St Neots

ST. NEOT'S

ST. NEOT'S, a parish and small town in the hundred of Toseland, county Hunts, 8 miles south-west of Huntingdon, and 51 from London by the Great Northern railway, on which it is a station. It is situated on the east bank of the river Ouse, over which is a stone bridge of one central arch, with two smaller ones, over the stream, and continued by six other arches, forming a causeway over the marshy lands adjoining. It derives its name from an ancient Benedictine monastery situated on the opposite bank of the river, at Eynesbury, originally founded in 974 by Earl Alric and his wife Ethelfleda, and dedicated to St. Neot, whose relics are said to have been stolen from Neotstock, in Cornwall, and conveyed hither.

In 1113 it was made a cell to the abbey of Bec, in Normandy, by Roisia de Clare, but being afterwards made independent, it existed till the Reformation. Its revenues were returned at the Dissolution at £256 1s. 31d., when the site was given by Henry VIII. to the Cromwells, from whom it has descended to Earl Sandwich, of Hinchinbrook, the present lord of the, manor. The Earl of Holland was taken prisoner here in 1648, fighting for Charles I. The town, though well built, stands so low that the streets are sometimes inundated. It is distant about 1 mile east of the Great North road, and consists of three principal streets. It contains a market-house, with a market-square, a good hotel, several extensive breweries, large papermills belonging to Messrs. Towgood, and two tanneries. A considerable trade is carried on by the Ouse, which is navigable from Bedford to Lynn. The principal business is in corn, coals, wine, timber, &c., besides a brisk retail trade for the supply of the surrounding country. A considerable portion of the female population are employed in the manufacture of lace. A manorial court is held annually, and a new county court at stated intervals for the recovery of small debts.

St. Neot's is the head of a Poor-law Union, comprising 30 parishes and townships, of which 22 are in the county of Huntingdon, 7 in that of Bedford, and 1 in Cambridgeshire. The surface is generally low, and in parts marshy. The land is chiefly arable. The soil is clay and loam, alternating with gravel. The tithes were commuted for land and a money payment under an Enclosure Act in 1770. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely, value £163. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a Gothic structure with a tower containing eight bells. It was built about 1507, and has a good timbered roof and some ancient screen-work. There are places of worship for Independents, Baptists, and Wesleyans, to the last of which a school is attached. The free school, for twenty-five boys, between the ages of seven and fourteen, was founded in 1760 by Gabriel Newton, an alderman of Leicester, who endowed it with a rent-charge of £26, subsequently augmented by the bequests of Loftus Hatley and Elizabeth Bailey, so that its income is now about £70. There are besides National, British, and infant schools. The parochial charities produce about £20 per annum, distributed in bread to the poor. The only mansion in the parish is Priory Hill, the seat of G. W. Rowley, Esq. Market day is Thursday, for corn. Fairs are held on Holy Thursday, on that day three weeks, the first Thursday after the 11th October, and the 17th December, also a statute fair for hiring servants on 1st August.