Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for OLNEY

OLNEY, a small town, a parish, and a sub-district, in Newport-Pagnell district, Bucks. The town stands on the river Ouse, at the terminus of an extension of the Newport-Pagnell railway, 2 miles S E of the boundary with Northamptonshire, and 5 N by E of Newport-Pagnell. It was formerly called Oulney; it is notablefor the residence at it of Browne, author of " Piscatory Eclogues, " who was vicar, of John Newton, author of" Cardiphonia" and other religions works, who also wasvicar, of Thomas Scott, author of " Force of Truth, " a" Commentary on the Bible, " and other works, who wascurate, and especially of Cowper the poet, who wrotehere and at Weston-Underwood, 1½ mile to the S W, many of his poems; and it was the place where Newton and Cowper wrote the " Olney Hymns." The extension railway to it, from Newport-Pagnell, was authorized in 1865, on a capital of £80,000 in shares, and £26,000 in loans; but had not been formed at the end of 1867. A twenty-four-arched old bridge formerly spanned the Ouse and some small tributary streams in its neighbourhood, and was characterized by Cowper as of"wearisome but need ful length; " and a seven-arched-bridge was erected in room of the old one in 1832. The surrounding tract is low, flat, and subject to winteri floods; and the road through it, from Olney to Weston-Underwood, used to be so bad that it gave rise to therhyme, " Sle, sla, slud, stuck in the mud." The Ousefollows a somewhat serpentine course, even before reaching Olney, especially in the neighbourhood of Newport-Pagnell; and it becomes so very serpentine after passing Olney that it describes an aggregate course of about 70 miles, over what is only a direct distance of about 20 miles, between Olney and St. Neots. Hence does Drayton say:

Ouse having Oulney past, as she were waxed mad,
From her first stayder course immediately doth gad,
And in meandering gyves doth whirl herself about,
That, this way, here and there, back, forward, in and out;
And like a wanton girl, oft doubling in her gait,
In labyrinth-like turns and twinings intricate,
Thro' those rich fields doth run.

The environs of Olney are far from beautiful, and were less pleasant formerly than now; but they acquiredcharming associations in the minds of Newton and Cowper from their own intercourse, meditations, and employments. The town itself, also, both physically and morally, in their time, was dismal and miserable; but itinterested them the more, on that very account, as afield for their Christian philanthropy. It is even yet anunattractive place, with more thatched houses than slatedones; but it is undergoing improvement. It consists of a central market-place, one long street, and a few smallerstreets. Cowper s house still stands at a corner of the market-place; is rather taller than the neighbouringhouse, and presents a very desolate aspect; and hisgarden lies behind it, and contains his "summer parlour." The town has a post-office‡ under Newport-Pagnell, a good inn, a church, three dissenting chapels, a national school, a British school, two infant schools, twelve alms-houses, a causeway estate yielding £66 a year, and other charities £46. The church is early English, and large; and has a tower and spire 185 feethigh, seen at long distances from the town. The dissenting chapels are Independent, Baptist, and Quaker. The alms-houses were founded by Misses Smith, and have £124 a year from endowment. A weekly market is heldon Thursday; and fairs are held on Easter Monday, 29 June, and 13 Oct. Pop. of the town, in 1861, 2, 258. Houses, 540. The parish contains also the hamlet of Warrington. Acres, with Olney-Park-Farm, 3, 140. Real property of O. alone, £7, 491; of which £60 are in gas-works. Pop., 2, 347. Houses, 557. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford. Value, £163.* Patron, the Earl of Dartmouth.—The sub-district contains also eighteen other parishes, and three extra-parochial tracts. Acres, 34, 227. Pop., 10, 579.


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

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a small town, a parish, and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Olney CP/AP       Olney SubD       Newport Pagnell RegD/PLU       Buckinghamshire AncC
Place names: OLNEY     |     OULNEY
Place: Olney

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