading to a toilet block, also situated on the left. It was open when I walked the route in the second half of February, but according to the signage on the door its opening is seasonal.

At the fence leave the track and walk straight along the river bank.

You pass in front of a line of static caravans.

Just after the static vans there is a bank (blocked by water fowl when I walked the route) which leads up to a bridge across the river.

Head up this bank and turn right to cross over the bridge.

On the far side follow the path through a thicket.

Here you come out by the canalised channel of the Nene, beside a lock.

Use a gangway bridge by the guillotine lock to cross the river.

Once over the bridge, on the far side head through another thicket.

Then across a metal railed bridge into an open field.

Once at the field head down a short flight of steps to the path.

Having reached the path turn left and follow the line of the drainage ditch you have just crossed.

Presently this flows into the channel of the river.

Here across the water on your left you can see Billings Mill.

This building was once a watermill. However, it has been a pub for many years (my Grandma recalls it being such when she was growing up in the area). It was all tinned up when I passed, having not reopened after COVID-19.

Just after Billings Mill the path reaches an old stone bridge carrying a road across the river.

Here the path takes a sharp turn to the right.

Soon you come level with a gate on your left.

This leads out onto the road.

Once out on the road turn right and walk along the pavement up a gently sloping hill.

After a short distance along the road you come to a junction.

Here turn left and walk towards a cluster of houses on a low hilltop.

After a gentle uphill walk, from which there is a good view across the Nene Valley, you reach the edge of the interestingly named village of Cogenhoe.

The path runs along the road through the village for this section.

Cogenhoe is a large village clustered around a long high street which runs along the top of the hill that it is situated upon.

Follow the road through the village for quite some way.

Presently, near the centre of the village, where there is a post office, working mens’ club and an attractive painted sign at a t-junction, the road beings sloping downhill.

Keep on the road as it runs downhill.

Soon you reach a very old part of the village.

Here, just before you reach a white washed pub you take a left turn.

This leads you along a road lined with old yellowstone cottages and some quite substantial houses, towards the spire of the village church.

The road slopes steadily downwards, and by the church you cross what seems like a village green.

At this point keep following the road heading off to the right.

Soon you come to a redbrick house, probably built around 1900 standing at a corner.

Here take a narrow lane leading off to the left (there’s a handy sign affixed to the side of the redbrick house which reads “yes this is the footpath” or some such).

Follow the lane down past some cottage-like houses.

Once at the bottom, on what feels very much like someone’s driveway next to a garage, turn left again.

Head towards a short snicket.

At the bottom there is a wooden gate leading out onto a grassy field.

Walk down the hill towards the line of trees and hedges at the bottom.

When you reach the bottom of the hill there is a gate.

On the other side of the gate there is a lane leading towards a marina.

Turn left here and walk down the lane a short way.

To the right of the lane there is a yellowstone house.

Just before you reach the house there is a footpath leading off the lane to your right.

Head off down this footpath.

Soon you come to a gate.

Once through the gate follow the path as it runs to the left beside the river.

Follow the river path for a good distance as it meanders along beside the channel.

This is one of the most attractive parts of the walk.

You get a good feel for the Nene Valley, and the careful attempts to develop an ecology the supports wildlife and biodiversity along its banks.

As well as the fact that as demonstrated by the quarrying for yellowstone gravel that is being undertaken within metres of the path, it remains very much an industrial landscape. Likewise, the impressive parish church perched on top of a hill in the small village of Whiston – due east of Cogenhoe – attests to the longstanding human influence on the valley.

Presently you reach a wooden gate, which you head through.

Follow the river path a little further.

Shortly after the gate a guillotine lock comes into view.

At the far end of the lock where the guillotine gate is situated, there is a bridge behind it.

Cross over this bridge

Once over the bridge follow the path in the direction of a copse, passing over another metal bridge.

Keeping to the right follow the path through the copse.

Soon you approach an impressive wooden slatted bridge across a small arm of the Nene.

Cross over the bridge.

Once on the other side take a sharp right turn along the river bank.

I was a bit confused at this point, because my Ordnance Survey Map App showed the Nene Way footpath running due north of the bridge. This however, would have led almost straight into a gravel pit operation, so I presume that the path has moved.

Follow the path along the bank of the river for a short way.

To your left the Earls Barton Quarry is in operation – though some pits are clearly exhausted and filled with water.

Presently on your left there is a narrow track between two areas of gravel workings.

Turn left and head up and along this track.

After some distance the track turns into an unpaved wooded lane.

Soon the sound of the busy A45 which runs just south of Earls Barton can be heard.

You reach a bend in the lane just after an old, derelict yellowstone building.

Just after this building – probably an old barn – take a sharp turn to the right.

Head along the track as it slopes uphill.

At the top there is a green metal gate.

On the other side of it there is a road which runs across the A45.

Turn left here and walk over the bridge across the busy A road beneath you.

Having crossed the bridge carry on down the road on the other side. It is quite busy so take care through this section.

You then reach a roundabout.

Take the first exit on your right from the roundabout.

Then walk a short way along a grass verge.

There is a signpost pointing into a field.

Cross the style and head into the field.

Once in the field there is a well trodden path across heading in the direction of a newish housing estate.

At the hedgerow that marks the boundary with the estate there is a style.

Having crossed into the new estate, turn left and follow the path that runs past the houses.

After a short distance there is a path running off to your right.

Head a short distance down this path.

You soon join the road running through the estate.

Turn left and follow the road a short distance, skirting around the edge of one of those apparently village green inspired, expanses of grass and easy to maintain planting that many estates constructed since the 1970s have at their core.

Having rounded this green, a passageway leading past the backs of some older houses to a road is visible.

Walk along this alleyway.

When you reach the road turn left.

Then follow a long, gently sloping residential road uphill.

Soon Earls Barton’s yellowstone church is visible ahead of you.

Keep on following the road.

Near the top on your left stands the entrance to the Barkers Shoes factory. Which – on a different site – was established by a distant ancestor of mine in Victorian times.

Just after the shoe factory you reach Earls Bartons’ rather distinguished seeming village green. This is where the walk ends.

Getting Back

Thanks to its location just off the A45 and its situation between Northampton and Wellingborough, Earls Barton is quite well served by buses. The X4 Gold (there’s also the X46 and X47), which is half hourly during the main part of the day, and runs between Peterborough and Northampton. It took 20 – 25 minutes to get from Earls Barton into the centre of Northampton, from where it was a ten minute walk to the railway station. Northampton Railway Station is served by trains north via Coventry and Birmingham, and south to London via Milton Keynes and Watford.