Isham

"ISHAM, a parish in the hundred of Orlingbury, county Northampton, 4 miles S.E. of Kettering and 4 N.E. of Wellingborough, its post town. It is a station on the Midland railway. The village is situated on a branch of the river Nen, and formerly belonged to the Ishams of Lamport. Many of the inhabitants are employed in the woollen mills. The tithes were commuted under an Enclosure Act obtained in 1778. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Peterborough, value £371, in the patronage of the bishop. It was formerly divided into two moieties, inferior and superior, each valued in the King's Books at £7 10s., but was consolidated into one benefice by an order in council, dated August 21st, 1841. The church, dedicated to St. Peter, is an ancient structure, with a tower containing a clock and four bells. The parochial charities produce about £34 a year, arising from land. There is a chapel for Wesleyans, also a National school for both sexes. The Hon. E. S. Perry is lord of the manor." [Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868 by Colin Hinson ©2010]