Bucks/Northants border

[Bearcub]

Hi,

I have posted a similar enquiry on the Northamptonshire board and had some helpful suggestions, but thought I should, perhaps, try here too. Apologies if I'm not supposed to do this.

Census records suggest that Edward Brittin (born abt 1810) originated from Old Stratford, Northamptonshire. However, I have now discovered that there was no church in this village and it is only separated from Stony Stratford, Bucks by a bridge? It is likely that people living in Old Stratford went to Church in Stony Stratford or other nearby parishes? The boundary between Northants and Bucks seems to have varied over the years.

I have found a possible baptism for Edward in Stony Stratford with parents Jacob Brittin and Anne. However, I'm wondering if there may be other possibilities?

I also can't find anything else on Jacob?

I wonder if anyone with local knowledge of the area may be able to point me in the right direction.

Thank you.

[KGarrad]

The boundary between Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire at that point has always been the River Ouse.
So, I can't see how the boundary has moved at all?

Parishes, and parishioners, were no respecters of County Boundaries. If they needed a church, they simply went to the nearest church, regardless of what county bureaucrats said it was in!

What has probably happened is that organisations such as Ancestry, FamilySearch, FindMyPast etc insist on placing a parish, town, village or hamlet in a county.
And they often get it wrong!

[Bearcub]

Haha, thanks - yes you're right about the Ouse - the error was all mine - my poor wording!

What I meant to say (I think!) was that Edward appears to have told the census enumerator he was from Northamptonshire (which was true), but any parish records may actually be in Buckinghamshire?

This threw me for a long time as I hadn't realised that Old Stratford was right on the County boundary. My poor knowledge of the area and I guess somewhere always has to be on the edge... 

I'm still struggling to identify which parishes I may need to try and how I might access the records? I have contacted Bucks Records Office to see what records they hold.

[KGarrad]

I can't remember the actual thread, but I think I found last year, that there are some 500 parishes that straddle county boundaries!

In the main, parishes were eccelsiastical; counties were civic.

[smudwhisk]

I'm still struggling to identify which parishes I may need to try and how I might access the records? I have contacted Bucks Records Office to see what records they hold.

You could try some searches from Buckinghamshire Family History Society - see http://www.bucksfhs.org.uk/index.php/database-searches.  I believe the period you are interested in is probably complete so it would give you some idea of whether the person you are looking at in Northants could be the correct person.  It would also give you some idea of which Buckinghamshire parishes you may wish to look at.  I know the LDS have microfilmed some of Buckinghamshire's parish registers but not all so it may still be a trip to Aylesbury to view them.

If you have access to Ancestry, they have digitised the Phillimore's County Parish Maps so they would show you want parishes are where if you compare the Northants and Bucks maps.  They can be browsed here - http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=8830. 

[PrawnCocktail]

I've just double-checked Northamptonshire indexes, and there's no sign of a Jacob Britten anywhere.

The two main parishes local to Stony are Wolverton and Calverton, but bear in mind that Stony is on the main London to Chester road, which had stage coaches coming through. And the local inns would be constantly full of travellers, and needing staff to tend to them (of then coming from local villages), who in turn got inspired to travel!  That means more of a shifting population than a normal place. A search of the Buckinghamshire Family History Societies indexes would definitely be your best route - they're very good indexes, and very quick to send the results of searches back.
http://www.bucksfhs.org.uk/index.php/database-searches

[Bearcub]

Many thanks everyone for your help.

I do subscribe to Ancestry, but have never found those maps before, so that was very helpful.

Thanks also for the link to the Bucks FHS - I think a search there is my best next step.

This is my first ancestor who has straddled boundaries, so I guess I shouldn't complain...

I think you're right about inspiration to travel too. Edward ended up in Clerkenwell, London which I thought was quite unusual for that time. I've managed to track him there, but would love to know more about Jacob and Ann (if indeed they were his parents). Infuriatingly, I have a banns record of Edward's marriage, but father's name not given.

Thanks again for all your help and sesrches. I only found this forum a couple of weeks ago and already don't know how I managed without it!

[flateric999]

Have you also looked at Cosgrove and passenham?  Both within walking distance of old Stratford.

[Bearcub]

Thank you. Yes, I've looked at everything that's available on-line, but really need to try and organise a trip to the records office to be sure.