Fascinating look into the history of Harborough - going back 3,000 years

The first new history of Market Harborough for almost 60 years is to be launched next month.

Delving back up to about 3,000 years, the first volume of A History of Market Harborough is being published by Market Harborough Historical Society.

The intriguing work plunges back into the mystical mists of the Iron Age before taking the reader all the way through multiple fascinating layers of the town’s rich history into the 1700s.

The last properly-researched history of Market Harborough was published in 1964.

The research about the historic market town and the surrounding area has been carried out over the last six decades.

A team of 12 researchers and writers has come together to turn this bold, expansive project into reality.

And they have been backed all the way by six support staff who designed the book and provided maps and illustrations.

The authors have been forced to work amid tough Covid pandemic lockdowns and restrictions over the last two years.

And that has made it much harder if not impossible altogether to visit important record offices and other vital archives.

“This update has been undertaken by members of the Market Harborough Historical Society and other experts in the history and archaeology of the area,” said the society.

“Because there was so much new information the Society has decided to publish the work in two volumes - the first of which covers the period from early times to the 18th century.”

The town’s historical society is hoping to publish volume two, charting Market Harborough’s history from the 19th century all the way up to the present day, next year.

“Unlike the work published by Chris Davies in the 1960s the project has widened its horizons to cover the history of the area, including the Bowdens and references beyond the town,” said the historical society.

“The book covers the chronological development of the town and its environs from the Iron Age, Roman and Anglo Saxon periods and from the later medieval period when the town was founded and developed. “The book then has sections on the Tudor and Stuart periods and finally the 18th century and its heyday as a coaching town.”

The Historical Society said it is “grateful” for crucial grants awarded by the Market Harborough and the Bowdens Charity and Howard Watson Symington Memorial Charity.

The book costs £15 and will be available after Monday April 11 in all local bookshops and at Harborough Museum at the Symington Building on Adam and Eve Street, Market Harborough.

You can also contact Dr Len Holden to obtain a copy at his email address here: [email protected]