Bassingbourne, Cambridgeshire
Historical Description
Bassingbourne, a village and a parish in Cambridgeshire. The village stands 3 miles NNW of Royston station on the G.N.R., has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Royston, and was formerly a market-town. The parish includes also the hamlet of Kneesworth. Acreage, 3381; population of the civil parish, 1828; of the ecclesiastical, 1374. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely; gross yearly value, £299 with residence, in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. The church is of the 14th and the tower of the 13th century. There is also a Congregational chapel.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Cambridgeshire | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Bassingbourne St. Peter | |
| Hundred | Armingford | |
| Poor Law union | Royston |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1558, and the churchwardens' accounts from 1498.
Churches
Church of England
SS. Peter and Paul (parish church)
The church of SS. Peter and Paul, erected in the 14th century, is a building of stone and flint, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, south porch of the 15th century and an embattled western tower containing a clock and 5 bells cast by Miles Graye in 1650: in the church are monuments to the Nightingale and Turpin families, including two to Jeffrey Nightingale, ob. 1664, and to Edw. Nightingale, ob. 1723: the edifice was restored in 1865, at a cost of about £2,000, to which sum the Dean and Chapter of Westminster contributed £300: the tower arch has been opened, a vestry formed in the tower and fitted up for the reception of the library of rare theological works partly bequeathed to this parish in 1717 by Sir Edward Nightingale, a former owner of Kneesworth, to which additions have been made by different vicars: the east window is a memorial to the Rev. Freeman Heathcote Bishop M.A. vicar from 1861, and his two daughters, and was presented by his widow and three sons: there are 600 sittings.
Congregational
Congregational Chapel
There is a Congregational chapel, founded in 1759, with 450 sittings.
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 Bassingbourne from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Bassingbourne (St. Peter))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Cambridgeshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Bassingbourne 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 Cambridgeshire papers online:
- Cambridge Independent Press
- Cambridge Chronicle and Journal
- Huntingdon, Bedford & Peterborough Gazette
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitations of Cambridgeshire 1575 and 1619 is available online.