Kensworth Hertfordshire Family History Guide
Kensworth is an Ancient Parish in the county of Hertfordshire.
Alternative names:
Parish church: St. Mary
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1615
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1604
Nonconformists include: Baptist, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Society of Friends/Quaker, and Wesleyan Methodist.
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
- Studham, Bedfordshire
- Dunstable, Bedfordshire
- Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire
- Whipsnade
- Caddington
- Totternhoe, Bedfordshire
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
KENSWORTH, a village and a parish in the district of Luton and county of Hertford. The village stands near the boundary with Beds, 3 miles SE of Dunstable r. station; and has a post-office under Dunstable.
The parish comprises 2, 280 acres. Real property, £3, 919. Pop. in 1851, 1, 033; in 1861, 925. Houses, 194. The property is subdivided. Chalk hills form much of the surface; and one of them has an altitude of 904 feet. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £180. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s. The church is Norman, has an embattled tower, and was recently restored. There are a Wesleyan chapel, and charities £18.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
KENSWORTH (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Luton, hundred of Dacorum, county of Hertford, 2½ miles (N. W.) from Market-Street; containing 842 inhabitants.
The parish comprises by computation 2500 acres, of which the surface is very hilly, and the soil various, but chiefly a strong red clay, alternated with marl. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king’s books at £9. 13. 4.; net income, £180; patrons, the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s, London. The tithes were commuted for land and corn-rents in 1798; the glebe comprises 110 acres.
The church has portions in the early English style, with some of later date. The capitals of the western pillars exhibit the fable of the Wolf and the Crane on one side, and that of the Eagle and the Hare on the other; the doorway within the tower has capitals representing birds and human heads. Both doorways are of Caen stone.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Parish Records
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Administration
- County: Hertfordshire
- Civil Registration District: Luton
- Probate Court: Court of the Archdeaconry of Huntingdon (Hitchin Division)
- Diocese: Post-1844 – Rochester, Pre-1845 – Lincoln
- Rural Deanery: Berkhampstead
- Poor Law Union: Luton
- Hundred: Dacorum
- Province: Canterbury