Bozeat, Northamptonshire
Historical Description
Bozeat, a parish in Northamptonshire, on the verge of the county, 4 miles SE by E of Castle-Ashby station on the L. & N.W.R., and 6¼ S of Wellingborough, under which it has a post, money order, and telegraph office. Acreage, 2605; population of the civil parish, 1273; of the ecclesiastical, including Strixton, 1334. The living is a vicarage, united with the rectory of Strixton, in the diocese of Peterborough; net value, £191 with residence. Patron, Earl Spencer. The church is good, and there are also Baptist, Wesleyan, and Wesleyan Reform 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 | Bozeat St. Mary | |
| Hundred | Higham-Ferrers | |
| Poor Law union | Wellingborough |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Cemeteries
A cemetery of 1 acre was formed in 1903, at a cost of £600, and contains a mortuary chapel
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1729 only; the earlier registers, together with those of Strixton, were destroyed by fire on the 9th September in that year.
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. Mary (parish church)
The church of St. Mary is an edifice of stone consisting of chancel, clerestoried nave of three bays, aisles, south porch and a Western tower of Norman date, with an octagonal broach spire, and containing a clock and 5 bells: the chancel is divided from the nave by a Late Decorated oak screen, formerly painted with a representation of the "Adoration of the Magi," one panel of which is still preserved at the vicarage: on the eastern wall is a painting of a monk: the rood loft stairs remain on the north side of the chancel arch: the side windows of the chancel are Perpendicular: the stained east window, a Decorated work, is a memorial to the only son of Thomas Bevis, esq.: on the south side of the chancel is a double piscina, and at the east end of the aisles are brackets, canopies and piscinæ: the south porch is Perpendicular, but the doorway is Early English: the chancel was restored chiefly at the cost of the Rev. F. J. Pizey, a former vicar, in 1873-5, when a new organ was placed at a cost of about £200: in 1883 the tower and spire were rebuilt, the oldest bell recast, the whole peal rehung, and the clock repaired, at a cost of £1,000: during the removal of a quantity of rubbish on the south side of the tower in 1883, the remains of a body were discovered about 12 inches underground, with the head facing eastwards; the spot is now marked by a red brick cross: the roof was restored in 1898 at a cost of £500: the communion plate dates from 1696: there are 300 sittings.
Baptist
Baptist chapel
The Baptist chapel was erected in 1844, with 50 sittings.
Methodist
Independent Wesleyan chapel
The Independent Wesleyan chapel, erected in 1892, has about 100 sittings.
Wesleyan chapel
The Wesleyan chapel, erected in 1877, will seat 350 persons.
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 Bozeat from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Bozeat (St. Mary))
- 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.
Maps
Online maps of Bozeat are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Northamptonshire papers online: