Northill
[From Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831.]
NORTHILL, a parish in the hundred of WIXAMTREE, county of BEDFORD, 3 miles (W. N, W.) from Biggleswade, containing, with the hamlets of Brookend, Budnor, Upper and Lower Caldicotts, Hatch, Ickwell, Thorncote, and part of Beeston, 1001 inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry of Bedford, and diocese of Lincoln, and in the patronage of the Master and Wardens of the Grocers' Company, London. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a handsome structure, in the ancient English style, the east window exhibiting beautiful specimens of stained glass, by Oliver: it was endowed by Sir John Traylly, Knt., and made collegiate in the reign of Henry IV., for a master, warden, and fellows, whose revenue at the dissolution was estimated at £6l.5.5. Elizabeth Hutchinson, in 1728, gave £200 for the education of poor fatherless girls; the annual income is now about £16, for which four are taught. The navigable river Ivel bounds the parish on the east.