Crawley, North (St. Firmin)

CRAWLEY, NORTH (St. Firmin), a parish, in the union of Newport-Pagnell, hundred of Newport, county of Buckingham, 3½ miles (E. by N.) from Newport-Pagnell; containing 865 inhabitants. The manor is the property of the Lowndes family, to whom it was conveyed about the year 1710, and the advowson in 1723. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £27. 10., and in the patronage of William Selby Lowndes, Esq.: the tithes were commuted for land in 1780. The church has been enlarged by the addition of 106 free sittings. A monastery dedicated to St. Firmin is mentioned in Domesday book as having been founded here before the time of Edward the Confessor, and was in existence after the Conquest.