Place:Blisworth, Northamptonshire, England

Watchers
NameBlisworth
TypeAncient parish, Civil parish
Coordinates52.175°N 0.937°W
Located inNorthamptonshire, England
See alsoWymersley Hundred, Northamptonshire, Englandhundred in which it was located
source: Family History Library Catalog
the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Blisworth is a village and civil parish in the South Northamptonshire District of Northamptonshire, England. The West Coast Main Line, a railway line that travels from London Euston to Manchester and Scotland, runs alongside the village partly hidden and partly on an embankment. The Grand Union Canal passes through the village and the north portal of the Blisworth Tunnel is near Stoke Road.

Blisworth is about 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Northampton, 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Towcester and 10 miles (16 km) north of Milton Keynes. The 1961 census showed a population of 1,192. By the 2001 census there were 1,786 people in the parish (the 2010 estimated population is 1,870) in 792 dwellings. It is a commuting village with no industry and few local businesses.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Blisworth from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"BLISWORTH, a village and a parish in Towcester [registration] district, Northampton. The village stands on the Grand Junction canal, 1 mile SSW of the Northwestern railway, at the junction of the line to Northampton and Peterborough, and 5½ SSW of Northampton; and it has a station, of its own name, at the railway junction, and a post office under Northampton.
"The parish comprises 1,980 acres. Real property: £4,314. Population: 1,022. Houses: 199. The property is divided among a few. The Blisworth tunnel on the canal, SSE of the village, is 1 mile long. The Blisworth cutting on the railway goes through hard blue limestone; is 2 miles long, with a mean depth of 50 feet; and, though not the largest work of its kind on the line, was the most difficult. Building-stone is quarried; and some iron ore is found. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Peterborough. Value: £351. Patron: the Rev. W. Barry. The church is ancient, and of mixed architectural character; has a brass of 1503; and was recently restored. There are a Baptist chapel, a free school, and charities £25."

Research Tips

A Vision of Britain through Time

A Vision of Britain through Time describes parishes and former parishes from a gazetteer of 1871; provides an outline of the historic administration links for parishes. The OS map of 1900, the OS map of 1935, and the OS map of 1965 all show parish boundaries and settlements within parishes. These maps are all expandable to show individual parishes and are useful for inspecting changes occuring over the 20th century.

Archive Centres

  • Northamptonshire Archives is located at Wootton Hall Park, Northampton, NN4 8BQ, Telephone from the UK: 01604 767562 (from overseas replace the "01" with "44"). The website gives opening times and facilities available.
  • Northampton Central Library, Abington Street, Northampton, NN1 2BA (Telephone from the UK: 01604 26771 (from overseas replace the "01" with "44").

Northamptonshire Family History Society

The NFHS website describes the activities of the society. The Society is presently transcribing the deposited Marriage Registers for the period 1754 through 1837. These transcriptions may provide more details than can be found on other databases where subscriptions are charged.

GENUKI

The main GENUKI page for Northamptonshire lists a number of topics for research.

Victoria County History

  • the Victoria County History of Northamptonshire produced online by British History Online (founded by the Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust in 2003) contains only some of the Hundreds of Northamptonshire in its collection. Articles that do exist will be referenced under the relevant hundred and parish.

Online Databases

FindMyPast includes (list checked July 2018)

  • Northamptonshire Parish Records (Baptisms, Marriages, Burials, and Probate Index)
  • Northamptonshire Freeholders 1795-1797
  • Northamptonshire Hearth Tax, 1674
  • Northamptonshire Military Tribunals 1916-1918
  • Northamptonshire Militia Lists 1771
  • Northamptonshire, Northampton General Hospital Admissions 1774-1846

While Ancestry offers (list checked July 2018)

  • Census & Voter Lists 1841-1911.
  • Northamptonshire Birth, Marriage & Death
  • Northamptonshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1532-1812
  • Northamptonshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1912
  • Northamptonshire, England, Church of England Marriages, 1754-1912
  • Northamptonshire, England, Church of England Burials, 1813-1912
  • Other Birth, Marriage & Death collections related to Northamptonshire. (32)
  • Northamptonshire, England, Church of England Confirmations, 1870-1911
  • Other Schools, Directories & Church Histories collections related to Northamptonshire. (34)
  • A calendar of wills relating to the counties of Northampton and Rutland : proved in the court of the archdeacon of Northampton
  • Other Wills, Probates, Land, Tax & Criminal collections related to Northamptonshire. (23)
  • Reference, Dictionaries & Almanacs collections related to Northamptonshire. (21)
  • Maps, Atlases & Gazetteers collections related to Northamptonshire. (7)
  • Northamptonshire Stories, Memories & Histories
Genealogy of the descendants of Thomas French: who came to America from Nether Heyford, Northamptonshire, England and settled
Works of Reverend James Hervey, 1713-1758
The Orlebar Chronicles in Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire, 1553-1733, or the Children of the Manorhouse
Descendents of Thomas Chichele of Higham-Ferrers, Northampton, England
Rockingham Castle and the Watsons
Other Northamptonshire Stories, Memories & Histories (14)

FamilySearch also has an extensive database online. It is free, but may not always provide the original images provided by the services one pays for.

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Blisworth. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.