HARBOROUGH (MARKET), a market-town
in the parish of BOWDEN-MAGNA, hundred of GARTREE,
county of LEICESTER, 17 miles (N.) from Northampton,
15 (S. E. by S.) from Leicester, and 83
(N.W. byN.) from London, containing 1873 inhabitants.
This town, in the ancient record called Testa
de Nevil, is called Haverberg, from haver, a term still
used in the northern counties to signify oats, and berg,
a hill; which was afterwards converted into Haverbrowe,
and Harborough. It is supposed to have been
occupied by the Romans; a square intrenchment, pro-
bably the site of a camp, having formerly existed in a
field called King's Head close, at a short distance from
which Roman urns and other fragments of pottery have
been discovered; and in one of the streets, a sewer,
or drain, was found a few years ago, in which were
traces of Roman masonry. During the civil war, this
town was attached to the royal cause, and was the headquarters
of the king's army prior to the memorable
battle of Naseby, in Northamptonshire, in 1645. The
royalists formed on the morning of battle on a hill
north of the town; and Cromwell's letter to the Parliament,
giving an account of the battle, is dated at
Harborough. The town is situated on the southern
border of the county, and on the northern bank of the
river Well and, and consists of one principal street and
several smaller. The buildings have been much improved
of late years, and it is now well paved and
lighted. In the principal street is a large town-hall,
built in 1788, by the Earl of Harborough, for the use of
the tammy dealers, but that branch of manufacture, as
well as that of shalloons, &c., having become extinct, the
under part has been converted into shops, and the upper
is occupied by the magistrates for official purposes.
The only remaining branch of manufacture is that of
carpets. The market is on Thursday: fairs are held
on January 6th, February 16th, April 29th, on the
Tuesday after May 2nd, Tuesday after Mid-Lent Sunday,
and July 31st, for cattle; on October 19th and eight
following days, for cattle, cheese, leather, &c., on the
Tuesday before November 22nd, and December 8th. The
canal from Leicester passes by the town, hear which it
joins the Welland. The London road enters the town
over a handsome stone bridge erected in 1814, at the joint
expense of the counties of Leicester and Northampton.
The petty sessions for the hundred of Gartree are held
here occasionally; and a court leet and baron for the
manor is also held, but at uncertain periods. The living
is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry of Leicester,
and diocese of Lincoln, and in the patronage of the Dean
and Canons of Christ Church, Oxford. The church,
which is dedicated to St. Dionysius, is a large, handsome,
and uniform edifice, and ranks among the finest in the
county: it consists of a nave, aisles, and a chancel, with
two tiers of windows, two porches, and a tower, having
an octangular crocketed spire; it is said to have been
built by John of Gaunt, about the year 1370. There
are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyan
Methodists. Here is a free grammar school, founded
about 1614 by Robert Smith, a native of this place,
and Chamberlain of London, who purchased of the lord
mayor and commonalty an annuity of £ 10 per annum,
to be paid to the master for teaching fifteen poor boys j
and there is some additional endowment from subsequent
benefactions, but the whole being insufficient
for the support of a classical teacher, it has lately been
converted into a National school, in which about one
hundred boys are taught gratuitously. Harborough gives
the titles of baron and earl to the family of Sherard.