Towns & Villages in Herts

Kimpton

Adjacent Parishes:  Ayot St Lawrence, Codicote, Kings Walden, Knebworth, Sandridge, St Paul Walden, Wheathampstead

It is in the Hitchin Hundred and the Hitchin Union

KIMPTON is a village and a parish in Hitchin Hundred, distant from Welwyn station 5 miles west-north-west, 6 east from Luton, 8 north-north-east from St Albans, 6 south-west from Stevenage, 8 from Hitchin south, and 29 from London. The church is dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, and the living is a vicarage, in the gift of Lord Darce, value £445 per annum; the present incumbent is the Rev. Frederick Sullivan, M.A. The Wesleyans have a chapel. The population returned in 1841 was 945, and the area 3,525 acres. The assessment to the Income Tax in 1842 was £5,840. 

John Bazill, of Bayham-street, London, in November, 1815, bequeathed £120 in the 5 per cent annuities, the interest of which was to accumulate to the end of every three years; and after deducting the amount for keeping in repair his vault, the residue to be divided as follows:- one share to be applied for a dinner for the clergyman and parish officers; second share to be divided amongst six poor families who never received alms of the parish; and the remaining third, first deducting 40s. for the ringers, to be shared among the young people of the parish, on the first Monday in June, as prize money for any game the minister or churchwarden may think proper to establish. 

There are schools for boys and girls, supported by Lord Darcre.

Peter's Green is 2 miles west; Bibswell 1 mile south; Ramridge 1 mile west; Lawrence End and Wandon, 2½ miles north-west.

Post Office Directory for Hertfordshire, 1851

The Eastern end of the High Street circa 1910 from A Brief History of Kimpton

Web Site: Kimpton Village - includes a later edited text of A Brief History of Kimpton. 

Kimpton Post Office - circa 1920s
Card published by G. Matthews, Post Office Stores, Kimpton, in "The Vulcan Series". The 1912 Kelly's Directory records: "Post, M.O. & T. & Telephonic Express Delivery Office. - George Matthews, sub-postmaster. Letters received through Welwyn, via Codicote, delivered at 7.30 a.m. & 4 p.m.; dispatched at 8.15 & 11.30 a.m. & 6.40 p.m.; sundays, delivered at 7.30 a.m. & dispatched at 11.45 a.m. The Parcels Post received & dispatched at the same time as mails."  It also lists "Matthews Geo. boot maker, Post Office." He was similarly listed in the 1922 and 1929 directories. He is listed as a draper and post office in 1933. "Matthews Ida (Miss), draper & post office" was listed in 1937.

The Church Kimpton - Publication details as the previous card.

Kimpton Hoo    Kimpton Hoo, the property of Viscount Hampden, and at present occupied by Godfrey Walters esq. is a noble mansion standing in an extensive domain of 247 acres, surrounded by stately trees. Viscount Hampden is lord of the manor and principal landlord. [Kelly's Directory for Hertfordshire, 1902]

The Great Fire at Kimpton Holt  After the Battle - The Heroine of the Fire Photo A.G. Bishop, Welwyn, Herts  posted December 1905 Does anyone have any information about the fire - and who the heroine is?

See also Vital Records

If you know of other books, websites, etc, relating to this place, please tell me.

Page updated October 2007