Religion: Nonconformity at Preston
The following information has been extracted from Nonconformity in Herts by William Urwick (1884).
Anabaptists: In 1675 the congregation which met at a Kensworth church in 1675 was described.
Three hundred and ninety-nine members were listed who included unspecified names from Preston.
The Quakers (The Society of Friends): The wife of Francis Penn was fined in the Archdeacons Court.
This family took a leading part in the Society. The house of Susan Penn was registered as a meeting
place for Quakers at Preston.
The following places of worship for Protestant Dissenters were certified to the Archdeacon of
Huntingdon:
The house of Widow Heath at Preston in Hitchin parish was licensed as a Congregational
meeting place and Thomas Milway was licensed to teach there on 2 May 1672.
The house of Daniel Raymond of Preston in the parish of Ippollitts was registered 2 June
1697 - certified by D Raymond, Daniel Joyner, John Gutteridge.
The house of Joseph Roberts at Preston was registered on 27 May 1706. Certified by
Lawrence Deacon, William Joyner, William Cotton and Joseph Roberts.
The house of John Gootheridge was certified by John Needham, Elizabeth Deer, Thomas
Tickle and James Wybird on 31 March 1716.
The dwelling home of Mary Field at Cromwell Green (sic), widow, was registered on 23 April
1717 by Mary and William Field, Jeremiah Gazeley and John Sanders.
The house of Thomas Crawley at Preston Green was registered on 26 February 1723 by
Jeremiah Gazeley, Francis Robinson and Thomas Crawley.
The house of John Gootheridge, Ippollitts. Certified by John Needham, Elizabeth Deer,
Thomas Crawley and John Gootheridge on 9 January 1722.
The dwelling house of Jeremiah Gazeley near Preston Green in the parish of Ippollitts.
Certified by John Needham, Francis Robinson and John Goothridge on 28 December 1725.
The dwelling house of Jeremiah Gazeley near Preston Green was certified by John
Needham, Thomas Crawley and Joseph Field on 28 December 1725.
The house of John Burr certified on 6 February 1730 by John Burr, William Joyner, Dennis
Brown and and William Cotton
The house of Henry Pedder was certified on 19 March 1732/33 by Jeremiah Gazeley,
Benjamin Gutheridge and Thomas Crawley.
The house of Richard Punter was certified on 7 June 1732 by John Gootheridge, John Burr,
Richard Punter and Edward Brookes
The house of the widow Gotheridge in Preston, in the Parish of Kings Walden. Certified
byJeremiah Gazley, Benjamin Gotheridge and John Caine on 15 June 1732
The house of Thomas Impey of Pointers End (sic) was certified on 30 June 1733 by Dennis
Brown, John Burr and Richard Punter.
A house of Mr Edward Hurst, inhabited by George Clark at Preston in the parish of Ippollitts.
Certified by John Needham, William Thomas and Thomas Tickle on 11 October 1733.
The dwelling house of John Brown was certified on 4 September 1799 by William Williams,
Nathaniel Field, Samuel Emly Hobbs (sic)
Several Hitchin parishioners (who included some with well-known Preston names) were fined and/or
disciplined for not supporting St Marys Anglican Church:
(Note: among the comments in the book about the Foster family of Hunsdon House, Preston is a
testament by John Geard in 1833 that he married Elizabeth Bradley on 13 July 1778. She was a
descendant of Matthew Foster)