Olney, Buckinghamshire

Historical Description

Olney, a small market-town and a parish in Bucks. The town stands on the river Ouse, 2 miles SE of the boundary with Northamptonshire, 5 N by E of Newport Pagnell, and 55 from London. It was formerly called Oulney, in Domesday " Oinei," and is said to have been built by a colony of Flemings. It is notable for the residence at it of Browne, author of " Piscatory Eclogues," who was vicar; of John Newton, author of "Cardiphonia" and other religious works, who was curate; of Thomas Scott, author of" Force of Truth," a "Commentary on the Bible," and other works, who was also curate; and especially of Cowper the poet, who wrote here and at Weston Underwood, 1½ mile to the SW, many of his poems; and it was the place where Newton and Cowper wrote the " Olney Hymns." It has a station on the Bedford and Northampton branch of the M.R., and a post, money order, and telegraph office (S.O.) A Roman station formerly existed a short distance to the N of the town, and Roman coins and relics have been found in considerable quantities in the neighbourhood. A twenty-four-arched old bridge formerly spanned the Ouse and some small tributary streams in its neighbourhood, and was characterized by Cowper as of " wearisome but needful length;" and a seven-arched bridge was erected in room of the old one in 1832. The surrounding tract is low, flat, and subject to winter floods; and the path through it, from Olney to Clifton Reynes, used to be so bad that it gave rise to the rhyme-" Sle, sla, slud, stuck in the mud." The Ouse follows a somewhat serpentine course, even before reaching Olney, especially in the neighbourhood of Newport Pagnell; and it becomes so very serpentine after passing Olney that it describes an aggregate course of about 70 miles, over what is only a direct distance of about 20 miles, between Olney and St Neots. Hence does Drayton say;-" Ouse having Oulney past, as she were waxed mad, From her first stayder course immediately doth gad, And in meandering gyves doth whirl herself about, That, this fray, here and there, hack, forward, in and out: And like a wanton girl, oft doubling in her gait, In labyrinth-like turns and twinings intricate, Thro' those rich fields doth run."

The environs of Olney were less beautiful formerly than now, but they acquired charming associations in the minds of Newton and Cowper from their own intercourse, meditations, and employments. The town itself, also, both physically and morally, in their time was dismal and miserable, but it interested them the more on that very account as a field for then- Christian philanthropy. It now consists of a central market-place, one long street, and a few smaller streets. Cowper's house still stands at a corner of the marketplace, is taller than the neighbouring houses, and his garden lies behind it, and contains his " summer parlour." There is a weekly market for corn only, which is held on Thursday, and fairs are held on Easter Monday, 29 and 30 June, and 13 Oct., the June fair being known as the "Cherry Fair." Boots and shoes are manufactured here in considerable quantities, and there is a large brewery. The town has two banks, some good inns, a church, two Baptist chapels, a Congregational chapel rebuilt in 1879, and known as the Cowper Memorial Chapel, twelve endowed almshouses, and charities worth about £300 a year. The church is an ancient building of stone in the Decorated style, which was probably erected about the middle of the 14th century. It consists of chancel, nave, aisles, N porch, and a tower and spire 185 feet high, which can be seen at long distances from the town. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford; net value, £154 with residence, in the gift of the Earl of Dartmouth. Area of the parish, 2127 acres of land and 26 of water; population of the civil parish, 2399; of the ecclesiastical, 2467. Under the Local Government Act of 1894 there is a parish council consisting of eleven members.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Church Records

The parish register dates from the year 1665.

Churches

Church of England

Congregational

Independent

Roman Catholic

Civil Registration

Olney was in Newport Pagnell Registration District from 1837 to 1935

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Olney from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Olney (St. Peter and St. Paul))

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Buckinghamshire is available to browse.

Maps

Online maps of Olney 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:

• Bucks Herald
• South Bucks Free Press, Wycombe and Maidenhead Journal
• Croydon's Weekly Standard

Villages, Hamlets, &c

Visitations Heraldic

A full transcript of the Visitation of Buckinghamshire, 1634 is online