[Transcription © SA Whittle-Bruce 2004]

Alwalton, Hunts

History, Gazetteer & Directory of Huntingdon 1854

ALWALTON, or Allerton parish extends over an area of 904 acres; rateable value £1322. The soil, which is partly a gravelly loam and partly a stiff clay, is owned by the Dean and Chapter of Peterborough, in whom the manorial rights are vested; the Earl Fitzwilliam, and Leonard Thompson, Esq.

The manor house is occupied by Mr. Edward Davey, farmer; customary courts are held annually. The population in 1801, was 218; in 1831, 294; in 1841, 329; and in 1851, 332 souls.

Alwalton is a small but pretty village,situated a short distance to the right of the Great North Road, at the intersection of the road leading from Elton to Peterborough, from which latter place it is distant about four miles and a half, south westward.

Alwalton is supposed by Stukely, to be a corruption from Ald-werk-ton; and by Dr. Neve, who was rector of this parish, and archdeacon of Huntingdon, to be derived from the Roman Ad Vallum, Alwalton; or Adelwoldtune, from Adelwold, bishop of Winchester. In 1731, Mr. Gale saw some very high banks of an ancient town, near Allerton, on the east side of the high road, among fields and hedges. At the time of the Conqueror's survey, Waltune was possessed by Hugh de Bolbec. In the following century, the manor was granted to the monks of Peterborough, with whom it continued until the Dissolution; and subsequently, in July, 1541, it was given to the dean and chapter of Peterborough, by Henry the Eighth.

THE CHURCH, dedicated to St. Andrew, is a small, cruciform structure, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, transepts, and tower at the western extremity, containing five bells. " Alwalton church," says Rickman, " has one of the most singular combinations of Norman and Early English to be met with. The piers are round, the bases and capitals with mouldings considerably advanced in the Early English style, while the arch is semicircular, and the architrave Norman, the dripstone is also a real Norman moulding while the supporters are flowers of good Early English character." "The chancel of this church is mostly of decorated character, and has on the north and south sides, the curious long window reaching lower down than the others, close to the east wall of the church, which is frequent in the midland counties; it seems to have had some purpose of giving light behind the screen dividing the nave and chancel." There is a plain old font. The chancel contains a piscina and sedilla.

The living is a rectory, in the deanery of Yaxley; patrons, the dean and chapter of Peterborough. The Rev. Edward GRAY, is the present incumbent.

The tithes commuted in 1805, for about 176 acres of land. There is a mixed school, supported by the Earl Fitzwilliam, at whose expense the neat school-house was built. A residence for the master is attached. The average daily attendance of children is about ninety. John Merriman is the master.

A good rectory house is situated a short distance northward of the church.

The Wesleyan Methodists have a small place of worship here.

Poors' Money.- The sum of £90., being the amount of of the following benefactions for the poor of the parish, viz.; £10, by Pierce Gregory, the interest to be distributed on St. Thomas's day, by the minister, churchwardens and overseers; £10, by Mrs Southgate; £60, by Thomas Bayly; and £10 by the Rev. Dr. Neve, were laid out in or about the year 1802, towards the building of four cottages for the habitation of poor persons having settlements in the parish, on a piece of copyhold land called the "Town Land," containing thirty-four feet at the north end, and fouteen feet at the south end, and sixty-four feet from north to south, which had been holden of the manor of Alwalton, under the yearly rent of 1s. 1d.; and at a court held on the 18th of Januray 1802, the cottages and land were granted to the then rector, churchwardens, and overseers of the poor of the parish, and their successors, at the accustomed rent aforesaid, on condition that they should distribute yearly, on or about the feast of St. Thomas, the sum of £4. 10s, being the interest of the said sum of £90., among poor widows and others whom they think fit objects of charity, out of the rents of the premises, the deficiency, if any, to be made good out of the poor's rates of this parish