Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for KEMPSTON

KEMPSTON, a village and a parish in the district and county of Bedford. The village stands on the river Ouse, 2½ miles SW of Bedford r. station; and has a postoffice under Bedford. The parish comprises 5, 160 acres. Real property, £10, 868. Pop. in 1851, 1, 962; in 1861, 2, 1 91. Houses, 478. The property is much subdivided. The manor house is the seat of the Williamsons; Hoo House, of Barnard Talbot, Esq.; Kempston House, of Capt. B. Newland; and the Grange, of H. Littledale, Esq. Springfield House, standing on a plot of 18 acres, is a private lunatic asylnm. Roman coins, an ancient spur, and indications of a large Saxon cemetery have been found. Kempston Wood is a meet for the Oakley hounds. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely. Value, £350. * Patron, J. D. Allcroft, Esq. The church is partly Norman; has decorated clerestory, aisles, and S porch; has a tower partly Norman, partly later; was restored in 1864; and contains a decorated font. Another church, St. John's, was erected in 1868. There are chapels for Baptists, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists, a national school, and charities £46. An extensive Saxon burying place was recently discovered, containing a large number of skeletons, an ancient British coin, two coins of Constantine, a variety of weapons, a unique drinkingcup, and a great variety of Saxon ornaments.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Kempston CP/AP       Bedfordshire AncC
Place: Kempston

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