Gretton, Northamptonshire
Historical Description
Gretton, a village and a parish in Northamptonshire. The village stands near the river Welland and the boundary with Rutland, with a station on the M.R., and 4½ miles SE by S from Uppingham, and has a post and money order office under Rettering; telegraph office, Eockingham. The parish comprises 3878 acres; population, 802. The Earl of Winchelsea is lord of the manor and chief landowner, Rirby Hall, built by the Hattons in the time of Elizabeth, was a large and beautiful mansion, but is now in ruins. Many Roman and early mediaeval coins have been found. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Peterborough; net yearly value, £421 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Peterborough. The church was rebuilt in 1868, and is in the Norman and Perpendicular styles. There are a Baptist chapel, and charities £12.
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 | Gretton St. James | |
Hundred | Corby | |
Poor Law union | Uppingham |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1558.
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. James (parish church)
The church of St. James is a building of stone, in the Norman and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel, clerestoried nave of four bays, aisles, transepts, south porch and a lofty western tower containing 5 bells and a clock bell in an open turret on the tower; a new clock was given by Mrs. Gibbon, of Gretton House, in 1897: in the vaults under the chancel are some very large stone coffins, and in the chancel are various monuments to the family of Hatton, Barons Hatton, of Kirby, and Viscounts Hatton, of Gretton: in 1894 the roofs of the nave, south transept and side aisles were thoroughly restored in oak covered with lead, and the tracery of the clerestory and other windows restored at a total cost of about £1,000: there are sittings for 500 persons: the seats in the north transept were formerly appropriated to the parish of Duddington, 6 miles distant.
Baptist
Baptist chapel
There is a Baptist chapel, founded in 1786, with sittings for 320 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 Gretton from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Gretton (St. James))
- 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 Gretton 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: