Editing Oundle (section)

==History==
[[File:Oundle, Market Hall (geograph 5805986).jpg|thumb|left|The [[Old Town Hall, Oundle|Old Town Hall]]]]
The town's name origin is uncertain.  It is probably an old district name, in a grammatical form suggesting a tribal name, 'the Undalas'.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Northamptonshire/Oundle|title=Key to English Place-names|website=kepn.nottingham.ac.uk}}</ref>

Discoveries of prehistoric and [[Bronze Age]], [[Iron Age]] and Roman materials suggest that Oundle has been a settlement location for several thousand years.<ref name="arch1">{{Cite web |date=July 2012 |title=Archaeological desk-based assessment on land at Ashton Road, Oundle, Northamptonshire |url=https://www.oundle.gov.uk/uploads/archaeological-desk-based-assessment-report-5612-text-only.pdf |access-date=4 April 2021 |website=Oundle Town Council}}</ref>  Findings have included a number of Iron Age coins, and Roman bronze pins, coins and skeletons.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Oundle |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/northants/vol1/pp70-72 |website=British History Online}}</ref> A significant Roman find was part of a Roman cup discovered in the church yard of St. Peter's Church in the early 19th Century.  Further excavation on the site led to the findings of many Roman coins, some from the time of the reign of [[Claudius|Emperor Claudius]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Murray |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/handbookfortrave00john_16 |title=Handbook for travellers in Northamptonshire and Rutland |date=1878 |publisher=J. Murray |location=London |page=[https://archive.org/details/handbookfortrave00john_16/page/47 47]}}</ref> The finding of red tile and building stone at a site near Ashton Road, Oundle is seen as suggestive that there may have been a Roman villa there; a nearby archaeological evaluation found a ditch containing fragments of [[Romano-British culture|Romano-British]] pottery.<ref name="arch1" />

The [[Saxons|Saxon]] invasion saw the arrival of a tribe called ''Undalas'' which possibly meant ''undivided''. Oundle was the site of a hospitium, a building used by monks to give shelter and assistance to travellers, which dates back to 638 AD.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The History of Oundle |url=https://www.information-britain.co.uk/history/town/Oundle14/ |access-date=4 April 2021 |website=Information Britain}}</ref> It is the death place of [[St Wilfrid]] in 709 AD where he had consecrated a church as well as being the location of one of his [[Monastery|monasteries]]. The current St Peter's Church<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oundlestpeters.org.uk/|title=St Peters Church - Oundle - Parish church in Oundle}}</ref> occupies the same site as St Wilfrid's original church.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Page |first=William |title=A History of the County of Northampton |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=66265 |access-date=2015-04-05 |publisher=British History Online}}</ref>

The first clear reference to Oundle is to be found in a 715 account by Eddi, who was the chantor to St Wilfrid, who referred to it as ''Undolum''. Bede variously refers to it as ''Inundalum'' and ''Undulana mœgð''.<ref name="arch1" />

Saint Cetta or Cett,<ref>{{PASE|207535|Cett 1|cw=1|accessdate=2015-04-05}}</ref> a 7th-century [[saint]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Google Translate |url=http://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=no&u=http://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/coundle&prev=/search%3Fq%3DCett%2Bof%2BOundle%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D527 |access-date=2015-04-05}}</ref> is the [[Patron Saint]] of Oundle.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Morris |first=Carwyn Hywel |title=The concept of territory in the late Anglo-Saxon and early Medieval cult of saints in England |url=http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/632/1/Morris10MPhil_A1b.pdf |access-date=2015-04-05 |publisher=Etheses.bham.ac.uk |page=5}}</ref> Very little is known of him but according to the [[Anglo-Saxon]] [[Secgan|Secgan Manuscript]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=The British Library MS Viewer |url=http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=stowe_ms_944_f029v |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140103065303/http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=stowe_ms_944_f029v |archive-date=3 January 2014 |access-date=2014-01-03 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> he was buried in the [[monastery]] at Oundle, near the [[River Nene]], around 1000 [[Anno Domini|AD]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cett – oi |url=http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095600515 |access-date=2015-04-05 |publisher=Oxfordindex.oup.com}}</ref> and a chapel to him built in the 11th century, on the small knoll beyond the end of St Osyths Lane. This and the [[fair|market]] [[Royal charter|charter]] granted in 972<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Oundle |url=https://www.oundle.info/about-oundle/ |access-date=4 April 2021 |website=Oundle.info |publisher=Oundle Town Council}}</ref>  explain  the growth of Oundle in the 12th century.<ref name="ONP">{{Cite web |title=Oundle Neighbourhood Plan 2011–2031 |url=https://www.oundle.gov.uk/uploads/oundle-neighbourhood-plan---final-v6-07052019.pdf |access-date=4 April 2021 |website=North Northamptonshire Council |page=10}}</ref>

The [[Domesday Book]] of 1086 records Oundle in [[Polebrook]] hundred with a population of 36 households, a mill and a value in [[Norman Invasion|1066]] of [[Pound Sterling|£]]0.3, which had risen to £11 by 1086.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Search &#124; Domesday Book |url=http://domesdaymap.co.uk/search/?geo=oundle |access-date=2015-04-05 |publisher=Domesdaymap.co.uk }}{{Dead link|date=April 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

There has been a [[grammar school]] in Oundle since at least 1465,<ref name="ONP" /> at which [[William Laxton (Lord Mayor of London)|Sir William Laxton (Lord Mayor of London)]] was educated. In his will he left a legacy to found Laxton Grammar School in 1556, now known as [[Oundle School]], administered by the [[Worshipful Company of Grocers]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Oundle School |url=https://www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk/schools/oundle-school-peterborough |access-date=4 April 2021 |website=The Good Schools Guide |publisher=The Good Schools Guide}}</ref><ref name="ONP" />

In 1743 a group of mutineers from the [[42nd Regiment of Foot|Black Watch]] were captured at Ladywood, near Oundle. They had deserted in protest at being sent abroad, instead of patrolling the [[Scottish Highlands|Highlands]], for which the regiment had been raised.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Black Watch – The Mutiny |url=http://www.electricscotland.com/history/scotreg/bwatch/bw2.htm |access-date=2015-04-05 |publisher=Electricscotland.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Legends of The Black Watch |url=http://www.electricscotland.com/history/scotreg/bwatch/ledgends_1.htm |access-date=2015-04-05 |publisher=Electricscotland.com}}</ref> The [[Old Town Hall, Oundle|Old Town Hall]], which replaced an earlier building on the same site dating back to the 16th century, was completed in 1830.<ref>{{NHLE|desc= The Town Hall|num= 1372119|access-date=15 March 2022}}</ref>