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Ivinghoe (St. Mary)

IVINGHOE (St. Mary), a market-town and parish, in the union of Leighton-Buzzard, hundred of Cottesloe, county of Buckingham; comprising the hamlets of Aston-Ivinghoe, St. Margaret, Ringshall with Incomb and Wards, part of the hamlets of Horton and Seabrook, the village of Cheddington, and part of the chapelry of Nettleden; and containing 1843 inhabitants, of whom 740 are in the town, 9 miles (E. by N.) from Aylesbury, and 33 (N. W.) from London. This small town is situated on the side of a chalk hill, near the ancient British and Roman road called Ikeneld-street, and consists principally of two streets; it contains a few good houses, and is abundantly supplied with water from wells. The London and Birmingham railway runs within a mile south-west of the church; and the Grand Junction canal, also passing within the distance of a mile, affords another means of communication. The manufacture of straw-plat furnishes employment for the females. A small market is held on Thursday for the sale of straw-plat, butchers' meat, and vegetables; and there are fairs, chiefly for cattle, pigs, and sheep, on May 6th and October 17th. The parish comprises by measurement 5017 acres, of which 2820 are arable, 1836 meadow, pasture, and homesteads, and 310 woodland. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £12. 16. 1., and in the patronage of the Trustees of the Earl of Bridgewater; net income, £220. The tithes were chiefly commuted for land and a money payment in 1821; the remainder of the impropriate tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £9. 9. 6., and of the vicarial for £14. 12. The church is an ancient building, with a square tower and a small spire; in the chancel is an altar-tomb with a recumbent figure. There are places of worship for Baptists and Wesleyans. In the hamlet of St. Margaret are some remains of a convent of Benedictine nuns, founded about 1160, by Bishop de Blois, and the revenue of which, at the Dissolution, was estimated at £22. 6. 7.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

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