Buckden, Huntingdonshire
Historical Description
Buckden, a village and a parish in Huntingdonshire. The village stands 4 miles SW of Huntingdon, and 5 N from St Neots. There is a station of the same name on the M.R. within 1 mile N of the village, and the Offord and Buckden station of the G.N.R. stands a short distance to the E. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Huntingdon. The parish includes also Stirtloe hamlet. Acreage, 3114; population, 1048. The manor was given in the time of Henry I. to the bishops of Lincoln. The residence of the bishops, an ancient, moated, brick structure, was here till 1838, and then authority was given by order in Council to pull it down and apply the proceeds towards the providing of a new palace. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely; gross yearly value, £350 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Peterborough. The church is a handsome edifice of stone in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, south porch, and an embattled western tower with a spire. There are Baptist and Wesleyan chapels, an endowed school, four almshouses, and other charities, £200. Bishop Maltby of Durham was vicar. Stirtloe and Buckden Towers are country seats in this parish.
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 | Buckden St. Mary | |
| Hundred | Toseland | |
| Poor Law union | St. Neots |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from about the year 1559.
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary (parish church)
The church of St. Mary is a handsome edifice of stone, rebuilt in 1430, in the Perpendicular style, and consisting of chancel, clerestoried nave, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower, with pinnacles and an elegant spire, and containing a clock and 5 bells: in the church are monuments to Robert Sanderson D.D. Bishop of Lincoln from 1660, who died January 29, 1662-3, and is buried in the chancel, and to several other Bishops of Lincoln: in 1910 the church was renovated and reseated at a cost of £1,200: there are 380 sittings.
Methodist
Wesleyan chapel
There is a Wesleyan chapel, erected in 1876.
Other
Union chapel
There is a joint Baptist and Congregational 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 Buckden from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Buckden (St. Mary))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Huntindonshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Buckden 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)