GenUKI Contents

Huntingdonshire

GREAT CATWORTH

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"GREAT CATWORTH, a parish in the hundred of Leightonstone, in the county of Huntingdon, 4 miles to the north of Kimbolton, its post town. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Ely, value £337, in the patronage of the Principal and Fellows of Brazenose College, Oxford. The church is dedicated to St. Leonard. There are charitable benefactions for the poor, amounting to about £30 per annum. This village was the birthplace of Sir Wolston Dixie, Lord Mayor of London in 1585. Great Catworth is a meet for the Fitzwilliam hounds.

[The above was transcribed (and edited) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868]
by Colin Hinson ©2023

Cemeteries

• Monumental inscriptions for this parish have not yet been recorded by the Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire FHS.

Census

• Census information for this parish (1841 - 1891) is held in the Huntingdon Records Office.
• The full 1841 Census of Great Catworth Parish is available as fiche set C87.
• The full 1851 Census of Great Catworth Parish is available as fiche set C37.
• A surname index of the 1881 Census of the St. Neots Registration District, in which Great Catworth was enumerated (RG11/1612, Folios 4a - 16a), and which took place on 3rd April 1881, is available as fiche set C5.
• A full transcription of the 1891 Census of the Kimbolton Registration District (RG12/1243) in which Great Catworth was enumerated, and which took place on 5th April 1891 is available, as fiche set C14.
• The above mentioned fiche sets are available from the Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire FHS.

Churches

• St. Leonard's Church, Great Catworth.

Church History

• OS Grid Square TL 089734.
• The church of St. Leonard consists of a chancel, modern organ chamber and vestry on the north, nave, north aisle, south aisle, west tower and south porch. The walls of the tower are of ashlar, and those of the rest of the church are of coursed rubble with some pebble rubble, and with stone dressings. The roofs are covered with tiles and lead.
• The church is not mentioned in the Domesday survey of 1086, but fragments of an 11th or 12th century tombstone seems to suggest that there was an early church here. It is evident that by the middle of the 13th century the nave had already reached its present length, and that it had a south aisle, the greater part of the south and west walls of which still remain. A considerable rebuilding took place towards the end of the 14th century when the chancel arch, the south arcade and the eastern part of the south aisle were rebuilt; the north arcade and aisle were also rebuilt, and the tower and porch were added. About 100 years later, the chancel was rebuilt and widened to the north and the clearstory added to the nave.
• The whole church was restored in 1876 when the two side walls of the chancel were rebuilt and the vestry added. The spire was struck by Lightning on 1st July 1914, and was restored the same year. The north aisle roof was restored in 1925.

Church Records

• These are available in the Huntingdon Records Office.
  • Baptisms: 1688-1851 (indexed), 1831-1864.
  • Banns: 1754-1852 (indexed), 1823-1914.
  • Marriages: 1683-1851 (indexed).
  • Burials: 1679-1851 (indexed), 1813-1896.
  • Bishop's Transcripts: 1604-5, 1608, 1610, 1617-19, 1626-7, 1631, 1660-9/1683-1685, 1688, 1691-2, 1694-7, 1699, 1702-3, 1706-11, 1714-15, 1717-28, 1730-46, 1748-1756/1756-1813/1813-24/1825-59.
• The Huntingdonshire Marriage Indexes include marriages from this parish. These are, at present, issued in alphabetical listings in series: 1601-1700, and 1701-1754, and are available from the Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire FHS.

Civil Registration

• Great Catworth was originally in the St. Neots Registration District from 1st July 1837. Subsequently it became part of the Kimbolton sub-District, but it is now directly under the Huntingdon District.

Gazetteers

• A transcript of the GreatCatworth parish entries from 1932 Victoria County Series
• A transcript of the GreatCatworth parish entries from Samuel Lewis's 1835 Topographical Dictionary of England,

Military History

• The war memorial with detailed information about those who fell is available on the Roll of Honour site for Huntingdonshire.

Names, Geographical

• Cateuuorde (xi cent.),
• Cattwrda,
• Catteswyrth,
• Cateworth (xii cent.).

Poor Houses, Poor Law, etc.

• The parish of Great Catworth (or Catworth) was part of the St Neots Union (for Poor Law administration).
• Births and Deaths registered in the St. Neots Union Workhouse (1913 - 1952) are available, as fiche set D11, from the Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire FHS.

Population

• Population in 1801 - 386.
• Population in 1851 - 634.
• Population in 1901 - 431.
• Although population figures for Great Catworth should have included those of Little Catworth from 1885, they were not so included until after 1921.
• Population in 1951 - 273.
• Population in 1971 - 221.
• Population in 1991 - 298.