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Fenny Drayton, Leicestershire

Historical Description

Fenny Drayton, a village and a parish in Leicestershire, 3½ miles E by S from Nuneaton station on the L. & N.W.R., and 6 SW of Market Bosworth, with a post office under Nuneaton; money order and telegraph office, Atherstone. Acreage, 1174; population, 116. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Peterborough; net value, £275 with residence. The church is an ancient building of stone in the Early English style. Fenny Stratford, a parish and small market-town in Bucks, 6 miles S from Newport-Pagnell. The town has a, station on the L. & N.W.R., and a post, money order, and telegraph office under Bletchley station. It has a market for cattle every alternate Thursday, and fairs on 19 April and 11 Oct. The Grand Junction Canal and river Ouzel pass-through it, and a fair trade in bricks and tiles is carried on. A large trade in timber is carried on, and the town has now an excellent supply of water. There is a weekly newspaper published here, and the town is the head of a petty sessional division. Acreage, 1040; population, 2614. Bletchley Park is a chief residence. The living is a vicarage in the-diocese of Oxford; net value, £97. The church is a building of brick and stone in a debased Gothic style, erected in 1724-30, and enlarged in 1823, and again in 1866. Ther& are a church mission-room, a Baptist, two Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels, and a Salvation Army barracks.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Ancient CountyLeicestershire 
Ecclesiastical parishFenny Drayton St. Michael 
HundredSparkenhoe 
Poor Law unionAtherstone 

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.


Church Records

The parish register dates from the year 1709, but earlier entries have been published from the transcripts.

Findmypast, in association with the Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland, have the following parish records online for Fenny Drayton:

BaptismsBannsMarriagesBurials
1709-1916 1712-19311709-1991

Churches

Church of England

St. Michael (parish church)

The church of St. Michael is all ancient building of stone in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, south porch and all embattled western tower with spire, containing 5 bells, presented in 1684 End recast in 1710, two recast and one added in 1907: the aisles are separated from the nave by arcades of three bays on the south side and two on the north: in 1860 the church was thoroughly restored, the old pews taken away and open seats substituted, and the roof raised in pitch and a new chancel arch erected: in the south aisle is a piscina niche and hagioscope: the east window is stained: in the north aisle is a monument to George Purefoy, dated 1628; under a handsome canopy is a recumbent figure of a knight in armour, and above are figures of two females kneeling; there are also tablets in memory of William Purefoy, dated 1624, and to Samuel Bracebridge: the south aisle contains a marble tomb to Nicholas and Jane Purefoy, dated 1545; in the chancel are those of George and Elizabeth Puretoy, who died 1593, and Edward Purefoy, who died 1594: the communion plate includes a Whitgift chalice, a relic of great historical interest, presented in the year 1596: the font in which George Fox was baptised has been recovered and replaced in the church: there are 120 sittings.


Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.


Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Fenny Drayton from the following:


Land and Property

A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Leicestershire is online.


Maps

Online maps of Fenny Drayton are available from a number of sites:


Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Leicestershire newspapers online:

DistrictHinckley and Bosworth
CountyLeicestershire
RegionEast Midlands
CountryEngland
Postal districtCV13
Post TownNuneaton

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