Great Staughton Parish page

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Great Staughton

Stocton (x cent.), Tochestone (xi cent.), Stotton, Scotton, Stokton, Magna Stouton (xiii cent.), Stowghton (xv cent.), Moche Stoughton (xvi cent.).

This large parish lies on the borders of Bedfordshire. The banks of the River Kym, which flows through it, are about 80 ft. above sea-level, and the land rises to a little over 200 ft. to the north and south. The soil is chiefly clay with a gravel sub-soil in the south. The parish was mainly woodland down to the 13th century when, it seems from the licences to assart lands, the timber was being cleared. There is still some woodland about Agden and Perry, but the land is mainly arable growing wheat and beans.

The principal part of the village has grown up as a roadside settlement along the main road from St. Neots to Kimbolton. The village street here has been known since the 16th century as Staughton Highway. At the eastern end, the road crosses the River Kym by a bridge which was, in the early 16th century, called "Wrong Bridge". The church, with the early settlement of houses, cottages and a 17th century Inn, is about one-third of a mile to the west of the highway, on a by-road to Pertenhall in Bedfordshire.

The lands to the south of the village apparently belonged to the chief manor - the manor house of which stood in the moated enclosure about a mile south-west of the church. It was later known as Old Manor Farm, which has now been shortened to Manor Farm.

There are a number of hamlets in the parish. To the north-east of the village is the hamlet of Dillington, the manor of which was built by the ubiquitous Engaine family in the 12th century. At West Perry, another hamlet further north-east, was another Manor Farm, which was a moated brick house of the 16th century, which was rebuilt and modernised in the 19th century. This was probably a manor house of one of the co-heirs of Dillington Manor when that was divided into moieties. A further hamlet is at Beachampstead, which included Agden, lying north of the village. The site of the manor house of the Beaufoys may, perhaps, be identified by the homestead moat north-east of Stoughton Green. The house, we are told, was burned and devastated in the middle of the 14th century, and there is no evidence that it was ever rebuilt.

Cemeteries
Census
Church History
Church Records
Civil Registration
Description and Travel

Maps
Population
Poorhouses, Poor Law etc.
Statistics

Cemeteries

Monumental Inscriptions from the parish church of St Andrew (1539-1996), the Old Cemetery (1863-1980), the New Cemetery (1913-1997), the Baptist church (1865-1985) and Perry Baptist church (approximately 549 entries - fiche set M20) are available 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 Staughton is available as fiche set C115.

The full 1851 Census of Great Staughton is available as fiche set C65.

A surname index of the 1881 Census of the St. Neots Registration District, in which Great Staughton (RG11/1612, Folios 65a - 91b), Dillington (Folios 91b - 92b) and Perry (Folios 93a - 96b) were enumerated, and which took place on 3rd April 1881, is available as Fiche C-5.

A full transcription of the 1891 Census of the Kimbolton Registration District (RG12/1243) in which Great Staughton was enumerated, and which took place on 5th April 1891, is available as Fiche C-14.

The above mentioned fiche are available from the Huntingdonshire FHS.

Church History

OS Grid Square TL 124647.

The church of St. Andrew consists of a chancel with north vestry, north chapel, nave, north aisle, south aisle, west tower and south porch. The walls are of stone and pebble rubble except for the tower which is of coursed rubble and stone dressings. The roofs are covered with lead, tiles and slates.

The church is mentioned in the Domeday survey of 1086, but nothing of this early date remains in-situ. At the end of the 13th century, a gradual rebuilding was commenced by piercing three arches in each side wall of the nave; this was quickly followed by an extension of the arcades by two western bays, the building of the aisles and the rebuilding of the chancel. In the 14th century, the south aisle was rebuilt and widened and a porch added, and the north aisle was also partly rebuilt.

In the latter half of the 15th century, a considerable reconstruction took place. The nave arcades were rebuilt using much old materials, a rood staircase was formed, and a clearstory added; the chancel arch and east wall of the chancel was also rebuilt. Somewhat later, a chapel, known as the Gaynes Chapel, was erected on the north side of the chancel, and the west tower was built. The vestry was built in 1526.

In 1636, the church was said to be 'much ruinated' and a large sum was spent on its repairs. Considerable additional repairs were effected in 1848-50, and a complete restoration took place in 1866.

Church Records

Baptisms: 1541-1837 (indexed transcription), 1813-1838, 1839-1896.
Banns: 1754-1796 (indexed transcription).
Marriages: 1541-1837 (indexed transcription), 1813-1843, 1837-1893.
Burials: 1540-1837 (indexed transcription), 1813-1852.
Bishop's Transcripts: 1604-5, 1608-11, 1617-19, 1625, 1627, 1631-1680, 1683-8, 1691-1701, 1704-5, 1707-9, 1711-16, 1718, 1720, 1722-31, 1734-56/1757-84, 1786-1813/1813-21, 1823/4-1825-35.

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: 21 July 2005 - Martin Edwards]