Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire Family History Guide

Newport Pagnell is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Buckinghamshire.

Other places in the parish include: Caldecot.

Parish church:

Parish registers begin: 1558

Nonconformists include: Baptist, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Independent/Congregational, Primitive Methodist, Society of Friends/Quaker, and Wesleyan Methodist.

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Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

NEWPORT-PAGNELL, a town, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in Bucks. The town stands on the Roman-road from Linford to Bedford, at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Ouzle, and on the Newport-Pagnell railway, 3¾ miles W of the boundary with Beds, and 14¼ NE of Buckingham.

It took the latter part of its name from the family of Paganel, who owned the manor in the time of William Rufus; it had a castle of the Paganels, and had also a Cluniac priory or cell, founded by the Paganels; it was a seat of assizes from the time of Henry III. till that of Henry VI.; it was taken in 1643, for the Parliament, by the Earl of Essex; and was garrisoned in 1645, by Sir Samuel Luke, supposed to be the “Hudibras” of Butler.

It it is now a seat of petty-sessions and county courts, and a polling-place; it occupies a rising ground, commanding a large expanse of fine country; it is well built, and contains many neat modern houses; and it has a head post-office, a banking office, two chief inns, a police station, public-rooms, two bridges, a church, five dissenting chapels, a public cemetery, a mechanics’ institute, two national schools, two British schools, a charity school, a charity hospital, two suites of alms-houses, and a workhouse.

The railway was authorised in 1863, to go from the Wolverton station of the Northwestern, 3¾ miles northward to Newport-Pagnell, on a capital of £45,000 in shares, and £15,000 in loans; and was further authorised in 1865, to proceed 5¼ miles north-by-eastward from Newport-Pagnell to Olney, on a new capital of £80,000 in shares, and £26,000 in loans.

The manor, before coming to the Paganels, was held by Fitz-Ausculph; and it passed from the Paganels to the Someries and others. The castle probably stood near the church. The Cluniac priory stood on the spot now occupied by Tickford Abbey, the residence of O. Massey, Esq. One of the bridges is a light iron structure over the Ouzle; and the other is a handsome stone structure, with a long causeway, over the Ouse.

The church is a large and handsome edifice of pointed architecture; consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with pinnacled tower; has nine handsome stained-glass windows; and was thoroughly restored in 1828. The churchyard contains an epitaph by Cowper to T. A. Hamilton. The dissenting chapels are Independent, Baptist, Quaker, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan. A theological academy was founded in 1764, but is now extinct. The public cemetery is pleasantly situated near the church; was opened in 1861; and has a neat brick mortuary chapel.

The charity school was founded by Dr. Atterbury, brother of Bishop Atterbury; is for 20 girls; and has a land-endowment in Great Houghton. The charity hospital was founded about 1280 by John de Somerie, and refounded by Queen Anne of Denmark; is a stone building, with apartments for three males and three females; and has an endowed income of about £338. Revis’s alms-houses were erected in 1763, are for 7 persons, and have an endowed income of £164. The Independent Chapel alms-houses were founded and endowed in 1851, by Miss Charlotte Beaty; and are a neat building, with accommodation for 4 persons.

The workhouse has capacity for 300 persons; and, at the census of 1861, had 182 inmates. There is a town estate of £126. A weekly market is held on Wednesday; fairs are held on 22 Feb., 21 March, 22 April, 22 June, 29 Aug., 22 Oct., and 22 Dec.; and lace-making is largely carried on. Humphrey, the theologian, was a native. Pop. in 1851, 3,312; in 1861, 3,676. Houses, 649.

The parish includes the hamlet of Caldecot, and comprises 3,220 acres. Real property, £13, 844. Pop., 3, 823. Houses, 776. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford. Value, £250. Patron, the Bishop of Oxford.

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