Daventry town

Daventry (aka Daventry town, the town of Daventry or the village of Daventry ) is the main center of civilization in Daventry, though there are other towns. Castle Daventry lies to the north overlooking the town of Daventry. It is a tiny village, and not very large lieing fairly near the gates of Castle Daventry, in the shadow of the castle (KoS, 10, 43). It has consists of closely crowded houses and narrow streets. Lake Maylie lies to northeast of the town of Daventry (or at least did at one time). Another large town also known as Daventry lay to the north of the castle around the time of the cataclysm.

Background
Over the years as the population of Daventry grew the town became home to most of the citizens of Daventry. A road leads south from the main keep of then castle to the town. Hrothgar the tavern keep, Peter the smith, Hesthia (wife of the town baker), Benjamin, Betony (her children) and Bernard live there and it is a medium sized town, with many shops and houses. Outside and around the town lie the kingdom's farmlands where farmers grow the nation's crops and produce, which work in coordination with the town and create a good volume of commerce and trade. Old Sam the butcher lives on a road just outside of the town.

The town has millwrights, masons, carpenters, work gangs and horses and mules for hire. There is even a village goose girl.

In the center of the village is the large circular grounds used for the market as well as for the Midsummer Fest Dance.

Another busy section of the town is the Daventry's main town square. One one corner of the Daventry town square stood a dark oak building whose walls were concave and worn with years. Outside was hanging a sign that declared FOOD AND DRINK in red letters across the bottom and the name of the establishment, Purple Pig, in large gilt letters, at the top. There was a painting of a pig, appropriately purple, in the center.

Across the square hitching posts stood alone next to the water troughs next to the town's stable. The town stable was a large oak building with granite water troughs out front. It stood solidly to one side of the main square. Horses stood together inside a large box stall just inside. The stablers' wife's brother was part of a work gang. A fountain is located at the center of the square. A bench sits next to it. The main square is the center of life in Daventry.

There are abundant oaks and sycamore trees in the area around the town, making only the main square visible from a distance.

The west road travels west through the fields and orchards of Daventry, crosses the Merelee River, before reaching the fair grounds of Daventry. The south road from Castle Daventry leads into the town, before continuing on to lands beyond, first passing through the southern Old Woods. The east road travels east towards the Old Woode; a path travels south from it to Old Sam the butcher's shop outside of town, just beyond a Haystack boulder.

Beyond the town and farmlands is the fair grounds of Daventry where many festivals and other great events and entertainments are held.

Behind the scenes
The town of Daventry was originally alluded to in in the King's Quest II Manual, with the line, "...the village goose girl". It was also alluded to in the KQ1 prologue, in the line, "Daventry's church bells tolled in mourning..." It was given a name in the King's Quest Companion and the King's Quest Novels. The town of Daventry (or simply Daventry) is mentioned in the An Encyclopedia of Daventry in 2nd Edition of KQC. The town is also referenced in The Quest Thus Far... in the manual for KQ5 (NES). The village of Daventry appears in King's Quest: Kingdom of Sorrow, and the 'Daventry town' appears in King's Quest: See No Weevil (its occasionally referred to as simply Daventry in the novel as well). These are however most likely intended to be the same location. Infact in See No Weevil the town is described as a 'village' a few times.

Gawain points out that there are other towns in Daventry during his account of the events of King's Quest II for Graham, see Romancing the Throne: From the Chronicles of Daventry, Part II.

Although not visited in King's Quest: Mask of Eternity, a town is mentioned in the manual, as "Daventry", and also appears on the 'world map' in the game.

While the town lies south of Castle Daventry in the novels (& companion), it appears to be "north" of the Castle according to information in KQ8 manual and overworld map, and the town is referred to simply as "Daventry". Its possible that either the town moved (either intentionally over time or due to the magical flux that affects the Kingdom). This is not the first time that landmarks have shifted around the kingdom (for example the Door into Mountain has been located both north and south of the Castle at times), and even the Castle itself. ...It is also possible that the town in MOE represents yet another town within Daventry.

In the game most everything seems to be aligned so that the top of the magic map is always north (with possibly the exception of the map for Castle Daventry). This is especially seen in Dimension of Death, where the towers have names based on their locations within the Compound of Death (see KQMOE strategy guide) and The Ferryman says that the Bridge to Life is east of the boathouse. This would seem to imply that even the map of Connor's village would be aligned with the top of the map to the north.

On the overworld map one can see what looks to be a small village surrounding a lake almost directly 'south' of the castle on the main world map which is likely Connor's village. A path winds up from 'east' of the village up into the bigger city, and finally curves back around to the castle. Taking into consideration that the map is alligned differently (according to information in the manual, and the magic maps), this would mean that Connor's village is almost directly east of Castle Daventry, and that the road turns north, before heading west into the larger city and then south back to the castle. Placing the bigger town of Daventry north of the castle.

If this is the case the towns and river seen to the north of the castle would have to be some of the other towns in Daventry as mentioned in the King's Quest Companion, rather than the southern town/village mentioned in the novels and KQ companion.

Connor's Village lies nearby, just outside of "Daventry" (the town) to the east of the castle. During early development Connor's Village would have originally been known as "Daventry".