Daventy town was incorporated under a royal charter in 1606, and a new Royal charter was granted in 1674. During the English Civil Wars Daventry was the headquarters of king Charles I before the Battle of Naseby which occurred nearby in 1645 between Royalist and Parliamentarian forces.
Until the 1950s Daventry was a small rural town, with a population of around 6,000. Real growth started in the town in 1954 when the ball bearing manufacturer British Timken[?] located a large factory in the town.
In the early 1960s the town was chosen as an overspill for people displaced by slum clearances in Birmingham. The town grew rapidly as a result: between 1955 and 1975 Daventry's population tripled to around 20,000.
In 1923 a BBC broadcasting station was built on the hill outside the town, with many large radio masts. The station closed in 1992 and only one of the masts now remains and is used as a radio beacon for aircraft.
Daventry's main industries are warehousing and manufacturing.
The town is near the M1 motorway and on the A45 main road, but lost its rail links in the 1960s.
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