Hemingford Abbots, Huntingdonshire
Historical Description
Hemingford Abbots, a village and a parish in Huntingdonshire. The village stands on the river Ouse, 2½ miles W from St Ives, and 3 E from Huntingdon. St Ives is the nearest railway station. There is a post office under St Ives; money order and telegraph office, Hemingford Grey. The parish comprises 2421 acres; population, 354. The manor was given, in the time of Canute, by Bishop Ethelric to Ramsey Abbey; and went, after the dissolution, to the Pages and the Barnards. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely; net yearly value, £350. The church is an ancient building in the Early English and Perpendicular styles, and contains a tomb of one of the abbots of the Benedictine abbey of Ramsey. Hemingford House is a mansion of white brick, standing in a fine park of 120 acres.
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 | Hemingford Abbots St. Margaret | |
Hundred | Toseland | |
Poor Law union | St. Ives |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1693.
Churches
Church of England
St. Margaret (parish church)
The church of St. Margaret is an ancient structure, in the Early English and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel, nave of four bays with clerestory, aisles, south porch, and an embattled western tower with pinnacles and spire and containing a clock and 6 bells, rehung, in 1894, at a cost of £200: a portion of the nave roof is curiously painted: in the chancel is a tomb, much defaced, of one of the Abbots of the Benedictine abbey of Ramsey in this county: the south aisle retains a piscina: on the north wall of the chancel is a marble tablet inscribed to Joshua Barns, d. Aug. 3, 1712: there are three memorial windows - to the Linton family, formerly of Hemingford Park, to Dr. Frederick Douglas, d. 5 Jan. 1873, and to the Rev. Henry Herbert, rector 1867-1911: there are 300 sittings. In the churchyard is a stone coffin, dug up in the rectory field in 1872.
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 Hemingford Abbots from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Hemingford, Abbots (St. Margaret))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Huntindonshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Hemingford Abbots 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)