Potton Bedfordshire Family History Guide

Potton is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Bedfordshire.

Parish church: St. Mary

Parish registers begin:

• Parish registers: 1614
• Bishop’s Transcripts: 1602

Nonconformists include: Independent/Congregational, Baptist, Wesleyan Methodist

Adjacent Parishes

• Sutton
• Everton
• Cockayne Hatley
• Gamlingay, Cambridgeshire
• Sandy
• Wrestlingworth

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

POTTON, a small town, a parish, and a sub-district, in Biggleswade district, Beds. The town stands in a picturesque tract, near the Bedford and Cambridge railway, 1 mile S of the boundary with Cambridgeshire, and 4 NE of Biggleswade; was extensively destroyed by fire in 1783; carries on straw-plaiting; and has a post-office under St. Neots, a railway station, several inns, a market house with clock-turret, a church, three dissenting chapels, an endowed school with £30 a year, a national school, and charities £130.

The church stands on an eminence, a short distance from the town; is Norman, in good condition; and has an embattled tower. The Independent chapel is a neat edifice, and was built in 1848. A weekly market is held on Saturday; fairs are held on the third Tuesday of Jan., the last Tuesday of April, Easter Monday and Tuesday, and the Tuesday before 29 Oct.; and there are corn mills.

The parish comprises 2,200 acres. Real property, £7,437. Pop., 1,944. Houses, 377. The manor belonged to John of Gaunt, passed to the Burgoynes, and belongs now to S. Whitbread, Esq. P. Wood is a meet for the Cambridgeshire hounds.The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely. Value, £450. Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The sub-district contains also ten other parishes. Acres, 26,125. Pop., 9,280. Houses, 1,919.

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

A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

POTTON (St. Mary), a market-town and parish, in the union and hundred of Biggleswade, county of Bedford, 11½ miles (E.) from Bedford, and 48 (N. by W.) from London; containing 1781 inhabitants. A great part of the town was destroyed by fire in 1783, on which occasion the loss was estimated at £25,625, exclusively of the expense of temporary erections in the adjacent fields, used until the houses were rebuilt. It is pleasantly situated at the foot of a hill, and consists principally of one long street; the inhabitants are supplied with water from several small rivulets. The neighbourhood is highly respectable, and contains some handsome mansions.

Sandstone is quarried for roads, and for building fence walls; lace-making and straw-platting are carried on to a small extent. The market is on Saturday, and chiefly for corn and straw-plat, but the business done is inconsiderable; fairs are held on the third Tuesday in January for horses, on the last Tuesday in April for sheep, on the first Tuesday in July for fruit and for pleasure, and on the Tuesday before October 29th for cattle.

The parish comprises 2600 acres, of which 2115 are arable, and 45 race-ground; one-half of the soil is clay, and the other half sand. The road from St. Ives, which joins the great north road at Biggleswade, passes through the parish. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king’s books at £13. 6. 8., and in the patronage of the Crown: about 300 acres of land, now valued at £1. 5. per acre, and a money payment, were assigned in lieu of tithes in 1814. The church, which is in the early English style, has been repewed. There are places of worship for Baptists and Wesleyans; and four schools endowed with £34 per annum.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848

Bankrupts

Below is a list of people that were declared bankrupt between 1820 and 1843 extracted from The Bankrupt Directory; George Elwick; London; Simpkin, Marshall and Co.; 1843.

Hennell Frederick, Potten, Bedfordshire, linen draper, Aug. 14, 1827.

King George, Potten, Bedfordshire, money scrivener, Jan. 5, 1836.

Parish Registers

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.

Taylor, William (Tailor), of St. Clement Danes, widower, 27, and Mrs. Frances Smith, of St. Margaret, Westminster, spinster, 22, consent of her father, John Smith, gent., of Potton, Beds — at St. Ann, Westminster. 18 Sept. 1688. B.

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

Parish Records

FamilySearch

Bedfordshire Historical Directories

Directory Transcriptions

Kelly’s Directory of the Wine and Spirit Trades, with which are included Brewers and Maltsters 1884

Marked thus * are Small Brewers who brew the beer they sell.

POTTON, Sandy
Market day Saturday

Brewers
Bingham F King st & Hogg
Richardson Henry Sun st

Coopers
Bingham F King st & Hugg hill
Charter Charles Sun st

Maltster
Smith George Horne lane

Wine & Spirit Merchants
Smith William & Co Market pl

Source: The Post office directory of the brewers and maltsters [afterw.] Kelly’s directory of the wine and spirit trades, with which are included brewers and maltsters By Kelly’s directories, ltd. 1884

Administration

• County: Bedfordshire
• Civil Registration District: Biggleswade
• Probate Court: Court of the Archdeaconry of Bedford
• Diocese: Pre-1837 – Lincoln, Post-1836 – Ely
• Rural Deanery: Shefford
• Poor Law Union: Biggleswade
• Hundred: Biggleswade
• Province: Canterbury