Towcester - Facilities

Facilities

The town has good shopping facilities with the four major supermarket chains of Waitrose, Tesco, two Co-ops and Aldi plus a very good number and range of smaller shops and stores. Towcester also has an Air Cadet squadron located near to Sponne School and The 1st Towcester scouts and guides group.

St. Lawrence's Church, Church of England, stands in the middle of the town. It has a 12th century Norman Transitional ground plan and foundation, probably laid over a Saxon 10th century stone building. Its ecclesiastical heritage may well relate back to Roman times as St Lawrence was patron saint of the Roman Legions. The building was reconstructed in the Perpendicular style 1480–85 when the church tower was added. Permission to quarry stone for this restoration from Whittlebury Forest was granted by Edward IV and later confirmed by Richard III on his way towards Leicestershire and his death at the Battle of Bosworth Field.

The church contains a "Treacle" Bible, a table tomb and cadaver of Archdeacon Sponne, Rector 1422–1448. The Archdeacon started what was thought to be the oldest Grammar school in Northamptonshire, which was merged with the old Secondary Modern School in Towcester to produce Sponne School. The church tower contains more bells than probably any other parish church in the land: a fine peal of 12 bells and a chime of 9 bells which ring the hours and chime tunes at frequent intervals.