Bardsey - Barkway

A Topographical Dictionary of England. Originally published by S Lewis, London, 1848.

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'Bardsey - Barkway', in A Topographical Dictionary of England, ed. Samuel Lewis( London, 1848), British History Online https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england/pp141-145 [accessed 16 November 2024].

'Bardsey - Barkway', in A Topographical Dictionary of England. Edited by Samuel Lewis( London, 1848), British History Online, accessed November 16, 2024, https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england/pp141-145.

"Bardsey - Barkway". A Topographical Dictionary of England. Ed. Samuel Lewis(London, 1848), , British History Online. Web. 16 November 2024. https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england/pp141-145.

In this section

Bardsey (All Saints)

BARDSEY (All Saints), a parish, in the Lower division of the wapentake of Skyrack, W. riding of York; containing, with the townships of Bardsey-withRigton, Wothersome, and part of Wike, 469 inhabitants, of whom 364 are in the township of Bardsey-with Rigton, 5 miles (S. W. by S.) from Wetherby, on the road to Leeds. This parish, which comprises 2600 acres, contains some quarries of excellent stone for building, in which are found many fossils; and abounds with pleasing scenery. The village is situated in the picturesque vale of a small rivulet, near the Wetherby road; Rigton lies on the opposite side of the valley. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £4. 1. 8.; net income, £270; patron and impropriator, George Lane Fox, Esq. The church is an ancient structure in the Norman style, of which it is an elegant specimen: near it is a mound called Castle hill, the supposed site of a Roman fortress. A school was endowed by Lord Bingley, in 1726, with 27 acres of land, which produce £20 per annum. Congreve, the dramatist, thought to have been born at Bardsey-Grange, was baptized here, in 1669.

Bardsley

BARDSLEY, an ecclesiastical district, in the parish and union of Ashton-under-Lyne, hundred of Salford, S. division of the county of Lancaster, on the road to Oldham; containing about 2500 inhabitants. This district is in the Knott-Lanes division of the parish; and the river Medlock, and the Manchester and Oldham canal, both run through it. The surface is elevated, and undulating; the soil tolerably good; and the scenery picturesque. The population is mostly employed in coal-mines, which are wrought to a great extent, the coal being of excellent quality; and stone is also abundant in the neighbourhood. There are a cottonmill, and a large brewery. Bardsley House, overlooking the glen of the Medlock, is the seat of John Jonah Harrop, Esq. Many generations of the Bardsley family held the estate, under the lords of Ashton, by the feudal payment of a rose and one penny, annually: the property subsequently came, by marriage, to the Tetlows; and after having been out of the family for some time, was again purchased in 1681 by Jonah Harrop. In the glen is the house of Riversvale. The living is a perpetual curacy, with an income of £150, and a residence; patrons, the Trustees of Hulme's Charity. The church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was built in 1844, at a cost of £2000; it stands on an eminence, and is a cruciform structure in the Norman style, with a square tower. The Primitive Methodists have a place of worship; and excellent national schools have been built, at a cost of £1400. Sixty gold coins of the reigns of James and Charles I. were found in an old stable here, in 1822.

Bardwell (St. Peter and St. Paul)

BARDWELL (St. Peter and St. Paul), a parish, in the union of Thingoe, hundred of Blackbourn, W. division of Suffolk, 2¼ miles (N. by E.) from Ixworth; containing 826 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £7. 17. 1., and in the gift of St. John's College, Oxford: the tithes have been commuted for £780, and there are 33 acres of glebe. The church is in the decorated style, and consists of a nave and chancel, with a lofty embattled tower; in the windows are several beautiful specimens of ancient stained glass. There is a place of worship for Particular Baptists. The Town estate, left by William Beetson and others, consists of a building termed the Guildhall, occupied by the poor, six cottages, and several pieces of land containing 68 acres; yielding in the whole £87 per annum.

Bare

BARE, a hamlet, in the township of Poulton, Bare, and Torrisholme, parish of Lancaster, hundred of Lonsdale south of the Sands, N. division of the county of Lancaster, 3¼ miles (N. W. by N.) from Lancaster; containing 120 inhabitants. Bare was a part of the Saxon manor of "Haltune," and one of those places whose tithes were granted by Roger de Poictou to the priory of Lancaster. The hamlet comprises 230a. 1r. 18p., and is beautifully situated on the shore of Morecambe bay, commanding fine views of the opposite shore of Furness, Piel Castle, the Lake mountains, Ingleborough, and the valley of the Lune. The soil on the hills is light, and very favourable for early potatoes; in the lower grounds it is rich clay and moss. The population is employed in fishing and agriculture. The Elms is the beautiful seat of James Giles, Esq., M.A., mayor of Lancaster in 1845-6. The air here is very salubrious and bracing.

Barford (St. Botolph)

BARFORD (St. Botolph), a parish, in the corporation and hundred of Forehoe, E. division of Norfolk, 3½ miles (N.) from Wymondham; containing 417 inhabitants. The parish comprises 1052a. 3r. 15p., of which 852 acres are arable, 192 meadow and pasture, and 8 woodland and plantations. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £4. 8. 4.; patron and incumbent, the Rev. H. Francklin. The tithes have been commuted for £350, one-half of which is paid to the Dean and Chapter of Norwich, and the other to the rector; the glebe comprises 31 acres, equally divided between the Dean and Chapter and the rector. The church is a small edifice, in the early and later English styles, with a square tower. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Barford

BARFORD, an extra-parochial liberty, adjoining the parish of Rushton, in the union of Kettering, hundred of Bothwell, N. division of the county of Northampton, 3 miles (N. by W.) from Kettering; containing 9 inhabitants. It comprises 360 acres, of a rich and highly productive soil, and is intersected by the north branch of the river Nene, and bounded by the road from Kettering to Rockingham on the east.

Barford (St. John)

BARFORD (St. John), a chapelry, in the parish of East Adderbury, union of Banbury, hundred of Bloxham, county of Oxford, 2¾ miles (N. W. by W.) from Deddington; containing 126 inhabitants, and comprising by computation 700 acres. The church is a small edifice, with a tower within the square of the nave, at the south-west corner, open to the church; the doorway is of plain Norman design.

Barford (St. Peter)

BARFORD (St. Peter), a parish, in the Warwick division of the hundred of Kington, union and county of Warwick, 3 miles (S. by W.) from Warwick; containing 849 inhabitants. Barford was for three centuries the residence of the ancestors of Charles Thomas Warde, Esq., now of Clopton, in the county. Of this family was Rowley Warde, an eminent lawyer in the reigns of James and Charles I., commonly called Old Serjeant Warde, and in the parish register styled the Right Worshipful Rowley Warde; who died at the age of 96, about the year 1650. His son, Thomas Warde, barrister at law, served as an officer in the army of Charles at the battle of Edge Hill, and kept the royal flag flying on the top of the church tower here, facing his own house; which caused Cromwell's army after the battle, on its march to Kenilworth Castle, eight miles distant, to fire shots at the tower, the marks of which still remain. The mill on the river Avon at Barford, now belonging to the Earl of Warwick, was either granted or sold by Charles II. to this Thomas Warde, he having been instrumental in obtaining for the king and his royal father several sums of money to assist them in their distress, in the rebellion. The parish is pleasantly situated on the left bank of the Avon, which flows through a finely varied tract of country from the grounds of Warwick Castle; it comprises 1594 acres of land, and the higher parts present very fine views. The village contains several handsome houses.

The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £11. 11. 0½.; net income, £869; patron, John Mills, Esq.: the tithes were commuted for land and a money payment in 1760. Thomas Warde, Esq., an eminent antiquary, sold the advowson for £500, in 1740, to the Rev. John Mills. The old church was built in the reign of Henry VI.; the late church in that of Henry VII.; and the present edifice, which incorporates the ancient tower, in 1844: it contains 604 sittings, and cost about £2500. The windows are of painted glass: the eastern one is in five compartments, embellished with figures of the Four Evangelists and the patron saint; the colours are peculiarly rich, and the effect of the whole window striking and beautiful; it was executed at the cost of the neighbouring families, to the memory of Jane, widow of the late Charles Mills, Esq., and daughter of the Hon. Wriothesley Digby. Under the chancel is a vault for the family of Mills, to members of whom are five urns on pedestals in the chancel wall. Formerly there was a tomb to the memory of a rector of Wellesbourn, who died about the year 1200; the tomb was long since destroyed, but the inscription, on stone, has been built into the wall of the church. Among other relics is a curious tablet of freestone, part of a monument, which the rector, the Rev. William Somerville, has had placed in the wall of the vestry, with this inscription: "Here lyeth the body of Thomas Warde, Gentleman, parson of Barford, 2d son of Thomas and Martha Warde; he died in 1532." A school here is endowed with about £48 per annum, arising from benefactions of John Beale in 1672, and the Rev. Thomas Dugard in 1677.

Barford (St. Martin)

BARFORD (St. Martin), a parish, in the union of Wilton, hundred of Cawden and Cadworth, Salisbury and Amesbury, and S. divisions of Wilts, 2½ miles (W.) from Wilton; containing, with Grovely Wood, extra-parochial, 599 inhabitants. It is situated on the Shaftesbury road, and comprises 2246a. 3r. 2p. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £24. 2. 8½., and in the patronage of All Souls' College, Oxford: the tithes have been commuted for £627. 5., a portion of which belongs to the church of Salisbury, and a small part to the adjoining rectory of Baverstock; the glebe consists of 92 acres.

Barford, Great (All Souls)

BARFORD, GREAT (All Souls), a parish, in the hundred of Barford, union and county of Bedford, 6 miles (E. N. E.) from Bedford; containing 814 inhabitants. It is situated on the navigable river Ouse, which forms its south-eastern boundary, and over which is a neat bridge. The living is a discharged vicarage, united to that of Roxton, and valued in the king's books at £9: the tithes were commuted for land and a money payment, in 1820. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Barford, Great (St. Michael)

BARFORD, GREAT (St. Michael), a parish, in the union of Banbury, hundred of Wootton, county of Oxford, 2½ miles (W. N. W.) from Deddington; containing 370 inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy, valued in the king's books at £6. 5.; net income, £67; patron and impropriator, John Hall, Esq. The tithes were commuted for land and a money payment, in 1807. The church is rather peculiar in its character, and striking in its appearance; it stands on a high bank: the tower is placed at the east end of the south aisle, and there is a very fine Norman doorway: the edifice has no north aisle. A school, conducted on the national system, was founded by the late William Wilson, Esq., of Worton.

Barford, Little (St. Mary)

BARFORD, LITTLE (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of St. Neot's, hundred of Biggleswade, county of Bedford, 2½ miles (S. by W.) from St. Neot's; containing 190 inhabitants. This parish, which comprises by computation 1240 acres, is situated on the river Ouse, by which it is bounded on the west, and close to the road from Biggleswade to St. Neot's; the soil in some places, and especially near the river, is exceedingly rich and productive. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £13. 16. 3., and in the patronage and incumbency of the Rev. John Alington: the tithes have been commuted for £250, and the glebe consists of 45 acres. The church is an ancient building, with a Norman arch over the south door, and a curious wooden screen between the nave and the chancel. Nicholas Rowe, the dramatic writer, and poet-laureat to George I., was a native of the place.

Barforth

BARFORTH, a township, in the parish of Forcett, union of Teesdale, wapentake of Gilling-West, N. riding of York, 6 miles (E.) from Barnard Castle; containing 114 inhabitants. It is on the south bank of the Tees, and comprises by computation 1750 acres: a ferry crosses the river to the county of Durham. Within the township are the inconsiderable remains of a village called Old Richmond, formerly a Roman station; and also the ruins of an ancient chapel.

Barfreyston (St. Mary)

BARFREYSTON (St. Mary), a parish, in the union and hundred of Eastry, lathe of St. Augustine, E. division of Kent, 5 miles (S. by E.) from Wingham; containing 125 inhabitants. It comprises 500 acres, chiefly arable. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £7. 14.; net income, £160; patrons, the President and Fellows of St. John's College, Oxford. The church, which is supposed to be of the date of the twelfth century, presents a fine specimen of Norman architecture, especially in the southern porch, which is richly ornamented with varied mouldings. There are numerous tumuli in this and the adjoining parishes.

Barham (St. Giles)

BARHAM (St. Giles), a parish, in the hundred of Leightonstone, union and county of Huntingdon, 6 miles (N. N. E.) from Kimbolton; containing 107 inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Bishop of Ely; net income, £58.

Barham (St. John the Baptist)

BARHAM (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the union of Bridge, hundred of Kinghamford, lathe of St. Augustine, E. division of Kent, 6½ miles (S. E. by S.) from Canterbury; containing 1151 inhabitants. It comprises by measurement 4470 acres, of which 2147 are arable, 1301 pasture, 998 woodland, and 24 acres hops; and is celebrated for its pleasant and spacious downs, on which the Canterbury races are held in August. The living was till lately annexed to the rectory of Bishopsbourne. Barham gives the title of Baron to the family of Noel.

Barham (St. Mary)

BARHAM (St. Mary), a parish, in the union and hundred of Bosmere and Claydon, E. division of Suffolk, 4 miles (N. N. W.) from Ipswich; containing, with the inmates of the union workhouse, 576 inhabitants. The parish comprises about 1500 acres, and is bounded on the west by the navigable river Gipping. Shrubland Hall, formerly the seat of a branch of the Bacon family, descended from the Lord Keeper Bacon, and now of Sir William F. F. Middleton, Bart., has been greatly improved by the present proprietor, and is a splendid residence. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £12. 10. 5.; net income, £342; patrons, the family of Longe. The church is a handsome edifice, chiefly in the decorated style, consisting of a nave and chancel with a square tower on the south side, and the chancel contains many monuments to the Bacons and Southwells. In a field called Chapel Field, the floor of an ancient chapel was lately turned up by the plough. A Roman road passed through Shrubland Park; and in the year 1840 a Roman apartment six feet square, and a bath five feet four inches long, two feet nine inches deep, and three feet wide, were discovered. The late Duke of Gloucester resided at Shrubland when in command of the district.

Barholme (St. Martin)

BARHOLME (St. Martin), a parish, in the union of Stamford, wapentake of Ness, parts of Kesteven, county of Lincoln, 3¾ miles (W. by N.) from MarketDeeping; containing 165 inhabitants. This parish, including the hamlet of Stowe, comprises by measurement 1500 acres, of which 400 are in Stowe, and of the remainder, 1000 are arable and 100 pasture: the soil is for the most part gravelly, and in some parts fen. The living is a discharged vicarage, to which that of Stowe was united in 1772, valued in the king's books at £5. 11. 8.; net income, £147, arising from 70 acres of land allotted on the inclosure in lieu of tithe; patrons and impropriators, the Governors of Oakham and Uppingham schools. The church is an ancient structure, partly in the Norman and early English styles, with a tower which, from an inscription in verse, appears to have been erected in 1648.

Barkby (St. Mary)

BARKBY (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Barrow-upon-Soar, hundred of East Goscote, N. division of the county of Leicester, 5 miles (N. E.) from Leicester; containing, with the chapelries of Barkby-Thorp and North Thurmaston, 849 inhabitants, of whom 70 are in Barkby-Thorp. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £10; net income, £250; patron and impropriator, W. A. Pochin, Esq. The tithes, with some exceptions, were commuted for land in 1762. The church has been repewed.

Barkestone (St. Peter and St. Paul)

BARKESTONE (St. Peter and St. Paul), a parish, in the union of Bingham, hundred of Framland, N. division of the county of Leicester, 4 miles (W. N. W.) from Belvoir Castle; containing 403 inhabitants. It comprises about 2000 acres, and is intersected by the Grantham and Nottingham canal: the soil is a darkcoloured tenacious clay, and the surface a gentle acclivity. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £7. 5. 5.; net income, £114; patron and impropriator, the Duke of Rutland. The church was partly rebuilt and enlarged, and entirely refitted, in 1840. Daniel Smith endowed a school for the instruction of sixteen boys and ten girls of the parishes of Barkestone and Plungar, to which has been added a national school; and another for 26 girls is supported by the lady of the manor: a Sunday school is endowed with £20 per annum.

Barkham (St. James)

BARKHAM (St James), a parish, in the union of Wokingham, hundred of Charlton, county of Berks, 2 miles (S. W. by W.) from Wokingham; containing 248 inhabitants. It comprises 1362a. 1r. 5p., of which 743 acres are arable, 212 meadow and pasture, and 290 waste, common, and roads. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £5. 15. 7½., and in the patronage of C. Leveson Gower, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for £368, and there are 22 acres of glebe. The church, a neat building, has been lately repaired, and contains a small organ.

Barking (St. Margaret)

BARKING (St. Margaret), a parish, and formerly a market-town, in the union of Romford, hundred of Becontree, S. division of Essex, 23 miles (S. W.) from Chelmsford, and 7 (N. E.) from London; containing 8718 inhabitants, of whom 3751 are in the town of Barking, exclusively of 987 men and boys engaged in the fishery, who were at sea at the time of the enumeration. The name of this place, formerly written Berking, is by some deduced from the Saxon words Beorce, a birch-tree, and Ing, a meadow; by others from Berg-Ing, signifying a fortification in the meadows, probably from an ancient intrenchment about a quarter of a mile on the road to Ilford, of which there are still considerable vestiges. The town derived its early importance from a very extensive and distinguished abbey, founded in 670, by Erkenwald, Bishop of London, for nuns of the Benedictine order, and dedicated to the Virgin Mary, which was governed by a long succession of abbesses, of whom many were of noble, and some of royal, descent. In 870, Barking was burnt by the Danes, the abbey destroyed, and many of the nuns were massacred, and the rest dispersed; but the abbey was afterwards rebuilt, about the year 970, by Edgar, whose queen, Elfrida, presided over it after his decease; and at the Dissolution its revenue amounted to £1084. 6. 2¾. Soon after the Conquest, William retired to the town, till the completion of the Tower of London, which he was then building to keep the citizens in subjection; and here he was visited, during the preparations for his coronation, by Edwin, Earl of Mercia, and Morcar, Earl of Northumberland, with many of the English nobles, who swore fealty to him on the restoration of their estates.

The town is situated on the small river Roding, which, after flowing in two branches, unites with the Thames about two miles below: it is lighted with gas, by a company recently formed. The inhabitants are principally occupied in the fishery; a number of vessels sail to the Dutch and Scottish coasts, and, on their return, the fish is forwarded to Billingsgate in smaller vessels. There is a convenient wharf at Barking creek, which is navigable to Ilford for vessels of eighty tons' burthen, by which the neighbourhood is supplied with coal and timber; and near it is a large flour-mill, formerly belonging to the abbey. A fair is held on Oct. 22nd. The upper part of the building which was formerly the market-house, is appropriated to the purpose of a town-hall: attached to it is a small prison. The parish comprises a considerable portion of Hainault forest, and is divided into four wards, namely, Barking Town, Ripple, Great Ilford, and Chadwell: it is seven miles in length from north to south, and about four in breadth from east to west. The lands are fertile and highly cultivated, and many hundred acres in the vicinity are appropriated to the cultivation of potatoes for the London market. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £19. 8. 11½.; net income, about £900; patrons and impropriators, the Warden and Fellows of All Souls' College, Oxford. The church is a handsome structure, with a lofty tower of stone; it consists of a nave, a south aisle, two north aisles, and a chancel, and contains some ancient monuments. A church has been erected at Ilford, which is now an ecclesiastical parish; and there are churches at Aldborough-Hatch and Barking-Side, and a chapel attached to St. Mary's Hospital, Ilford. The dissenters have several places of worship. Of the conventual buildings of the abbey there now remains only the gateway, over which is the chapel of the Holy Rood: the arch is finely pointed, and enriched with deeply receding mouldings: above is a canopied niche under a fine window of three lights, the whole forming a square embattled tower, with an octagonal turret at one of the angles. It is called the Fire-bell gate, from its having anciently contained the curfew. Among the ruins of the abbey have been found a fibula and a gold ring, on which were engraved the Salutation of the Virgin, and the letters I. M.

Barking (St. Mary)

BARKING (ST. MARY), a parish, in the union and hundred of Bosmere and Claydon, E. division of Suffolk; comprising the post-town of Needham-Market and the hamlet of Dormsden, and containing 1931 inhabitants. It comprises 2940 acres, of which 50 are common or waste; and is traversed by the road from Ipswich to Bury St. Edmund's, and bounded on the north by the Stow-market and Ipswich navigation. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £27. 10. 7½., and in the gift of the Earl of Ashburnham: the tithes have been commuted for £800. The glebe consists of about 4 acres, and is ornamented with three very fine cedar-trees, brought from Mount Lebanon in the year 1725; an excellent rectory-house was built in 1819. The church, which is picturesquely situated, is chiefly in the later style, and consists of a nave, chancel, and aisles, with an embattled tower. There is a chapel of ease at Dormsden; also a church at Needham-Market, forming a separate incumbency.

Barkisland

BARKISLAND, a township, in the chapelry of Ripponden, parish and union of Halifax, wapentake of Morley, W. riding of York, 5½ miles (S. W. by S.) from Halifax; containing 2391 inhabitants. This township comprises by computation 2420 acres, of which about 1000 were inclosed by act of parliament in 1814. The soil is generally fertile, and much of the land has been brought into a profitable state of cultivation; the scenery is pleasingly diversified, and in some parts embellished with wood: there are quarries of slate, and of good building and flagstone. Barkisland Hall, the ancient seat of the Gledhill family, is a stately mansion in the old English style of domestic architecture, and has long been the property of the Bolds of Bold Hall, Lancashire. The village, consisting of one long street, is pleasantly situated on the ridge of a hill sloping to the south; and the township comprises part of the village of Ripponden, and numerous scattered hamlets. The inhabitants are partly employed in wool-combing, and in the manufacture of the coarser kinds of woollen cloth, which is carried on to a small extent. The grammar school here, an ancient structure, was endowed in 1657 with £200 by Mrs. Sarah Gledhill: a house for the master was erected in 1780, with a good garden attached to it; and the endowment now produces £40 per annum, which is paid to the master for teaching twelve children.

Barkston

BARKSTON, a township, in the parish of Sherburn, Upper division of the wapentake of BarkstoneAsh, W. riding of York, 5 miles (S. by E.) from Tadcaster; containing 323 inhabitants. It comprises about 1130 acres, chiefly arable, and generally fertile land: the road from Tadcaster to Pontefract intersects the township; and the York and North-Midland railway passes on the east, and the Leeds and Selby railway on the south. The tithes were commuted for land and money payments in 1772. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. The hundred court was formerly held, probably under a large ash-tree, in this village, and hence the name of the wapentake of Barkstone-Ash.

Barkstone-in-the-Willows (St. Nicholas)

BARKSTONE-IN-THE-WILLOWS (St. Nicholas), a parish, in the union of Newark, wapentake of Loveden, parts of Kesteven, county of Lincoln, 4 miles (N. N. E.) from Grantham; containing 413 inhabitants. It comprises by estimation 2083 acres, of which 1331 are arable, 549 pasture or meadow, and 44 woodland; besides which, there are 65 acres, chiefly arable, on which a small tithe-modus is payable: the soil is light, varying from clay to sand. The river Witham, which is scarcely navigable, passes through the parish. A pleasure-fair is held in October. The living is a rectory, in the patronage of the Prebendary of North Grantham in the Cathedral of Salisbury, valued in the king's books at £13. 7. 6.: the tithes have been commuted for £610, and there are about 19 acres of glebe. The church is supposed to have been built in the reign of John. The Wesleyans have a place of worship. There is a small endowment for a school; and an almshouse for six people is endowed with £43 per annum.

Barkway (St. Mary Magdalene)

BARKWAY (St. Mary Magdalene), a town and parish, in the union of Royston, hundred of Edwinstree, county of Hertford, 4 miles (S. S. E.) from Royston, 13¾ miles (N. N. E.) from Hertford, and 35 (N.) from London, on the road to Cambridge; containing, with the hamlets of Newsells and Nuthampstead, 1291 inhabitants. In the reign of Henry III. a grant of a market now disused, and of a fair which is still held on July 20th, was obtained for this place. Nearly the whole town was destroyed by fire in the reign of Elizabeth, and again in 1748. It is pleasantly situated on rising ground, and consists principally of one street: the houses in general are modern and neatly built, and the inhabitants are well supplied with water. The parish comprises chiefly arable land, with a large extent of wood, and a small portion of pasture. The living is a vicarage, consolidated in 1800 with the rectory of Reed, and valued in the king's books at £14; the impropriation belongs to Mrs. Vernon Harcourt: the tithes were commuted for land in 1801. The church is a spacious structure combining various styles, with a square embattled tower. There is a place of worship for Independents; and a charity school for boys has an endowment of £10 per annum.