Before the 19th century, most people in Northamptonshire earned their living by agriculture and jobs connected to it. Changes in farming practice, such as the results of enclosure and conversion of arable land to pasture for sheep, had major impacts on the demand for labour and the level of population in particular areas. Some of the publications listed below allow us to hear from writers directly involved in agriculture in the days before living memory (though not from the many whose lives were marked by illiteracy).
Gardening, whether on the relatively small scale of Brixworth vicarage or tending the grounds of country homes, inspired some of the publications available. It was significant both for its own sake and as a source of employment in the days before mechanisation.
- A Celebrated Little Garden by Victor A Hatley [1986] (page 257) Pearce Cornfield's remarkable garden was flourishing at Kingswell Street, Northampton in 1817.
- A Northamptonshire Ox House by Amir Bassir [2018] (page 36) Well-illustrated essay about a substantial 18th-century structure at the edge of Heyford Park.
- A plain and easy Introduction to the Knowledge and Practice of Gardening with hints on fish-ponds by Charles Marshall [1800] This third edition of the book contains over 400 pages of advice from the vicar of Brixworth.
- Agricultural Exhibition of 1847 [2025] A full account of this major event, which was held at Northampton Racecourse and benefited from the town's recently opened railway connection. The number of people admitted to the show was 22,090 - somewhat more the the total population of Northampton at the time.
- Agricultural State of the Kingdom by The Board of Agriculture [1816] (page 228)
- Aspects of the Agriculture of Northamptonshire in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century by J Phillip Dodd [1988] (page 425)
- Charles I and the Revival of Forest Law by Philip Petitt [1961] (page 54)
- Gardens of Delight and Stimulation by Jennifer Burt [2021] (page 66) Profusely illustrated account of historical gardens at several locations across the county.
- General View of the Agriculture of the County of Northampton by James Donaldson [1794]
- General View of the Agriculture of the County of Northampton by William Pitt [1809]
- Northamptonshire Agricultural Labourers and the Quest for Allotments - the 1870s by Pamela Horn [1971] (page 371)
- Northamptonshire Gardens Trust
- Northamptonshire in Southern Rhodesia by Joan Wake [1964] (page 233) Account of a visit to various agriculturally minded settlers from the county who were then living there.
- Norton S Townshend: American Agricultural Educator from Clay Coton by Robert W McCormick [1988] (page 437)
- Practical Farming and Grazing by C Hillyard [1837] The author was President of the Northamptonshire Farming and Grazing Society and drew on his experience of farming in the county.
- Prize Essay on the Farming of Northamptonshire by William Bearn [1852]
- Some Aspects of Cattle Production in Northamptonshire and Leicestershire During the Nineteenth Century by R J Colyer [1973] (page 45)
- The Development of Tudor and Stuart Garden Design in Northamptonshire by J M Steane [1977] (page 383)
- The Farmer's Tour Through the East of England volume 1 by Arthur Young [1771] Letters 1 and II[2] contain material about Northamptonshire.
- The Farming Activities of the Third Earl Spencer by Humphrey Wyndham [1961] (page 40)
- The Northamptonshire Crop Returns for 1801 by David M Clark [1964] (page 213)
- The Royal Agricultural Show at Northampton in the Year 1847 by Trevor Hold [1988] (page 434)
- Three 19th Century Northamptonshire Agriculturalists by R L Greenall [1988] (page 443) The lives and activities of Clark Hillyard (1766-1849), Valentine Barford (1786-1864) and John Beasley (1801-1874).