Sherwood Avenue) was developed in the west, followed in the east by Obelisk estate, which ushered in the construction of Holly Lodge Drive. In 1972, the College of Education was opened by Margaret Thatcher. The college, located off the Boughton Green Road, later became the main campus for the University of Northampton, before it moved to its new town centre campus in 2018. The old campus was demolished for new housing. In 1974, the Kingsthorpe Shopping Centre opened. It included shops, a post office, a pub and a Waitrose supermarket. In the early 2000s, alterations were made to demolish part of the centre to extend Waitrose and its car park. In 2021, a Starbucks coffee shop opened and Waitrose completed a refurbishment. A second supermarket was built next to Waitrose in 1986; it operated as Safeway for a number of years but is now an Asda supermarket. Newer housing developments, including Tollgate Close, Brampton Park and Cedrus Court, were also completed by the 1980s. Residential development has continued into the 21st century: Bective Close, Lime Tree Gardens and Scholars Court were built on former brownfield land. Buckton Fields, a large new housing estate built land directly to the north of the border of the Kingsthorpe parish, is still in development. Parish church The Church of England parish church of St John the Baptist was built in the 11th century and still has remains of some original late Anglo-Saxon or early Norman windows. It is a Grade I listed building. The north chapel and north and south aisles were added about 1170–80. The church had a south chapel by about 1180. Part of the chancel was built in about 1220. In the 14th century the crypt was built, the chapels were extended eastward and most of the current windows were inserted. The west tower and recessed spire are 14th- or 15th-century. The tower has a ring of six bells. Robert Atton of Buckingham cast the second bell in 1621 and the fifth bell in 1622. Henry I Bagley of Chacombe cast the tenor bell in 1671 and Henry II Bagley cast the third bell in 1680. Alfred Bowell of Ipswich, Suffolk cast the treble and fourth bells in 1911. The pulpit is Jacobean. There is a monument to Edward Reynolds, who died in 1698. The church was restored in 1863 under the direction of the architect William Slater. Notable people from