Irchester (St. Catherine)
IRCHESTER (St. Catherine), a parish, in the union of Wellingborough, hundred of Higham-Ferrers, N. division of the county of Northampton, 3 miles (E. S. E.) from Wellingborough; containing, with the hamlet of Knuston, 907 inhabitants. The parish is situated between the navigable river Nene and the borders of Bedfordshire, the former being on the north-west, and the latter on the south-east. It comprises 2694a. 1r. 8p., whereof 866 acres are in Knuston; about 600 acres are grass-land. The surface is undulated, and the soil of a productive quality, partly clay, partly sand, but chiefly partaking of the nature of limestone, which forms the substratum, and of which there are quarries. The road from Wellingborough to Higham-Ferrers, passing along the right bank of the Nene, intersects the parish; as does also the railroad from Blisworth to Peterborough, the Wellingborough station being situated here. The living is a discharged vicarage, annexed to that of Wollaston, and valued in the king's books at £8; impropriator, the Rev. W. W. Dickins: the tithes were commuted for land and money payments in 1769. The church is partly in the early and partly in the later English style. The Wesleyans have a place of worship. Within the parish are vestiges of a Roman fortification, the area of which includes about 18 acres; it is the site of a farmhouse called Chester House.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.