Ruddington (St. Peter)
RUDDINGTON (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Basford, N. division of the wapentake of Rushcliffe, S. division of the county of Nottingham, 5 miles (S.) from Nottingham; containing 1835 inhabitants. It comprises about 2780 acres, of arable and pasture land in nearly equal portions: the soil is partly clay, and generally fertile; the surface is undulated, in some places hilly, and the lands contain numerous springs. The village is of considerable size; some of the inhabitants are engaged in frame-work knitting and the weaving of lace. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £6. 13. 4., and in the patronage of the Trustees of the Rev. Charles Simeon; net income, £135; impropriator, C. Paget, Esq. The tithes were commuted for land in 1767. The church was repaired in 1718, and, with the exception of the tower and chancel, rebuilt in 1824 at a cost of £1100, towards which the Incorporated Society granted £500. There are places of worship for Baptists and Wesleyans. A free school was founded in 1641, by James Peacock, citizen of London, who endowed it with lands now producing an income of £75; the school-house was repaired in 1828, at an expense of £420. A college for a warden and four chaplains was founded here in the reign of Henry VI., by William Babington; the income was valued in the 26th of Henry VIII. at £30.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.