Linford, Little (St. Leonard)

LINFORD, LITTLE (St. Leonard), a parish, in the union of Newport-Pagnell, hundred of Newport, county of Buckingham, 2¼ miles (W. by N.) from Newport-Pagnell; containing 64 inhabitants. The manor was anciently in the Pagnells, from whom it came by successive female heirs to the families of Somery, Botetort, Burnell, and Bermingham. It was purchased of the last-mentioned by the Botelers, and passed with Great Linford till about 1658, when it was purchased of the Thompsons by Messrs. Kilpin and others, by whom it was sold to an ancestor of the Knapp family. The parish is situated on the Ouse, which bounds it on the east; and comprises 600 acres, principally grazing-land, with some rich meadows on the banks of the river: about 100 acres are wood, and a portion arable. The surface is undulated, and the soil clay, with a rock substratum: good limestone is obtained. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £66; patron and impropriator, Matthew Knapp, Esq., lord of the manor. The church was formerly a chapel of ease to the vicarage of Newport-Pagnell: the inhabitants bury at Haversham.