Menu
- Home
- Search▼
- List▼
- Add▼
- My Relate▼
- Admin▼
ViewsWatchers |
Higham Ferrers is a market town in the Nene Valley in the east of Northamptonshire, England, close to the borders with Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire. Along with Rushden, the town to the south, it forms a single built-up area. Higham Ferrers had a population of 7,145 according to the 2011 UK census. The town centre contains many historic buildings around the Market Square and College Street. [edit] HistoryHigham Ferrers first Charter [of Incorporation] of 1251 was due to the Lord of the Manor, William de Ferrers, who created the Borough in order to promote a prosperous community at the gates of his castle, where people had begun to settle in numbers and to trade in the ancient market. The castle is thought to have been built not long after the Norman Conquest in 1066. However towards the end of the 15th century the castle suffered years of neglect. It was finally demolished in 1523 and the stone removed to build Kimbolton Castle just over the county boundary with Huntingdonshire. A grass bank and a pond are all that remain of the defensive earthworks and moat. In the garden of the Green Dragon Inn, formerly within the area of the outer ward of the castle, are the remains of a rectangular dove-house. Henry Chichele (c. 1364 – 12 April 1443) was born in Higham Ferrers. He was Archbishop of Canterbury and founded All Souls College, Oxford. The second Charter was granted in 1556 in the reign of Mary Tudor. For many years the town provided a safe seat in Parliament for a supporter of the Crown nominated by the Duchy of Lancaster, the biggest landowner. When James I came to the throne the town obtained a confirmation and further extension of civic powers and liberties by another Charter of 1604. Again after the restoration of Charles II to the throne and the passing of the Corporations Act of 1662 the liberties were confirmed and extended. Until the 1830s the town was a rotten borough and sent one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons. It was stripped of its representation by the Representation of the People Act 1832. After the Municipal Corporations Act 1882, the modern Charter for Higham Ferrers reorganised the composition of the Corporation on modern lines to conform to the pattern of local government laid down in that Act. This Charter is the only one of the town's charters written in English: the earlier charters were in Latin. [edit] GovernanceHigham Ferrers was a municipal borough from 1886 until 1974. From 1974 until April 2021 it was part of the East Northamptonshire District of Northamptonshire, England. The parish is now in the unitary authority of North Northamptonshire. The Victoria County History for Northamptonshire has an article for Higham Ferrers in Volume 3, pp 263-279. [edit] Research Tips[edit] A Vision of Britain through TimeA 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. [edit] Archive Centres
[edit] Northamptonshire Family History SocietyThe 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. [edit] GENUKIThe main GENUKI page for Northamptonshire lists a number of topics for research. [edit] Victoria County History
[edit] Online DatabasesFindMyPast includes (list checked July 2018)
While Ancestry offers (list checked July 2018)
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.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
