Northill Bedfordshire Family History Guide

Northill is an Ancient Parish in the county of Bedfordshire.

Alternative names: Northhill with Ickwell, Northhill, Nortgible, Nortgivele (xi cent.); Norgewele, Nortgylle (xiii cent.); Nortyevele (xiv, xv cent.); Northiell, Norwell, Norrell (xvi cent.); Budenho (xii, xiii cent.).

Other places in the parish include: Upper Caldicott, Ickwell, Lower Caldicott, Thorncoate, Beeston, Brookend, and Thorncoate with Brookend Hatch.

Parish church:

Parish registers begin: 1562

The registers previous to 1813 are in six books:— (1) all 1562 to 1598 (the next are missing); (2) all 1672 to 1726; (3) all 1727 to 1758, marriages till 1754; (4) marriages (printed) 1754 to 1812; (5) baptisms and burials 1759 to 1778; (6) baptisms and burials 1779 to 1812.

Nonconformists include: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Independent/Congregational, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan Methodist.

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

Northill is a large parish of 4,140 acres, watered by a feeder of the River Ivel, which itself forms the eastern boundary of the parish. The land lies low, the highest point above the ordnance datum being 205 ft. in the west, the lowest 74 ft. in the north. The soil is clay and gravel, the chief crops being wheat, oats, barley, beans, peas and market gardening produce. Arable land covers 2,142 acres, permanent grass 753 and woods and plantations 271½ acres. Northill is served by the Great Northern railway, the nearest station being Biggleswade, 3¾ miles off.

The village of Northill in the west of the parish is comparatively small; the fine church of St. Mary, once collegiate, stands in the centre, and grouped near are the rectory, schools and Grange.

To the south of the village is Ickwell Bury, occupied by Mr. John Cunningham Thomson as a preparatory school for boys, standing in large grounds; it is built of brick, and the oldest part of the present house was put up in 1683; the walls finish with a brick cornice decorated with balusters. Part of the stables was also built in 1683, and over the roof of this portion is a square tiled clock turret, surmounted by a small cupola on eight Doric columns. Over the entrance to these stables from the courtyard is a shield of arms, a cheveron between three talbots’ heads with three trefoils on the cheveron impaling three voided lozenges on a bend. At later dates wings have been added to the house and other alterations made. In the interior some of the rooms have ceilings decorated with very elaborate and rich plaster-work, and in one room is a finely carved wood panel, formerly hidden by plaster. There is an open staircase round a square well with spiral balusters, which dates from 1683. In the grounds is the site of an older building, all traces of which have disappeared, and the moat which surrounded it is now filled up, though it was visible until quite recently. There remains an old octagonal pigeon-house built of brick with a tiled roof, with two dormers and two small gable lights. In the interior is an upright post that revolves, with timber framing attached for reaching the holes, of which there are fourteen rings, each containing fifty-six holes.

East of Ickwell Bury is the hamlet of Ickwell, with a spacious village green where until recently stood a maypole, the scene of annual village revels. Tradition says that an ancient farm-house by the green marks the site of the college. Ickwell House, also called the Old House, in the south of the hamlet, was once surrounded by a moat, but is now quite modernized. It is the residence of Captain Tippinge.

East of Ickwell is the hamlet of Upper Caldecote, with All Saints’ Church, a chapel of ease to the parish church, consecrated in 1868. Caldecote Lodge, the principal house and residence of Mr. Glynn Taddy, is north-east of the church. In the south of the hamlet is a green, round which are grouped the manor farm, a public-house, and various cottages. Lower Caldecote is a small outlying district lying farther to the north-east.

Other hamlets in the parish are Thorncote, consisting of a few plaster and tile cottages grouped round a triangular green, Hatch with an old farmhouse and a few cottages, Brook End and Budna, which are in the north of the parish. Beeston in the north-east, partly in Sandy parish, is rapidly growing owing to the development of market gardening in the surrounding country. Round the green, which seems to be a distinctive feature of the hamlets in this parish, are many cottages, modern brick and slate intermingling with the old thatched ones. Beeston completes the tale of seven hamlets composing this scattered parish, which are described in the 16th century in the following manner: ‘Two of them be ¾ mile from the church and every [one] of them as distant from other, and other two hamlets be a mile distant from church and every one of them as far distant from the other.’

The parish was inclosed by Act of Parliament in 1780, whilst a small portion was included with Blunham in 1796. Under the provisions of the Divided Parishes Act in 1882 Beeston, a detached part of Sandy, was added to Northill, and a detached part of Northill was transferred to Sandy for civil purposes.

Source: Extracted from Victoria County History of Bedford: Volume 3 1912.

Northill

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

NORTHILL, a village, a township, and a parish in Biggleswade district, Beds. The village stands near the river Ivel, 3 miles S W of Sandy r. station, and 4 WNW of Biggleswade; and has a post-office under Biggleswade. The township contains also the hamlet of Ickwell. Pop., 523. Houses, 109.

The parish contains likewise the hamlets of Thorncote, Brookend, Upper Caldicott, Lower Caldicott, and part of Beeston. Acres, 4, 210. Real property, exclusive of the part of Beeston, £7,339; inclusive of all Beeston, £11,140. Pop. of the parish, 1,366. Houses, 291. The property is subdivided. The manor belongs to J. Harvey, Esq.

The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely. Value, £530. Patrons, the Grocers’ Company, London. The church is ancient and very fine; was recently restored, at a cost of £2,000; comprises nave, aisles, and chancel, with a tower; and was made collegiate, in the time of Henry IV., by the Tralleys. A brick church was built in 1867at Upper Caldicott. There are two national schools, and charities £55.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales 1850

Northill, 3 m. N.W. Biggleswade. P. 1280

Source: Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales; Second Edition; C. W. Leonard, London; 1850

Beeston

Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales 1850

Beeston, 3 m. N.W. Biggleswade. P. 406

Source: Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales; Second Edition; C. W. Leonard, London; 1850

The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales 1840

Beeston, a hamlet, partly in the parish of Northill, partly in that of Sandy, hund. of Wixamtree, county of Bedford; 2½ miles north-north-west of Biggleswade, on the post-road to Huntingdon. Pop., in 1801, 180; in 1831, 258. Houses 50. Acres 210. Other returns with the parish.

Source: The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales; A Fullarton & Co. Glasgow; 1840.

A Topographical Dictionary of Great Britain and Ireland 1833

Beeston, co. Bedford.

P.T. Biggleswade (45) 3m NNW. Pop. (with six adjoining hamlets) 455.

A township, partly in the parish of Northhill, and partly in that of Sandy, in the hundred of Wixamtree.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of Great Britain and Ireland by John Gorton. The Irish and Welsh articles by G. N. Wright; Vol. II; London; Chapman and Hall, 186, Strand; 1833

Brook End

Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales 1850

Brook-end, Northill parish. P. 52.

Source: Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales; Second Edition; C. W. Leonard, London; 1850

Budnor

Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales 1850

Budnor, included in Northill Parish.

Source: Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales; Second Edition; C. W. Leonard, London; 1850

Caldecote (Upper and Lower)

Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales 1850

Caldicotts,(Upper and Lower), in Northill Parish. P. 509.

Source: Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales; Second Edition; C. W. Leonard, London; 1850.

Hatch

Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales 1850

Hatch, included in Northill Parish.

Source: Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales; Second Edition; C. W. Leonard, London; 1850

Thorncote

Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales 1850

Thorncote, in Northill parish. P. 72.

Source: Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales; Second Edition; C. W. Leonard, London; 1850

Parish Registers

Northill Parish Registers 1562 – 1812

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Bedfordshire Parish Registers V.13

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London Marriage Licences and Allegations 1521 to 1869

The following have been extracted from London Marriage Licences 1521 to 1869.

Abbreviations. — B. Bishop of London’s Office; D. Dean and Chapter of Westminster; F. Faculty Office of Archbishop of Canterbury; V. Registry of the Vicar-General of Canterbury.

Barnardiston, George, of Ickwell, Beds, gent., bachelor, 25, and Catherine Tyler, spinster, about 18, daughter of Francis Tyler, of St. Gabriel Fenchurch, London, who consents — at Hackney, or St. Mary, Whitechapel, Middlesex, or St. Dunstan-in-the-West, London. 24 Dec. 1675. F

Chapman, Christopher, of Grandchester, co. Cambridge, yeoman, bachelor, about 27, and Mary Mordaunt, of Northill, Beds, spinster, about 26, and at own disposal — at St. Giles, Cripplegate, London. 24 June, 1675. V.

Harvey, John, of Inchleberry, Beds, esq., bachelor, and Sarah Gore, of Chiswick, Middlesex, widow — at the Temple church, London, or … . 12 May, 1696. F.

Source: London Marriage Licences 1521 to 1869; Edited by Joseph Foster; London 1887