The ridge on which present day Rothwell stands, overlooking the gentle Ise Valley, has witnessed the comings and goings of successive generations.

Four thousand years ago Bronze Age mourners buried their dead alongside offerings of food in vessels.

A charter, granted by King John in AD 1204 permitting a weekly market and annual fair, confirmed the trade.

[2] The town has a rich history and possesses a large parish church, the longest in the county and complete with bone-crypt, and the Market House built by Thomas Tresham in 1578.

Starting at 6am at the west door of Holy Trinity church, the bailiff of the Lord of the Manor rides through the town accompanied by a guard of halberdiers and the Rowell Fair Society Band.

At the conclusion of each reading the crowd cheers "God save the Queen and the Lord of the Manor" and the band plays the National Anthem.

The proprietor of the public house then serves the bailiff and his guards with drinks including the traditional Rowell Fair rum and milk.

Built in 1735, Rothwell United Reformed Church has a simple facade but has a remarkable interior in a sophisticated classical style.

The history of Non-Conformism in Rothwell stretches as far back as 1655, making the town the birthplace of the movement in the English Midlands.

Rothwell sits in an area rich in iron ore. From 1920 until 1962, ironstone was quarried from large, shallow pits to the south east of the town.

There was also a quarry near Rothwell Grange on the north side of the A6 which operated between 1923 and 1946 which was connected to the same tramway.The Kettering Ironworks closed in 1959 and after that the ore was smelted at Corby or elsewhere.

During this period the ore was taken by 3 ft. gauge tramway to sidings at the main Leicester to London railway near what was then Desborough and Rothwell Station.

It was taken first by lorry to just west of the road and from there carried by a five and a quarter mile aerial ropeway to Oakley, thence by tramway to Corby Works for smelting.