Great Bowden

• A cemetery of about 2 acres was formed in 1879 and was under the control of the Market Harborough Urban District Council.

• The parish was in the Market Harborough sub-district of the Market Harborough Registration District.
   
• The 1851 Census for Leicestershire has been indexed by the Leicestershire & Rutland Family History Society. The whole index is available on microfiche.
   
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
   

• The Anglican parish church was dedicated to Saint Peter (Some sources say St. Peter and St. Paul).
   
• The church was built in the 13th century.
   
• The church was restored in 1887.
   
• The church seats 365.
   
• The churchyard was closed to new burials in 1879.
   
• Andrew TATLOW has a photograph of St Peter and St Paul Church on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2006.
   
• Half a mile east of Market Harborough stands the church of St. Mary-in-Arden, built in 1693, which has a parish of 450 acres, part of which is in Northamtonshire.
   

• The Anglican parish register dates from 1559 for baptisms, 1560 for burials and 1564 for marriages.
   
• The church was in the rural deanery of Gartree (first portion).
   
• The Society of Genealogists holds microfiche copies of Great Bowden parish records including baptisms from 1559 - 1880, marriages from 1564 - 1837 and burials from 1560 - 1857 which can be studied at their library in London.
   
• The Congregationalists had a chapel built here in 1886 in place of an older structure.
   
• Michael PATTERSON has a photograph of the Congregational Chapel on Geo-graph, taken in September, 2006.
   

• Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
   
• The parish was in the Market Harborough sub-district of the Market Harborough Registration District.
   

This village and parish lie just northeast of Market Harborough, just off of the A6 trunk road. Great Bowden may be considered a suburb of Market Harborough. The parish is 14 miles southeast of Leicester city and is bound on the west by the Grand Union Canal and on the south and east by the River Welland.

If you are planning a visit:

• Mat FASCIONE has a photograph of the village sign on the north side of the village on Geo-graph, taken in September, 2007.
   

• Geograph
• Flickr

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Great Bowden to another place.

• In the 1800s and early 1900s, much of the parish was pasturage.
   
• The village hall was built and opened in 1903.
   
• David THOMPSON has a photograph of the Village Hall near the heart of the village on Geo-graph, taken in January, 2017. Stop in and ask for a schedule of forth-coming events.
   

• See our Maps page for additional resources.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SP745890 (Lat/Lon: 52.493599, -0.904484), Great Bowden which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

The parish has two War Memorial plaques. These were installed in the parish church, but were moved in recent years to the Village Hall.

1. WMR-55037, which is for World War One, and
2. WMR-55038, which lists the eleven people lost in World War Two.

There are five Commonwealth War Graves in Great Bowden Cemetery, two from World War I and three from World War II.

WW I:

1. Albert Edward MARTIN, priv., 7th Dragoon Guards, died 1 Nov. 1918.
    
2. Horace John MARTIN, priv. 2nd class, RAF, age 29, died 23 Nov. 1918. Son of Mrs. Rosa MARTIN.
    

WW II:

1. Michael George BERRY, corp., 1/5th Btn. Leics. Regt., age 18, died 26 Nov. 1939. Son of John George and Hilda Crawford BERRY.
    
2. George Roy DAWSON, driver, 1st Div. Royal Corps of Signals, age 32, died 26 Oct. 1942. Son of Arthur and Maud Emily DAWSON.
    
3. George OLIVER, ldg. stoker, Royal Navy (H.M.S. Limhourne), age 28, died 28 Oct. 1943. Husband of Caroline Elizabeth OLIVER.
    

• The parish is in the ancient Gartree Hundred in the southern division of the county.
   
• The parish was enlarged by about 112 acres in April, 1924, by gaining part of Lubenham Civil Parish.
   
• In October, 1927, the parish was abolished and all 3,290 acres amalgamated into Market Harborough township and Civil Parish.
   

• Bastardy cases would be heard in the Market Harborough petty session hearings held every other Tuesday.
   
• As a result of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act reforms, this parish became part of the Market Harborough Poorlaw Union.
   
• The Market Harborough Workhouse is in this parish.
   

Year	Inhabitants
1841	1,265
1871	1,450
1881	1,985
1891	2,259
1901	3,749
1911	4,427
1921	4,323

• A Public Elementary School (National School) was built here in 1839. The school was enlarged in 1873.