Great Paxton Parish Page

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Great Paxton

Parchestune, Pachstone (xi cent.), Pacstonia, Paxton (xii cent.), Magna Paxton, Much Paxton (xvi cent.). Whilst the origin of the name has never satisfactorily been explained, one thing seems certain, the place name is the oldest in Anglo-Saxon England and may date from the 6th or 7th century. The 'Great' part of the name was added when the less important 'Little' Paxton came into existence; the differentiation first occurring in documents of the 12th and 13th centuries but doubtless had been in use for several centuries before.

Great Paxton parish is low-lying, with the River Ouse forming its western, and the Gallows Brook forming its southern, boundary. It has never been a large village, but lies in a secluded valley on the east bank of the River Ouse, along the ancient road from Godmanchester to St. Neots. It was probably first settled by invaders of Saxon stock coming up the river from the Wash, as were most of the other local riverside villages. The site chosen is almost surrounded by low hills and was once densely wooded which formed a natural protection.

The original settlement was nearer the river than now and stood a short distance west of Manor Farm where a large number of Saxon coins, skeletons and pottery were found when the railway line was being constructed. At some later period, the inhabitants moved to higher ground and formed a Green at the north end of the present High Street, around which the houses were built. Later still, two outlying hamlets came into being: one at Little Paxton across the river to the west, and the other at Toseland about two miles to the east. They both represented an expansion of the settlement but why they were established so far from the mother village is hard to explain. There was once a ferry across the Ouse to Little Paxton, called the Wrayhouse Ferry, and this was in the south-west of the parish. Whilst a trackway, now known as Adams Lane led to Toseland. Both these hamlets were chapelries of Great Paxton, eventually becoming parishes in their own right and obtaining ecclesiastical independence.

The sub-soil of the parish is chiefly Oxford clay and the soil is clay, growing wheat, barley and root crops. The railway main line from London to the north crosses the parish and runs parallel with the river. The Towgood family were great benefactors and employers in the area. There are some interesting 17th century timber-framed cottages in Adams Lane and London Lane; names which go back to the 16th century.

College Farm in the west of the parish takes its name from St. John's College in Cambridge which purchased the land in Great Paxton in the 16th century at the same time that the manor was bought. The parish was inclosed by a private Act of Parliament in 1811, which completely changed the appearance of the surrounding contryside. The 3 great 'open fields' system which had existed from the foundation of the village were now divided into the numerous and much smaller 'fields' which we see today. The baulks, furlongs and headlands disappeared and the new fields were hedged and ditched and the present road system came into being. Both Little Paxton and Toseland and were originally part of the same ecclesiastical parish, although they separated for civil purposes.

Both Neolithic surface implements and a few Romano-british finds have also been discovered in the parish.

Cemeteries
Census
Church History
Church Records
Civil Registration
Description and Travel

Maps
Military History
Population
Poorhouses, Poor Law etc.
Statistics

Cemeteries

Monumental Inscriptions from the Parish Churchyard (1756 to 1997) are available, as fiche set M32, from the Huntingdonshire FHS.

Census

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

The full 1841 Census of Great Paxton Parish is available as fiche set C107.

The full 1851 Census of Great Paxton Parish is available as fiche set C57.

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

A surname index of the 1881 Census of the St. Neots Registration District, in which Great Paxton was enumerated (RG11/1611, Folios 46a - 51b), 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 210642.

Acknowledgement is gven to the work of Philip G M Dickinson F.S.A., F.R.Hist.S. in adding to the history of Great Paxton and its church.

The Minster church of Great Paxton is one of the most interesting and remarkable of the larger late Saxon churches remaining in England, but is comparitavely unknown because it has not received the publicity that other Saxon churches have. Until recently, its true status was unknown, but research undertaken for a visit of the Royal Archaelogical Instititute in 1967 clearly established that it belonged to a Minster founded late in the pre-conquest era.

The ecclesiastical organisation of 1000 years ago was very differerent from that of today; then there were no parishes as we now recognise them. The conversion of England to christianity for a long time was based on missionary activity which, at a later period, came under the control of certain 'central' churches to which the name 'Minster' was given. The church at Great Paxton was one of these Minster churches, and is dedicated to the Holy Trinity.

The church building consists of a chancel, nave, north aisle, south aisle, west tower, a modern vestry at the west end of the north aisle, and a south porch. The walls are of rubble with stone dressings, and the roofs are covered with tiles, slates and lead.

The church is mentioned in the Domesday survey of 1086, and of this building the piers of a central tower and two and a half bays of the north and south arcades still remain. Originally the nave must have had four bays as evidenced by the position of the porch, and these probably remained until the west tower was built. Meanwhile, the chancel had been rebuilt towards the end of the 13th century, and some 50 years later a south porch was built.

Late in the 14th century much reconstruction took place. the western bays of the nave were taken down and a sturdy tower built in their place. The central tower (recording the Minster status) probably disappeared at this time, and certainly the east and south arches of the crossing were reformed. In the following century, both aisles were rebuilt, buttresses were added to the chancel and a new east window inserted; somewhat later still, new side windows were put in.

The church was completely restored in 1880, when the vestry was added.

Excavations in August 1971 unexpecedly found the original Saxon foundations to be intact and standing to a height of three feet.

Church Records

Baptisms: 1583-1662 (indexed transcription), 1589-1598 (original register which was subsequently used for parish officers' accounts), 1583-1702 (including transcriptions from parish officers' accounts), 1702/3-1807, 1807-1812, 1813-1887.
Banns: c1754?-1767, 1823-1884.
Marriages: 1589-1598 (including transcriptions from parish officers' accounts), 1583-1702, (Toseland 1674-1706 are included), 1703-1753, 1754-1812, 1814-1837, 1838-1901, 1902-1934, 1934-1938, 1939-1972.
Burials: 1589-1598 (including transcriptions from parish officers' accounts), 1583-1701/2, (Toseland 1674-1706 are included), 1702-1807, 1807-1812.
Bishop's Transcripts: 1604-5, 1608, 1610, 1612, 1617-19, 1625, 1627, 1629, 1661-73/1675, 1677-87, 1690-6, 1698-1702, 1704-16, 1718, 1720, 1722-51, 1753-5, 1757-66, 1768-94, 1796-1812/1813-14, 1816-24/1825-1842, 1844-57.

BT entries for Toseland parish are included in the above: 1751, 1753, 1755, 1757-64.

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.

[Last updated: 9 August 2007 - Martin Edwards]