Place:Pertenhall, Bedfordshire, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Pertenhall is a small village and civil parish located in Bedfordshire, England, close to the borders of Cambridgeshire (that part of Cambridgeshire that was formerly Huntingdonshire) and Northamptonshire.

The name derives from Peter's Hill (allegedly) based on the hill by St. Peter's Church. The parish was part of the Stodden Hundred and shared its ancient parish status with Swineshead. The two villages became separate civil parishes in 1866.

The village is drawn out along the B660 road beginning with Chapel Yard, derived from the Moravian Chapel located there and is characterised by a series of 'Ends', namely Wood End (a cul-de-sac, terminating at a footpath known locally as 'the Track'), Chadwell End (a thoroughfare), derived from the Chad Well that exists nearby and leading to Green End at the south.

end of Wikipedia contribution

Pertenhall was made a civil parish in 1866 and in 1894 it became part of the Eaton Socon Rural District. In 1934 the rural district was abolished and the civil parishes within it were transferred to Bedford Rural District. Since 1974 it has been in the non-metropolitan Borough of Bedford.

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

"PERTENHALL, formerly Peter's-Hall, a parish, with a village, in the [registration] district of St. Neots and county of Bedford; adjacent to [Huntingdonshire], 2 miles S W by S of Kimbolton, and 7½ N E of Sharnbrook [railway] station. Post-town: Kimbolton, under St. Neots. Acres: 1,805. Real property: £3,188. Population: 404. Houses: 95. The property is divided among a few. The manor belongs to John Martyn, Esq. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely. Value: £510. Patron: J. Beedham, Esq. The church consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with tower and spire; and contains monuments of the Martyns, and a tablet to a niece of Oliver Cromwell. There are a Moravian chapel, and charities above £50."

Research Tips

• The website British History Online provides three chapters of the Victoria County History Series on Bedfordshire. The first covers the religious houses of the county; the second and third provides articles on the parishes of the county. The parishes are arranged within their "hundreds".
• GENUKI main page for Bedfordshire which provides information on various topics covering the whole of the county, and also a link to a list of parishes. Under each parish there is a list of the settlements within it and brief description of each. This is a list of pre-1834 ancient or ecclesiastical parishes but there are suggestions as to how to find parishes set up since then. GENUKI provides references to other organizations who hold genealogical information for the local area. There is no guarantee that the website has been kept up to date and therefore the reader should check additional sources if possible.
• Bedfordshire family history societies are listed in GENUKI.
• The FamilyTree Wiki has a series of pages similar to those provided by GENUKI which may have been prepared at a later date and from more recent data. The wiki has a link to English Jurisdictions 1851. There is a list of all the parishes in existence at that date with maps indicating their boundaries. The website is very useful for finding the ecclesiastical individual parishes within large cities and towns.
• A Vision of Britain through Time, Bedfordshire, section "Units and Statistics" leads to analyses of population and organization of the county from about 1800 through 1974. There are pages available for all civil parishes, municipal boroughs and other administrative divisions. Descriptions provided are usually based on a gazetteer of 1870-72 which often provides brief notes on the economic basis of the settlement and significant occurences through its history.
• These two maps indicate the boundaries between parishes, etc., but for a more detailed view of a specific area try a map from this selection. The oldest series are very clear at the third magnification offered. Comparing the map details with the GENUKI details for the same area is well worthwhile.

• Map of Bedfordshire illustrating urban and rural districts in 1900 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time. Parish boundaries and settlements within parishes are shown.
• Map of Bedfordshire urban and rural districts in 1944 produced by UK Ordnance Survey and provided online by A Vision of Britain through Time. Parish boundaries and settlements within parishes are shown. This is not a repeat of the first map. There were some changes in urban and rural district structure in the 1930s.

• Wikimedia Commons map of the post-1974 districts of Bedfordshire. The numbers will be linked to the districts on the WeRelate district pages.
• A map of the ancient divisions named "hundreds" is provided on each of the pages for the hundreds in Bedfordshire.