Kettering

"KETTERING, a parish, post, and market town, in the hundred of Huxloe, county Northampton, 14 miles N.E. of Northampton, and 11. S.E. of Market Harborough. It is situated on a small stream that empties itself into the Ise brook, a branch of the river Nen, and is a station on the Midland railway. It was called by the Saxons Kateringes, and was given by Edwy to Elfsige, but was afterwards:granted to Peterborough Abbey. The parish, which is extensive, is chiefly arable, and is in a high state of cultivation. ... The town is very ancient, and the monks of Peterborough obtained a charter for a market in the reign of Henry III. It is the head of a Poor-law Union, superintendent registry, and County Court districts, Petty sessions are held fortnightly. It contains a townhall and corn exchange, temperance hall, police station, public library, sessions house, two banks, and a savings-bank. The inhabitants are employed in the stay factories, also the mustard, chicory, clothes, sewing-machine, and agricultural implement manufactories, and as boot and shoemakers, which last trade is extensively carried on; silk shag for hats, velvets, plushes, &c., are also manufactured. A few persons are engaged in the weaving of ribbons and persians and the brush manufactories. ... The living is a rectory in the diocese of Peterborough, value £786. The church, dedicated to SS. Peter and Paul, is a stone structure, with a high tower crowned by a spire. The parochial charities produce about £259 per annum. There are chapels for Wesleyans, Independents, Baptists, and Quakers. There are several schools in the parish, including National and British schools for both sexes, a free school for boys, and also for girls. ... Gill, the expositor, and Andrew Fuller, the Baptist divine, died in this town. Boughton House, 2 miles N.E. of the town, the seat of the Duke of Buccleuch, ... Market day is Friday. Fairs are held on the Thursday before Easter, Old Michaelmas, and St. Thomas's Day, and the Friday before Whitsuntide." [Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868 by Colin Hinson ©2010]