Alwalton, Huntingdonshire
Historical Description
Alwalton, a village and a parish in Huntingdonshire, on the river Nen, 2 miles SW of Overton station on the L. & N.W.R., and 5 WSW of Peterborough, under which there is a post office; money order and telegraph office, New Flitton. Acreage, 974; population, 286. It contains the mansion of Alwalton Hall, the seat of the Fitzwilliam family. The manor was given anciently to the monks of Peterborough, and transferred by Henry VIII. to the Dean and Chapter of Peterborough. It now belongs to the Fitzwilliam family, who exchanged another parish for this in 1868. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely; gross yearly value, £150 with residence. The church is partly Norman. There is also a Wesleyan chapel.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Huntingdonshire | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Alwalton St. Andrew | |
| Hundred | Normancross | |
| Poor Law union | Peterborough |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The earliest register dates from the year 1572; the earlier pages are much defaced, and the portion from 1681 to 1697 is lost.
Churches
Church of England
St. Andrew (parish church)
The church of St. Andrew is a cruciform structure of rubble with Barnack stone dressings, in the Norman, Early English and Decorated styles, with Perpendicular insertions, the earlier portions being combined in a most singular manner: it consists of lofty chancel, clerestoried nave, narrow aisle, south porch and a low western embattled tower with turret, containing 5 bells: the earliest portion of the structure is the north arcade, which has four semicircular arches on round piers, the bases and capitals being considerably advanced in the Early English style, the architrave and dripstone being Norman: the south doorway, which is enriched with zigzag mouldings, exhibits a similar curious intermixture of styles: the tower is Transition Norman, the belfry stage being arcaded, but the battlements are a later addition: the chancel and transepts are mostly of Early Decorated character; the former retains a double piscina and three plain sedilia of Early English date, and has a low side window on each side: the font is also Early English: much of the building was modernized and the whole new roofed in 1840, when sone inferior details were introduced: a beam in the belfry bears the date 1674, and two of the bells are earlier than this: the church was restored in 1903, and affords 150 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 Alwalton from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Alwalton (St. Andrew))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Huntindonshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Alwalton 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)