Irthlingborough
Template:GBthumb Irthlingborough is a small town on the River Nene in Northamptonshire, England with a population of around 9,000 people. It is the smallest town in England to have possessed a league association football team, Rushden & Diamonds F.C..
The Parish Church has a lantern tower which is unusual for Northamptonshire churches. This was built to guide travellers across the Nene valley in foggy weather. It also has doors at the four cardinal points; of note are the 8 Misericords in the Chancel. Services still continue daily with the main service being at 10:00 am on Sunday Mornings.
Irthlingborough is also the location of The Frontier Centre. An outdoor activity and residential centre run by Barnabas Adventure Centres offering groups of young people the opportunity to try out a variety of different out door activities
In the past, ironstone was mined near Irthlingborough, and as part of the local ironstone mine, a tunnel was bored between Irthlingborough and nearby Finedon. The tunnel is still in existence although the Irthlingborough end has been landscaped over and the Finedon end sealed with concrete.
More recently the River Nene floodplains located between the town and its neighbour, Higham Ferrers, have been quarried for gravel. Quarrying in the area was extensive, stretching to Northampton in the West (upstream) and Thorpe Waterville to the North-Northeast (downstream). The quarries were later left to fill with water creating man-made lakes.
The town can be divided quite easily into areas with Pine Trees village to the South East, Victoria and Allen Roads in the centre running parallel to the high street on either side, Knightlands to the North, Crow Hill to the extreme North-West (over a mile from the town centre) and the football ground and training facilities to the West.