Huntingdonshire
Contents
Nearby Places
Nearby churches
Bierne (xi-xiv cent.), Bytherne (xii-xv cent.), Byerne (xiii cent.), Bithorne (xiii-xvi cent.). Bythorn was originally a chapelry in Broughton ancient parish.
The parish of Bythorn lies on clay land on the Northamptonshire border; wheat, barley, oats and beans are grown but much of the parish is pasture. A stream runs from west to east through the middle of the parish where the land is about 120 ft. above sea-level; it is liable to floods. The land rises rises in the north on the Northamptonshire boundary to about 250 ft. and to the south at Mickle Hill where it reaches about 234 ft.
The village stands on ground rising from the stream, and mainly on the north side of the road from Thrapston to Huntingdon where it is crossed by by-roads called Clack Lane (from the south) and Warren Lane (from the north). The church is in the middle of the village surrounded by farms and cottages, one or two of which date from the 17th century. The Baptist Chapel to the north-east of the church was built in 1809.
There was once a windmill on the south side of the road to Huntingdon, about a quarter of a mile from the village, but this was destroyed in the early part of the 20th century.
The civil parish of Bythorn was abolished in 1935 to help create Bythorn and Keyston civil parish. Ecclesiastically, it was part of Broughton with Bythorn and Old Weston; it was severed in 1936 to help create Bythorn and Keyston ecclesiastical parish. In 1965, part was transferred to Titchmarsh parish in Northamptonshire.
Monumental inscriptions for this parish have not yet been recorded by the Huntingdonshire FHS.
Census information for this parish (1841 - 1891) is held in the Huntingdon Records Office.
The full 1841 Census of Bythorn Parish is available as fiche set C102.
The full 1851 Census of Bythorn Parish is available as fiche set C52.
A surname index of the 1881 Census of the Thrapston Registration District of Northamptonshire, in which Bythorn was enumerated (RG11/1583, Folios 4a - 9b), and which took place on 3rd April 1881, is available as Fiche C1.
A full transcription of the 1891 Census of Bythorn, which took place on 5th April 1891, is available as fiche set C16.
The abovce mentionmed fiche are available from the Huntingdonshire FHS.
OS Grid Square TL 057759.
The church of St. Lawrence consists of a chancel with north
chapel, nave, north aisle, south aisle, west tower and south
porch. The walls are partly of ashlar and partly of coursed
rubble with stone dressings, and the roofs are covered with lead
and slates.
The church is not mentioned in the Domesday
survey of 1086, but there was evidently a stone church on the
site in the 12th century, some of the stones of which are built
into the existing walls. The nave was probably rebuilt towards
the end of the 13th century when a north aisle was added but,
notwithstanding the presence of a 13th century piscina, it is
doubtful whether the chancel was rebuilt at this time. Early in
the next century, a south aisle was added and, about 1345, the
chancel was rebuilt and widened to the south; the tower and
porch were added at this time and the north aisle rebuilt. The
clearstory was built in the 15th century, and the north chapel
was built early in the 16th century.
The tower and spire
were repaired in 1853. The church was largely rebuilt in 1870
and the chancel much restored in 1874. Some further repairs to
the tower and the west end of the south aisle were undertaken in
1907.
Baptisms: 1561-1900 (indexed), 1571-1642/3, 1640/1-1684,
1683/4-1777, 1777-1778, 1775-1812, 1813-1960.
Banns:
1754-1811 (indexed).
Marriages: 1560-1812 (indexed),
1560-1642, 1640-1676/7, 1707, 1716/17-1727, 1742-1754,
1754-1811, 1813-1836, 1837-1956.
Burials: 1561-1818
(indexed), 1560-1642, 1640-1684, 1684-1777, 1777-1778,
1777-1812.
Bishop's Transcripts: 1604-5, 1608-10, 1612,
1617-19, 1626, 1632, 1660-9, 1670-1/1682-8, (1672-76), 1691,
1695, 1697, 1699-1702, 1704, 1706-7, 1709-10, 1712, 1714-18,
1722-32, 1734-5, 1738-41, 1743-51, 1753-67, 1773-74,
1777-1813/1813-24/1825-58.
These are available in the Huntingdon Records Office.
The Huntingdonshire Marriage Indexes include marriages from this parish. These are, at present, issued in alphabetical listings in series: 1601-1700, and 1701-1754, and are available from the Huntingdonshire FHS.
Bythorn was in the Thrapston Registration District of Northamptonshire from 1st July 1837, but it subsequently came under the Raunds sub-District of Thrapston. In 1935, the parish was transferred to the Spaldwick sub-District. It is now part of the Huntingdon District.
An old map of the parish of Bythorn in the 19th century is available.
Population in 1801 - 269.
Population in 1851 -
294.
Population in 1901 - 108.
Population in 1951 -
268.
Population in 1971 - 259.
Population in 1991 -
254.
The parish of Bythorn was in the Thrapston Union of Northamptonshire for Poor Law administration.
The parish of Bythorn occupies 1570 acres of land. It measures 3 miles in length from north to south, and from half a mile to one mile in width.
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