Bedfordshire 
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NORTHILL, a parish in the hundred of WIXAMTREE, county of BEDFORD, 3 miles (W. N, W.) from Biggleswade, containing, with the hamlets of Brookend, Budnor, Upper and Lower Caldicotts, Hatch, Ickwell, Thorncote, and part of Beeston, 1001 inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry of Bedford, and diocese of Lincoln, and in the patronage of the Master and Wardens of the Grocers' Company, London. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a handsome structure, in the ancient English style, the east window exhibiting beautiful specimens of stained glass, by Oliver: it was endowed by Sir John Traylly, Knt., and made collegiate in the reign of Henry IV., for a master, warden, and fellows, whose revenue at the dissolution was estimated at £6l.5.5. Elizabeth Hutchinson, in 1728, gave £200 for the education of poor fatherless girls; the annual income is now about £16, for which four are taught. The navigable river Ivel bounds the parish on the east.
[A Topographical Dictionary of England - Samuel Lewis - 1831]
The 1851 Census Index for Northill can be found in the 1851 Index to Census of Bedfordshire, Volume 3, Book 1 available from the Bedfordshire Family History Society.
Church of England
The church of St. Mary, once collegiate, is a noble and picturesque building of dark red sandstone, partly in the Decorated style and partly Perpendicular, and consists of chancel, nave, aisles, south porch, with parvise, and an embattled western tower with angle turret and containing 5 bells : the stained heraldic glass, formerly in the east window, has been inserted else where and a new east window was erected in 1885 by the Grocers' Company, who are the patrons; at the west end are three memorial windows to the Harvey family, and on the north wall are various hatchments of the same family, some dating back to the 17th century: the church retains six ancient stalls, four Piscine and some curious tiles; it was restored in 1862, at a cost of £2,000, and in 1882 a memorial pulpit was erected to the parents of the Rev. Francis Pott M.A. rector, 1866-90: the porch has a handsome groined roof of the 15th century: a curious brass, with Latin inscription, transferred from Ampthill church in 1890, commemorates Sir Nicholas Hervey, who died suddenly at Ampthill in 1532, while on a supposed confidential mission for Ring Henry VIII. : there are sittings for 300 persons. The registers date from the year 1562, but are only continuous from 1727.
The church of All Saints, CALDECOTE, a chapel of ease to the parish church, was erected at a cost of about £2,100, of which £1,200 was given by Mrs. Arthur Pott, widow of a former rector, and £1,000 and a site for the church, glebe-house and schools, by T. Harvey esq. of Ickwell Bury : it is a cruciform building of stone, in the Byzantine style, and consists of chancel, nave, transepts and small baptistery at the west end, and a central bell-cot, with a bells: there are 250 sittings.
[Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
Church of England
The parish record transcripts for St. Mary are available on microfiche for the period 1562-1812 from the Bedfordshire Family History Society.
At Caldecote are five almshouses, erected and endowed in 1876 by Mrs Elizabeth Harvey, in memory of Edmund and Susan Harvey. Ickwell Bury, the property of John Edmund Audley Harvey esq. D.L.. J.P. and the residence of Mrs. Harvey, is a mansion of red brick, in the Queen Anne style, standing in a park and woodlands of about 500 acres, approached by an avenue of trees about a mile in length; in 1683 the house was enlarged, and almost rebuilt, but additions and alterations have been since made; it contains some handsome carvings and many curious relics of past times; also a fine collection of armour and several good pictures. In the wood, about half way between the house and Northill church, is a very singular and perfect earthwork, either of Roman or British origin, with a high bank thrown up on the east side, where the exterior ground is higher, but the most remarkable feature of these remains is the existence of long pools inside the enceinte ; it is surmised that they were used as fish ponds, either by the monks of the college of Northill or the priory of Ickwell Bury. Ickwell House, the residence of Henry Godfrey Astell esq. is an ancient and interesting mansion, and was formerly surrounded by moats, now filled up : it originally belonged to the Fysshe family, and on the extinction of the male branch in 1720, it came through the female line, into the possession of the Fysshe-Palmers, the last member of which family, Lady Madeline Palmer, died in 1840, when it was bought by J. Harvey esq. of Ickwell Bury, in whose family it still remains. A college was founded here, temp. Hen. IV. (1399-1413), as a cell to Marmoutier, for a master, warden and fellows; on its dissolution the revenues were estimated at £61.
BROOK END, 1 mile north-by-east; BUDNA, 1 mile north-west; LOWER CALDECOTE, 2 miles east; Upper CALDECOTE, 1½ miles south-east, on the road from Hitchin to Sandy; HATCH, 1 mile north ; ICKWELL, half a mile south, and THORNCOTE, three-quarters of a mile north, are hamlets.
Under the provisions of the "Divided Parishes Act, 1882," a detached part of Sandy was added to Northill, and a detached part of the latter transferred to the former parish for civil purposes.
[Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
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[Last updated 4 December 2003 Martin Edwards]