- published: 21 Oct 2015
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Coordinates: 52°08′N 0°59′W / 52.13°N 0.99°W / 52.13; -0.99
Towcester ( /ˈtoʊstər/ TOH-stər), the Roman town of Lactodorum, is a small town in south Northamptonshire, England.
Towcester comes from the Old English Tófe-ceaster.Tófe refers to the River Tove;Bosworth and Toller compare it to the "Scandinavian proper names" Tófi and Tófa. The Old English ceaster comes from the Latin castra ("camp") and was "often applied to places in Britain which had been originally Roman encampments." Thus, Towcester means "Camp on the (river) Tove."
The town is about 8 miles (12.9 km) south-west of Northampton and about 10 miles (16.1 km) north-west of Milton Keynes, the nearest main towns. Oxford is about 30 miles (48.3 km) south-west via the A43 road, M40 motorway and A34 road. The A43 now by-passes the town to the north but the A5 road still passes through the town centre. This still carries much traffic in the north-south direction which may be by-passed to the west with the possibility of expansion of the town.