Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for HAVERHILL

HAVERHILL, a small town, a parish, and a subdistrict, in Risbridge district, Suffolk and Essex. The town stands on a head stream of the river Stour, and on the Colne Valley and Cambridge railway, 1¾ mile E of the boundary with Cambridgeshire, and 13¼ NW of Halstead; consists chiefly of one street, nearly a mile loug, partly in Suffolk, partly in Essex; was once a more important place than now, and had a castle of the Greys of Codnor; suffered much injury by fire in 1665; has acquired benefit from the opening to it of railway communication; and has a post office‡ under Newmarket, two banking offices, a chief inn, a corn exchange, a church, four dissenting chapels, and both national and British schools. The church is ancient, with a tower; and contains a few old monuments. Fifty gold coins, supposed to be of Boadicea, queen of the Iceni, were found in 1785. A weekly market is held on Friday; a fair is held on 12 and 13 May; and brewing, malting, straw plaiting, and the manufacture of drabbets and umbrella silks are carried on.—The parish comprises 2, 549 acres. Real property, £7, 493. Pop., 2, 434. Houses, 506. Pop. of the Suffolk portion, 2, 173. Houses, 454. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely. Value, £220. Patron, Sir G. H. W. Beaumont, Bart. Ward, who attended the Synod of Dort, was a native.—The sub-district contains nine parishes, and an extra-parochial tract. Acres, 18, 289. Pop., 7, 328. Houses, 1, 484.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a small town, a parish, and a subdistrict"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Haverhill AP/CP       Haverhill SubD       Risbridge RegD/PLU       Essex AncC       Suffolk AncC
Place: Haverhill

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