Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for HIGHAM-FERRERS

HIGHAM-FERRERS, a small town, a parish, a subdistrict, and a hundred in Northamptonshire. The town stands on a rocky height, near the river Nen and the Northampton and Peterborough railway, 3 miles from the boundary with Beds, and 15½ ENE of Northampton. It was known, at Domesday, as Higham; and it took its after name from the Earls Ferrers, who were its lords. Its site has yielded relics which show it to have been probably occupied by the Romans; and is within 3 miles of the Roman station of Chester. A castle was built at it, either by Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, or by the Ferrers; but nothing of this remains except part of the earthwork. The town has a plain appearance, is about a mile long, and contains some houses of the 15th century. An ancient cross is in the market place; and the shaft of another is in the churchyard. The church is early English; has been thoroughly restored, and partially rebuilt, at a cost of £6, 000; measures 119 feet by 69; comprises a sort of double nave, a choir, and several chapels, with a tower and hexagonal spire 180 feet high; and contains a screen, some carved seats, a double piscina, some armour of John of Gaunt, and many brasses. An old Baptist chapel, noted for preachings by John Bunyan, is now a stable. There are a Wesleyan chapel, an endowed grammar school, and charities £30. An ancient hospital, called the hospital of St. James, is extinct. A college was built, in the time of Henry V., by Archbishop Chichele, a native of the town; and was suppressed at the dissolution of monasteries. A bede house also was built by the archbishop; still stands on the S side of the churchyard; and is now used as a Sunday school. The town hall is a small edifice of 1808. Markets used to be held thrice a week, but have ceased; fairs are still held on the Thursday before 5 Feb., 7 March, the Thursday before 12 May, 28 June, the Thursday before 5 Aug., 11 Oct., and 6 Dec.; and shoe making and lace making are carried on. The town has a headpost office, ‡ a railway station, and a good inn. It is a borough by prescription; and it sent a member to parliament, from the time of Queen Mary, till disfranchised by t] act of 183222.—The parish comprises 2, 260 acres. Real property, £4, 775, of which £20 are in gas works. Pop., 1, 152. Houses, 246. The manor belongs to the Hon. G. W. Fitzwilliam. The living is a vicarage, united with the p. curacy of Chelveston, in the diocese of Peterborough. Value, £300.* Patron, the Hon. G. W. Fitzwilliam.—The sub-district contains also four other parishes and an extra-parochial tract in Northamptonshire, and three parishes in Beds; and is in the district of Wellingborough. Acres, 18, 356. Pop., 7, 100. Houses, 1, 564.-The hundred contains fourteen parishes and part of another. Acres, 29, 660. Pop. in 1851, 10, 090; in 1861, 11, 508. Houses, 2, 506.


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

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a small town, a parish, a subdistrict, and a hundred"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Higham Ferrers AP/CP       Higham Ferrers Hundred       Higham Ferrers SubD       Northamptonshire AncC
Place names: HIGHAM     |     HIGHAM FERRERS
Place: Higham Ferrers

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