Bedfordshire 
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Nearby Places
Nearby churches
SOUTHILL is a considerable village and parish, about a mile to the west of the Great North road, and has a station 1¾ miles west from the village, on the Bedford and Hitchin branch of the Midland railway, 8 miles south-east from Bedford, 3½ south-south-west from Biggleswade, 8 north from Hitchin and 2½ north from Shefford, in the Northern division of the county, hundred of Wixamtree, Biggleswade petty sessional division, union and county court district, rural deanery of Shefford, archdeaconry of Bedford and diocese of Ely.
The soil is part gravel and part clay ; subsoil, principally clay. The chief crops are wheat, barley, beans and turnips. The area is 5,674 acres of land and 60 of water; rateable value, £5,988 ; the population of the united places in 1891 was 1,143.
Broom about 2¾ miles north-east, Ireland about 1 west and Stanford 1½ south are hamlets.
[Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
The 1851 Census Index for Southill can be found in the 1851 Index to Census of Bedfordshire, Volume 3, Book 5 available from the Bedfordshire Family History Society.
Church of England
The church of All Saints is an ancient structure of brick in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, north and south aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower containing 6 bells and a clock: there are several monuments of the Byng family, among which are those of the celebrated Admiral Sir George Byng, first Viscount Torrington, 1733, and of his son, the unfortunate Vice-Admiral the Hon. John Byng, who for an error in judgment, while in command, was shot at Portsmouth, 14 March 1757: there are sittings for 400 persons. The register dates from the year 1538.
[Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
Non-conformist
The Baptist chapel here was built in 1805. The Assembly room at Broom was erected in 1896, and will seat 250 persons; divine service is held here on Sunday evenings.
[Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
Church of England
The parish record transcripts for All Saints, are available on microfiche for the period 1538-1812 from the Bedfordshire Family History Society.
The charities, amounting to £34 yearly, were left by John Maynard of this parish, and are given away in coins to the poor, generally before Christmas. Southill Park, formerly the property of Lord Torrington, is now the seat of Samuel Whitbread esq. D.L., J.P.; the house is a stately mansion of stone, and the park, which is thickly studded with fine oak, elm, cedar, spruce and other trees, is 807 acres in extent and contains a large sheet of water; the gardens and shrubberies are tastefully laid out. Broom Hall, the residence of Rupert Oswald Fordham esq. is pleasantly situated 1½ miles south-west from Biggleswade; the park and shrubberles consist of about 50 acres. At Stanford Bury some fine specimens of Roman glass have been found, and here, it is supposed, was formerly a Roman encampment. Samuel Whitbread esq. who is lord of the manor, and Major Frank Shuttleworth of Old Warden Park, are the principal landowners.
[Extracts from Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
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[Last updated 16 March 2003 Martin Edwards]