Huntingdonshire
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Nearby Places
Nearby churches
Wodehyrst, Wodehurst (xiii cent.).
Woodhurst lies to the north of St. Ives. Some two-thirds of the parish is arable land, the soil being clay. For the greater part the parish is above the 100 ft. contour.
The village is a typical woodland ring-fenced settlement. it lies around what is roughly an oblong formed by two roads - Church Street on the north and South Street on the south, joined at the ends. From the middle of the ends, roads go to Bluntisham and Old Hurst. Probably at one end or the other stood St. John's Cross, of which mention is made in 1545. Around this oblong are farm houses, shops and cottages of the old village. They are, for the most part, of late 19th and early 20th century date as the village was almost entirely destroyed by fire in 1834, but a few 17th century cottages do remain, albeit partially modernised.
The parochial chapel of St John is in the middle of the north side of Church Street, and a lane (called Church Lane) runs southwards from it to South Street. The Manor House (now known as Manor Farm) stands at the north-east corner of the village. It is a large brick house with tiled roofs partially built in the 17th century and completed in the 18th century. A homestead moat north-east of the manor house, called Spinney Moat, may represent the site of the old manor house.
Woodhurst, like Old Hurst, was one of the Hurst hamlets belonging to the Manor of Slepe (now St. Ives).
Monumental Inscriptions from the Parish Churchyard (approximately 93 entries) are available from the Huntingdonshire FHS.
Census information for this parish (1841 - 1891) is held in the Huntingdon Records Office.
The full transcription of the 1841 Census of Woodhurst Parish is available as fiche set C122.
The full transcription of the 1851 Census of Woodhurst Parish is available as fiche set C72.
A surname index of the 1881 Census of the St. Ives Registration District, in which Woodhurst was enumerated (RG11/1606, Folios 97a - 104a), and which took place on 3rd April 1881, is available as fiche set C4.
A full transcription of the 1891 Census of the Somersham sub-District of the St. Ives Registration District (RG12/1239) in which Woodhurst was enumerated, and which took place on 5th April 1891, has also been produced by the Huntingdonshire FHS (as Fiche C-11).
The above metioned fiche are available from the Huntingdonshire FHS.
OS Grid Square TL 316762.
The church of St. John the Baptist consists of a chancel, nave, south aisle
and modern south porch. The walls are of rubble with stone dressings and the
roofs are covered with lead and tiles. The modern chancel is of
brick.
The Domesday survey of 1086 indicates two churches in St. Ives,
one probably being the chapel of Woodhurst, but the oldest parts of the present
building are the nave, built in the late 12th century and the south arcade in
the middle 13th century. The aisle was rebuilt late in the 14th century, the
timber bell-turret is probably early 17th century, and the chancel and south
porch are early 20th century. The church was restored in 1871.
Baptisms: 1682-1851 (indexed), 1813-1905.
Banns: 1759-1815 (indexed),
1755-1816, 1823-1981.
Marriages: 1680/1, 1690-1851 (indexed), 1755-1812,
1837-1963.
Burials: 1690-1812 (indexed).
Bishop's Transcripts:
1604-5, 1607-8, 1612, 1618-19, 1625-7, 1661-8/1683/4, 1687, 1691-1702, 1704-16,
1718, 1720, 1722-28, 1730-44, 1746-51, 1753-9, 1761-4, 1766-9, 1771-82,
1789-1790, 1800, 1802-13/1813-24/1825-57.
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.
Woodhurst was originally in the St. Ives Registration District from 1st July 1837. Subsequently, it was in the Somersham sub-District. From 1st April 1997, it comes directly under the Huntingdon Registration District.
A GENWEB page on Woodhurst is available.
Shirley Firth has many records of Woodhurst both civil and church and is more than happy to answer any enquiries. Email <swallows2@btopenworld.com>
An old map of the parish of Woodhurst in the 19th century is available.
Population in 1801 - 245
Population in 1851 - 533
Population in 1901 -
253
Population in 1951 - 233
Population in 1971 - 258
Population in
1991 - 311.
The parish of Woodhurst was in the St. Ives Union for Poor Law
administration.
Births and deaths registered in the St Ives Union
Workhouse (1836 - 1913) are available, as fiche set D9, from the
Huntingdonshire FHS.
The parish of Woodhurst occupies some 1823 acres of land.
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