Little Barford

[From Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831.]

BARFORD (LITTLE), a parish in the hundred of BIGGLESWADE, county of BEDFORD, 2£ miles (S. by W.) from St. Neots, containing 123 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Bedford, and diocese of Lincoln, rated in the king's books at £13.16. 3., and in the patronage of the Rev. John Alington. The church, dedicated to St Mary, is an ancient building with a Norman arch over the south door, and a curious wooden screen between the nave and the chancel. The river Ouse forms the western boundary of the parish. Nicholas Rowe, the dramatic writer, and poet-laureat to George I., was a native of this place; he was buried with much pomp in Westminster abbey in 1718.