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Huntingdonshire

Nearby places

GREAT GIDDING

"GREAT GIDDING, a parish in the hundred of Leightonstone, county Huntingdon, 6 miles south-west of Stilton, its post town, and 12 north-west of Huntingdon. It lies close upon the borders of Northamptonshire. The stream known as Alconbury Brook passes through the parish. The estates formerly belonged to the Rockingham and Engaine families. The village is situated nearly in the centre of the parish. The soil is clayey, and of inferior quality. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Ely, value £101. The church is an ancient structure with a lofty tower and spire, dedicated to St. Matthias. The charities consist of about £4 per annum for the poor, and some almshouses. The Baptists and Wesleyans have places of worship. There is a good school for both sexes, erected at the expense of Earl Fitzwilliam, who is lord of the manor.

Cemeteries

• Monumental inscriptions of Great Gidding 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 Gidding Parish is available as fiche set C95.
• The full 1851 Census of Great Gidding Parish is available as fiche set C45.
• A surname index of the 1881 Census of the Oundle Registration District of Northamptonshire, in which Great Gidding was enumerated (RG11/1584, Folios 59a - 68b), and which took place on 3rd April 1881, is available as fiche set C2.
• The above mentioned fiche sets are available from the Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire FHS.

Churches

• The following Churches have their own websites:
  • St. Michael's Church, Great Gidding

Church History

• The church of St. Michael consists of a chancel, nave, north aisle, south aisle, west tower and spire and a south porch. The walls are of rubble with stone dressings and the roofs are covered with slates and lead.
• The church is not mentioned in the Domesday survey of 1086. There was, however, a stone church here before the middle of the 13th century, which is the date of the present south doorway; the late 13th century chancel is, undoubtedly, a rebuilding of part of that early church. A western tower was added to it in the first half of the 14th century, but the belfry was not built until about 1370. The nave and the chancel arch were rebuilt arount 1400, and some 60 years later, the two aisles, the clearstory and the porch were rebuilt.
• The parapets of the tower and spire were not built until the early years of the 16th century. The church was restored in 1870, when the walls of the chancel were raised and a new roof put on and the porch rebuilt again. The tower and the chancel arch were restored in 1925.
• There are photographs and further information on St. Michael's Church on Rob's Churches website.

Church Records

• These are available in the Huntingdon Records Office.
  • Baptisms: 1579-1666/7, 1670-1731/2, 1732-1787, 1787-1812, 1813-1877.
  • Banns: 1773-1777.
  • Marriages: 1574-1604, 1671-1731/2, 1675-1812 (indexed transcription from BTs), 1732-1772, 1772-1812, 1813-1836, 1837-1958, 1959-1975.
  • Burials: 1581-1652/3, 1670-1731/2, 17132-1787, 1788-1812, 1813-1930.
  • Bishop's Transcripts: 1604-5, 1612, 1617-19, 1626, 1631, 1660-8/1675-6, 1686-8, 1691, 1695-6, 1698-1702, 1704-7, 1709-36, 1738-50/1751-86, 1789-1808, 1810-12/1813-17, 1821, 1823-4/1825, 1827-37, 1851, 1853-5, 1857-9.
• 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

• The parish of Great Gidding was in the Oundle Registration District of Northamptonshire from 1st July 1837. In 1935, the parish was transferred to the Spaldwick sub-District of Huntingdonshire. It is now part of the Huntingdon District.

Description and Travel

• A civic website on The Giddings is available.

Gazetteers

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

Military History

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

Names, Geographical

• Redinges,
• Gedelinge (xi cent.),
• Geddinge (xii cent.),
• High Gyddyng,
• Gidding Prior (xv cent.),
• Much Gyddyng,
• Great Gidding (xvi cent.).}

Poor Houses, Poor Law, etc.

• The parish of Great Gidding was in the Oundle Union of Northamptonshire for Poor Law administration.

Population

• Population in 1801 - 420
• Population in 1851 - 563
• Population in 1901 - 337
• Population in 1951 - 252
• Population in 1971 - 209
• Population in 1991 - 344.