Diddington Parish Page

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Diddington

Dodintone (xi ent.), Doditone, Dodington, Dudington (xiii cent.), Dydyngton (xiv cent.).

The parish of Diddington is located to the south of Buckden. The soil is loam and the sub-soil mainly Oxford clay. The land rises westwards from the River Ouse.

The village street lies just off the east side of the old main road from St Neots to Huntingdon, and the whole modern village is to the east of the modern A1 dual-carriageway. The village contains several 17th cent. timber-framed cottages. Diddington Brook, which runs into the Ouse, rises near Long Stowe. The parish was inclosed by a private Act of Parliament in 1797.

Cemeteries
Census
Church History
Church Records
Civil Registration

Maps
Military History
Population
Poorhouses, Poor Law etc.
Statistics

Cemeteries

The monumental inscriptions of Diddington parish have not yet been published by the Huntingdonshire FHS.

Census

Census information for this parish (1841 - 1891) is held in the Huntingdon Records Office.

The full 1841 Census of Diddington Parish is available as fiche set C108.

The full 1851 Census of Diddington Parish is available as fiche set C58.

The full 1891 Census of Diddington Parish is available as fiche set C13.

A surname index of the 1881 Census of the St. Neots Registration District, in which Diddington was enumerated (RG11/1611, Folios 90a - 94a, and 105a), and which took place on 3rd April 1881, is available as Fiche set C5.

The above mentioned fiche are available from the Huntingdonshire FHS.

Church History

OS Grid Square TL 190660.

The church of St Lawrence consists of a chancel with a modern north vestry, nave, north aisle, south chapel, west tower and south porch. The oldest part of the walls are of stone rubble mostly plastered. The tower is of red bricks with stone dressing, the south porch is also of red bricks plastered over and the east wall and chancel is of yellow brick. The roofs are of lead, tiles and slates.

Although mentioned in the Domesday survey of 1086, the nucleus of the present church is the chancel and nave which are of the first half of the 13th cent., to which a north aisle was added in 1275. The church was much altered around 1500 when a new south chapel was built, the clearstory was added and the north aisle remodelled with larger windows. Slightly later the tower was built, together with the western angles of the nave, the western bay of the north aisle being pulled down. The south porch is later still and in the 17th cent. The chancel was shortened and a yellow brick east wall was built. The vestry was added in about 1865 when the chancel was restored and reroofed.

The church existed in 1086 when it belonged to the Bishop of Lincoln's manor. Before 1279, John Littlebury presented the advowson to Walter de Merton who, in turn, gave it to his college at Oxford. It was before this that the vicarage was ordained. The advowson of the vicarage still belongs to Merton College, Oxford.

Church Records

Baptisms: 1688/9-1809, 1809-1812, 1813-1956.
Banns: 1813-1836, 1824-1956.
Marriages: 1699-1809, 1755-1812, 1813-1836, 1837-1959 (photocopies).
Burials: 1697-1809, 1809-1812, 1813-1965.

Bishop's Transcripts: 1604-5, 1607-8, 1618-19, 1625-7, 1660-1670, 1673/1674-7, 1679-80, 1686, 1688, 1690, 1692, 1696, 1701-2, 1704, 1706-11, 1713-16, 1718, 1720, 1723-34, 1736-52/1754-84, 1789-1813/1813-24/1825-35, 1837-9, 1841-57.

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.

Diddington Parish Registers (baptisms (1604 - 1956), marriages and burials (1604-1965)), are available as fiche set D-49 from the Huntingdonshire FHS.