St Peters Church and the little known Saint of Northampton

The internet is a wonderful thing when you are looking for information, very often you will come across little nuggets which astound you, this was the case when I started to look further back to Northampton's origins.

Not far from the railway station in the town sits a Church which during the course of a day many people will have passed on their way from or to the station, its a fine looking building and its origins go right back to the times of the Saxons.

St Peters Church contains a little secret that transports us back to when the Saxons were trying to hold back the Danes a task which would have been a bloody business with no mercy shown by either side, and at this time Northampton was known as Hamtun.

A few weeks ago a friend of mine had posted a picture of a very large excavation which had taken place between 1973 and 1976 by the then archeology department of the Northampton Development Corporation, it shows that a very large Saxon Palace had existed right next to where St Peters is located. The excavation site is shown above with St Peters shown in the background.

Our Saint is Ragener who I have to confess I knew nothing about but his remains are said to have been discovered within the Church.

The link below will tell you more eloquently than I can about St Ragener, who met a terrible fate at the hands of the Vikings.

www.fostp.org.uk/uploads/St%20Ragener%20%28M%29%20of%20Northampton.pdf​