Eye, Northamptonshire
Historical Description
Eye, a village and a parish in Northamptonshire, adjacent to Gats Water, and to the Peterborough and Wisbeach, section of the M.R., 3½ miles NE from Peterborough. There is a post and money order office under Peterborough, and a railway station, at which there is a telegraph office. Acreage, 2711; population, 1237. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Peterborough; gross value, £350, in the gift of the Bishop of Peterborough. The church was rebuilt in 184:6, and has a lofty spire built in 1857. There aie Primitive Methodist and Free Methodist chapels.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Northamptonshire | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Eye St. Matthew | |
Liberty | soke of Peterborough | |
Poor Law union | Peterborough |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register commences in 1543, and with the exception of a few years during the period of the civil war is complete and in excellent preservation.
Ancestry.co.uk, in association with the Northamptonshire Record Office, have images of the Parish Registers and Bishop's Transcripts for Northamptonshire online.
Churches
Church of England
St. Matthew (parish church)
The church of St. Matthew, partly erected in 1846 on the site of the old church, and completed in 1857, is a building of stone in the Gothic style, consisting of chancel, nave, transepts and a western tower with spire 140 feet in height and containing a clock and 2 bells: the tower and spire were added in 1857 from designs by the late Mr. Basevi: the 14th century font and a piscina (now built into the south wall of the sanctuary) belonged to the original church: the stained east window was presented by Miss Moore, and two other windows by Mr. Daniel Griffin of this parish; in the south transept is a memorial window to Major John Beecroft J.P. erected in 1889, and there are others to the Hanger and Harboard families, to Miss Moore and Mr. Little: in 1900 the church was thoroughly restored and the spire (damaged by lightning) repaired, the interior was likewise renovated, and the total cost amounted to about £350: the church affords about 500 sittings.
Methodist
Primitive Methodist chapel
There is a Primitive Methodist chapel.
United Methodist chapel
There is a United Methodist chapel.
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 Eye from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Eye (St. Matthew))
- Kelly's Directory of Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Northamptonshire, 1914
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Northamptonshire is available to browse.
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Northamptonshire papers online: