Huntingdonshire
Contents
Nearby Places
Nearby churches
Covintune (xi cent.), Kuvuntone (xiii cent.).
The small parish of Covington is located two and a half miles west of Kimbolton. The road from Higham Ferrers to Kimbolton forms the boundary between the parish and Dean in Bedfordshire; the Three Shires Stone is placed on this road where the old county boundaries of Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire and Northamptonshire meet half a mile west of the village. The parish lies on light clay soil with a sub-soil of clay, and consists of half arable land and half pasture. The ground is undulating rising from the River Till in the south of the parish, where it is about 140 ft. above sea-level, to about 260 ft. north of the village where it falls again to the north.
The village lies a little to the north of the road to Kimbolton on a by-road to Keyston. At the western side is the church of All Saints (which has also, at times, been unofficially dedicated to St Margaret and All Saints, as well as to St. Margaret alone). Covington Hall stands to the east of the village. There are one or two timber-framed and thatched cottages and the Red Cow Inn. To the south of the church is a moat, which probably marks the site of the Bayeux Manor of the 12th century, and there is another to the north of the village where, possibly, the Bovetune family had their dwelling. The rectory lies to the north of the village, and to the south of this is a spring.
Local place names in 1614 include: Bradgate, Leyes, Hassells, Hunts Hills, Cotton Hills, Depslade, the Town Greene, Long Lane, Longeleyes, Farthings, the Great Grove (near the street), and the Severall.
Monumental Inscriptions from the Parish Churchyard (approximately 78 entries - fiche set M12) are available from the Huntingdonshire FHS.
Census information for this parish (1841 - 1891) is held in the Huntingdon Records Office.
The full 1841 Census of Covington Parish is available as fiche set C87.
The full 1851 Census of Covington Parish is available as fiche set C37.
A surname index of the 1881 Census of the Thrapston Registration District of Northamptonshire, in which Covington was enumerated (RG11/1582, Folios 83b - 88a), and which took place on 3rd April 1881, is available as Fiche C1.
A full transcription of the 1891 Census of the Huntingdonshire (Miscellaneous Parishes) Registration District (Sub-Districts of Thrapston (NTH), Oundle (NTH), Stamford (LIN) and Caxton (CAM)) in which Covington was enumerated, and which took place on 5th April 1891, is available as fiche set C16.
The above mentioned fiche are available from the Huntingdonshire FHS.
OS Grid Square TL 054707.
The church of All Saints
consists of a chancel, organ chamber and vestry on the north, nave, west tower
and south porch. the walls are of rubble with stone dressings, and the roofs
are covered with tiles and lead.
The church is not mentioned in the
Domesday survey of 1086 but, by the end of the 12th century, a
stone church with an aisle-less nave was standing on this
present site and, of this church, the nave remains. The chancel
was built around 1300, and a little later a chapel was built on
the south side of the nave. The tower was probably first built
around 1330, but was considerably altered around 1500. An
ancient local tradition asserts that the tower once had a spire,
and some spire stones were certainly found built into two of the
nave buttresses in 1883. The spire may, however, have been
pulled down in the 1500 alteration work.
The south chapel
was pulled down at some unknown date and one of its widows was
inserted into the blocking of the arch to the nave. The church
was much restored in 1882-3 when all the roofs were renewed, the
south porch rebuilt, and the organ chamber and vestry added. The
south wall of the chancel was rebuilt in 1911.
Baptisms: 1604-1629, 1649-1851 (both indexed transcriptions),
1813-1985.
Banns: 1653-1657, 1668-1718, 1756-1851 (all three
are indexed transcriptions), 1824-1985.
Marriages: 1604-1629,
1653-1851 (both indexed transcriptions).
Burials: 1604-1629,
1653-1851 (both indexed transcriptions), 1813-1985.
Bishop's
Transcripts: 1604-29 (indexed transcription), 1604-6, 1608-9,
1610-11, 1612, 1614, 1617-19, 1629, 1660-9/1672-7, 1680, 1683,
1685-8, 1690-5, 1700, 1702, 1704-7, 1709-11, 1713-28, 1730-1813,
1813-25/1836-1831, 1837-55, 1857-8.
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.
Covington 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 Kimbolton sub-District. It is now part of the Huntingdon District.
A GENWEB page on Covington is available. Further pictures and information on Covington in current times are also available.
An old map of the parish of Covington in the 19th century is available.
The war memorial with detailed information about those who fell is available on the Roll of Honour site for Huntingdonshire.
Population in 1801 - 104.
Population in 1851 -
162.
Population in 1901 - 100.
Population in 1951 -
90.
Population in 1971 - 92.
Population in 1991 - 83.
The parish of Covington was in the Thrapston Union of Northamptonshire for Poor Law administration.
The parish of Covington occupies 1294 acres of land.
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