Marsworth, Buckinghamshire
Historical Description
Marsworth or Masvorth, a village and a parish in Buckinghamshire. The village stands adjacent to the Grand Junction Canal, near the L. & N.W.R., 1½ mile NNE of Icknield Street, 2½ miles S of Cheddingtan Junction station, and 2½ N of Tring, and has a post office under Tring; money order and telegraph office, Tring. The parish comprises 1185 acres of land and 27 of water; population, 385. The parish council, under the Local Government Act, 1894, consists of five members. Urns, ancient coins, and other relics of antiquity have been found. A large reservoir of the Grand Junction Canal is here, and is a resort of anglers. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford; gross value, £136. Patron, Trinity College, Cambridge. The church is Early English, with doorways and windows of the later styles. The chancel was built in 1856. There is a chantry and S aisle and tower. The church was much injured by partial restorations in the early part of the 19th century, and the last restoration in 1882 tried to undo this injury as far as possible, the vicar working at it with his own hands. In 1891 the chancel window, which had been designed by that gentleman, was filled with painted glass by subscriptions of members of Trinity College and others as a memorial of his work. There are in the church monuments to the family of West (16th to 18th centuries) and Seare (18th century), and a brass of the 14th century to John Scelk and Cristine, his wife, which has no figures. Romano-British foundations at one time existed about a mile from the village. There is a Baptist chapel.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Buckinghamshire | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Marsworth All Saints | |
Hundred | Cottesloe | |
Poor Law union | Berkhampstead |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The Phillimore transcript of Marriages at Masworth 1591-1812, Buckinghamshire is available to browse online.
The old parish registers were destroyed by fire before 1836, and there are now none prior in date to the year 1720, but a record exists of the earlier entries of the register, which was copied by the Rev. F. W. Ragg M.A. a former vicar of the parish.
Churches
Church of England
All Saints (parish church)
The church of All Saints is an edifice of stone and flint in the Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel with aisle, nave, south aisle with chantry, south porch, vestry formed out of the north porch, and an embattled western tower containing a clock and 6 bells, one of which was recast in 1887: the nave is separated from the south aisle by three Early English arches, two others of similar character dividing the chancel from its aisle, and all having octagonal pillars and caps, but the two easternmost arches were lowered at the end of the 15th century, and most of the ancient carved oak disappeared in the early part of the 20th century: outside the north wall is a turret, having a newel stair leading to the rood loft: in the church are several monuments to the West and Seare families, whose last representatives are buried in this church: there is also an altar tomb to Edmond West, who died in 1618, with a brass representing a man in armour lying on a bed and Death striking him with his dart, while his wife and children kneel by the bedside; an earlier brass with the inscription, Orate pro animabus Johannis Scelk et Cristina uxoris ejus; one to Mary West, 1606, and another to two daughters of Nicholas West: a chancel arch was erected in 1887 and a new east window in 1889: the various restorations from 1882 to 1891 were carried out at a cost of £810: there is communion plate of the 17th century, comprising flagon, chalice & paten, the gift of the daughter of Edmund West: in the chancel is a complete list of the incumbents from the year 1215 to date, carved in the wall: there are 240 sittings: the churchyard was enlarged in 1884.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Marsworth was in Berkhampstead Registration District from 1837 to 1928, Leighton Buzzard Registration District from 1928 to 1935, and Aylesbury Registration District from 1935 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Marsworth from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Marsworth (All Saints))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Buckinghamshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Marsworth 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 Buckinghamshire papers online:
Visitations Heraldic
A full transcript of the Visitation of Buckinghamshire, 1634 is online