Buckden - a Huntingdonshire Village

THE HISTORY OF BUCKDEN 87 only we did. And in 1659 when it is recorded ‘William Streams and his wife were married’ should we conclude that they had been living together so long that her former name had been forgotten? In 1653 the name of the ‘Register’ begins to be noted, the first being ‘John Jakins of Bugden, barber’ who was succeeded in 1655 by Henry Webb. Neither of these was responsible for the entry of 1675 which takes up a quarter of a page. Here, much ornamented with curlicues, the proud father’s writing is to be seen: ‘John Emerson son of Peter Emerson Vicar of Bucksden was borne on Sunday being the 23 day of January and Baptized the 29th of ffebruary being in the yeare of our Lord God 1675.’ The clerk was able only to insert between the lines ‘& Elizabeth his wife’ since this minor detail had been omitted. Sad to say the birth of a daughter the following year rated only a standard entry, as did, somewhat surprisingly, the burial of Bishop Barlow in 1691. A name that crops up frequently in the seventeenth-century records is Rayment (a William of that name had been part of the bishop’s muster in 1588 too). One of the family stands out for an act of charity. Robert Rayment, in his will dated 16 January 1661, provided for the payment of a schoolmaster who ‘should yearly engage to learn the English tongue to such children of the inhabitants of Buckden, both male and female, as should be poor and unable to pay for their children’s schooling, and learn such children the grounds and principles of true religion, according to the Church of England’. In 1720 it is recorded that 34 children were being taught in Buckden’s charity school. This provision for the education of the poor was unusual at that time. (In 1778 Bishop Green added to it.) Another benefactor was Susannah Travill who in 1692 provided an endowment for the benefit of poor widows of the parish.. Georgian Buckden The eighteenth century was a time of prosperity for Buckden. New methods of road building made coach travel much more comfortable and fast, and therefore more popular. The existing inn, originally the Lamb and at different times renamed the Lion and Pennant, the Lion and Lamb, and currently the Lion, was challenged by the George, built exactly facing it across the Great North Road. It was built impressively of red brick, three storeys high and fifteen windows long eventually – the brickwork shows signs of its expansion. Whatever rivalry there was between the two hostelries, the George seems to have come out on top. There is a legend that it was favoured by the notorious highwayman, Dick Turpin, who had a private emergency exit in case of trouble. Much better authenticated is the existence of George Cartwright, who managed to combine being landlord of the George with driving the York Express daily to and from Welwyn, a seventy-mile journey. ‘Peter Pry’ the influential sporting writer of those days said he was an excellent driver: ‘He was the idol of the road, both with old and young; while his manners on the box were respectful, communicative without impertinence, and untarnished with slang ... His excellent qualities, we are glad to notice, in conclusion, had gained their reward; he was well-to-do, lived regularly, had a happy family, and envied neither lord nor peasant.’ Some idea of just how busy Buckden High Street was in the coaching era may be gained from a schedule printed in 1839, when the age was drawing to an end. Even then there were six express coaches stopping daily at the George or the Spread Eagle on their outward and return journeys: one to Boston, two to Leeds, one to Lincoln and two to York, and ‘in addition to the above, coaches from the North pass through Buckden and Eaton Socon almost hourly.’ This activity naturally brought employment and prosperity to the village. There was a demand for farriers, wheelwrights, corn merchants and, of course, hostelries. All of these flourished. A most unusual establishment was one which shod geese: these were driven through warm tar and onto sand which formed a protective layer to pad their feet on the long walk to market. A growth in its population was one consequence of the general prosperity. We can work out approximate figures from the parish registers and these suggest a population of about 700 in 1700, while the first census in 1801 recorded a population of 869, and in 1831 there were 1095 inhabitants. New houses had to be built and some of Buckden’s most imposing houses belong to this period: the Red House in Church Street, a beautifully symmetrical Georgian building; the Vicarage in yellow brick with its unusual canted bay windows; Jessamine House in the High Street and Field House in Silver Street are all attractive examples. The inhabitants of such houses, the gentry of Buckden, led a life quite separate from the ordinary villagers. They were, for example, entitled to vote in elections, and for them politics from time to time became a really lively issue. One of Buckden’s vicars, the Reverend Doctor Edward Maltby (later Bishop of Durham), was at the centre of a raging controversy in 1807 when he was accused of invective in speaking against Lord Montagu’s candidate in the recent election. At his own expense he published in reply ‘A Letter