Chelveston-cum-Caldecott is a small straggling village and parish on the borders of Bedfordshire and on the road from Higham Ferrers to Kimbolton, about 2¼ miles east-by-north from Higham Ferrers, 6 south from Thrapston, 8 north-east from Wellingborough and 67 from London, in the Eastern division of the county, hundred of Higham Ferrers, petty sessional division of Wellingborough, union and county court district of Thrapston, rural deanery of Higham Ferrers (first portion), archdeaconry of Oakham and diocese of Peterborough. Higham Ferrers station on the Northampton and Peterborough branch of the London and North Western railway is in this parish, about 3 miles west from the village. The church of St John the Baptist, situated in a field quite away from the village, is an edifice of stone in the Norman and Early English styles, consisting of chancel, clerestoried nave, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower at the north-east angle containing 5 bells and a clock, erected in 1867 at a cost of £86: the exterior of the tower, the walls of which are five and a half feet thick, exhibits traces of Norman work: the pulpit and desks are richly carved and in the south wall, close to the pulpit, is a piscina: and interesting Early English window, discovered in the chancel, has been restored by Mrs. Wise, the lady of the manor: the church was restored about 1850. The register, including Caldecott, dates from the year 1723. The living is a vicarage, united to the vicarage of Higham Ferrers, joint net yearly value £200, in the gift of G C Wentworth-Fitzwilliam Esq., and held since 1906 by the Rev. Gerard Markby Davidson M.A. of Clare College, Cambridge, who resides at Higham Ferrers. There are four restored almshouses, founded under the will of James and Thomas Sawyer, dated 1708, for four widows, each of whom receives 3s. weekly and coals. Neale’s charity of 12s. is for bread. The inhabitants are engaged in agriculture and shoe making. The reading-room has a lending library. Mrs Jane Harriet Wise of Walton Hall, Derbyshire, who is lady of the manor, the Duchy of Lancaster, G C Wentworth-Fitzwilliam Esq. of Milton House, Castor, Lady Wantage, of Lockinge House, Berks and John Chettle Esq. are the principal landowners. The soil is chiefly clayey; sub-soil principally clay. The chief crops are wheat, oats, barley and seeds. The area is 1,804 acres; assessable value £2,106; the population in 1901 was 348.
Sexton Joseph Bonfield.
Post Office, Chelveston Frederick C Meadows, sub-postmaster. Letters received through Higham Ferrers, arriving at 6.50 a.m. & 5 p.m.: dispatched at 7.20 a.m. & 5.15 pm: no Sunday delivery. The nearest money order & telegraph office is at Higham Ferrers, 3 miles distant.
Letter Boxes Caldecott, cleared at 7.35 a.m. & 5.15 p.m. & Higham Ferrers & Irthlingborough (L & N W Railway station), cleared at 7.15 & 9.20 a.m. & 4.20, 6.25 & 7.50 p.m.
Endowed School (mixed) erected in 1864 with materials presented by H C Wise Esq., for 100 children; average attendance 66; the endowment derived from 23acres 36perches of land given in 1760, by Mrs Bailey and Mrs Levit, of Walton-upon-Trent, Derbyshire, now amounts to £30 a year; the school is otherwise supported by voluntary contributions & there is a good house for the mistress; Mrs Mary Thompson, mistress.
Higham Ferrers & Irthlingborough Railway Station - Frederick Thomas George, station master.
Carriers to Wellingborough Hills, Corbett & Hewett, Wednesdays.