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THOMAS BECKET
THE ‘HONEYMOON YEARS’ 1155 TO 1162
DUSTON AND NORTHAMPTON
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Theobald of Bec, had been in a powerful position, after King Stephen’s death, and was anxious to establish his protégée, Thomas of London, in Henry 2’s court, following the new king’s coronation, on 19 December 1154, just two days prior to Thomas’ 36th birthday. Thomas, clerk, deacon, recently promoted archdeacon, already wealthy, well versed in the ways of the nobility, the chase, and soldiering, was accompanying the Theobald and the Court.
After the king’s coronation, the entourage left Westminster, via Bermondsey, Oxford,
travelling north to Northampton, one of the regional seats of government,
with its
magnificent castle, founded by Simon de Senlis 1, in 1100. In the wintry conditions,
travelling through the deer forests around Silverstone, which in a few months time
would be a carpet of bluebells, the royal party would keep to the high ground, crossing
the Watling Street north of Towcester, with its floods, mists, and marshes to use
the old Roman road via Tiffield making for the Duston fords, or the bridge at Kislingbury.
Since it was December, the chances were that the notorious river valleys of the river
Nene at Northampton, so benign in summer, would be impassable. The western and southern
flood plans, being floored with millions of tonnes of gravel, could flood suddenly,
as the unseen water could rise up through the gravel bed with little warning. If
the northern flood plain, clay based, was also in spate, then any bridge in the valley
could soon be swept away, as many would be in later centuries. The rivers tendency
to change course, and the lengths of bridge needed, would result in cheap structures,
or fords across the flood plains. The only bridges of any age, today, are at Kislingbury,
or on the northern arm, the Brampton Causeway, both several miles from Northampton.
Reports reached the Royal party, as they waited at the old meeting field at Tiffield, that access was indeed difficult, even the new south bridge across Marsh Island, built by the de Senlis family in 1110, was doubtful, so Kislingbury it would be. Crossing without too much trouble, the large group proceeded along the north bank of the Nene, along the Salt road via Upton with its newly built stone church, whitewashed, shining in the winter sunshine.
