Great Gidding, Huntingdonshire
Historical Description
Gidding, Great, a village and a parish in Huntingdonshire, on Alconbury brook, adjacent to Northamptonshire, 6 miles SW by S of Stilton, and 5½ SW of Holrne station on the G.N.R., with a post office under Peterboro'; money order and telegraph office, Sawtry. Acreage, 2348; population, 445. The manor belonged formerly to the Eugaines and to the Earls of Rockingham, and belongs now to G. C. Wont-worth Fitzwilliam, Esq., J.P. The living is a vicarage, consolidated in 1875 with that of Little Gidding; joint net yearly value, £230 with residence. The church, a building in the Early English style, was restored in 1870. There are Baptist and Wesleyan chapels, and there is a school supported by the Fitzwilliam family. In the village are the kennels of the Fitzwilliam Hunt.
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 | Gidding St.Michael | |
| Hundred | Leightonstone | |
| Poor Law union | Oundle |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register of baptisms dates from the year 1579; marriages, 1564; burials, 1572.
Churches
Church of England
St. Michael (parish church)
The church of St. Michael is a building in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, clerestoried nave, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower, with lofty spire, containing 5 bells: the stained east window was erected in 1869 by R. B. Hatfield M.D. in memory of the Hatfield family, and there are three other stained windows: the church retains a curious holy water stoup resembling a Norman capital: the church was restored in 1870, at a cost of about £1,885, raised by subscription: there are 250 sittings.
Baptist
Baptist chapel
There is a Baptist chapel.
Methodist
Wesleyan chapel
There is a Wesleyan chapel.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Great Gidding from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Gidding, Great (St.Michael))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Huntindonshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Great Gidding 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)