KENSWORTH, a parish in the hundred of DACORUM,
county of HERTFORD, 2 miles (N.W.) from Market-
Street, containing 615 inhabitants. The living is a
vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Huntingdon, and diocese
of Lincoln, rated in the king's books at £9. 13. 4.,
and in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of St.
Paul's, London. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, has.
some portions in the early style of English architecture,
with some of later date; the capital of the western pillars
exhibits the fable of the Wolf and the Crane on one
side, and that of the Eagle and the Hare on the other:
the doorway within the tower has capitals representing
birds and human heads; both doorways are built of
Caen stone. A school for teaching sixteen poor children
to read was endowed, in 1754, by Mr. and Mrs. Burgis,
with a rent-charge; the present income is £ 12. 10. per
annum.