Description
Newport Pagnell, a market and a union town and parish in Bucks. The town stands on the Roman road from Linford to Bedford, at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Looat, 3 3/4 miles W of the boundary with Beds, 4 ENE of Wolverton Junction station on the L. & N.W.R. main line, 14 1/2 NE of Buckingham, and 50 from London. It has a station on the L. & N.W.R. and a head post office. It took the latter part of its name from the family of Paganel, who owned the manor in the time of William Rufus; it had a castle of the Paganels, and also a Cluniac priory or cell founded by the Paganels; it was a seat of assizes from the time of Henry III. till that of Henry VI.; it was taken in 1643 for the Parliament by the Earl of Essex, and was garrisoned in 1645 by Sir Samuel Luke, supposed to be the " Hudibras " of Butler; it is now the head of a petty sessional division and county court district and a polling-place. The town occupies a rising ground commanding a large expanse of fine country, and is well built, containing many neat modern houses. It has a bank, some good inns, a county police station, public rooms, two bridges, a church, four dissenting chapels, a mission-room, a public cemetery, a Masonic hall, a working-men's club, three suites of almshouses, and a workhouse. The manor before coming to the Paganels was held by Fitz Ausculph, and it passed from the Paganels to the Someries and others. It now belongs to the Newby family. The castle probably stood near the church. The Cluniac priory stood on the spot now occupied by Tickford Abbey, a fine mansion of stone standing in a small park. One of the bridges is a light iron structure over the Lovat, and the other is a handsome stone structure with a long causeway over the Ouse. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford. Patron, the Bishop of Oxford. The church is a large and handsome edifice of stone in the Early English and later styles ; consists of nave, aisles, chancel, N and S porches, with pinnacled tower; has ten handsome stained glass windows, an ancient brass of 1440, and a beautiful churchyard. The churchyard contains an epitaph by Cowper to T. A. Hamilton. The dissenting chapels are Congregational, Baptist, Friends', and Wesleyan. A theological academy was founded in 1764, but is now extinct. The public cemetery is pleasantly situated near The church, was opened in 1861, and has a neat brick mortuary chapel. Queen Anne's Hospital was founded about 1280 by John de Somerie and refounded by Queen Anne of Denmark. The old building of stone was replaced by a new one of brick in 1892. Revis's Almshouses were erected in 17G3, are for seven persons, and have an endowed income of £190. The Congregational chapel almshouses were founded and endowed in 1851 by Miss Charlotte Beaty, and form a neat building with accommodation for four persons. The workhouse, a building of red brick erected in 1836, has capacity for 274 persons. There are charities worth about £140 a year. A weekly market is held on Wednesday; fairs are held on the nearest market-day to 22 Feb. and on 22 June. There are two weekly newspapers. Humphrey the theologian was a native.
The parish includes the hamlet of Caldecot, 1 1/2 mile SE, and comprises 3396 acres of land and 36 of water ; population, 3788. The parish council consists of eleven members.
