POTTON, a market-town and parish in the hundred of BIGGLESWADE, county of BEDFORD, 11 miles (E.) from Bedford, and 48 (N.byW.) from London, containing 1498 inhabitants. A great part of this town was destroyed by fire in 1783, on which occasion the damages were estimated at £25,000, exclusively of the expense of temporary erections' in the adjacent fields, for the accommodation of the inhabitants, until their houses could be rebuilt. It is pleasantly situated at the foot of a hill, on the high road from London to Cambridge, and consists principally of one long street: the inhabitants are supplied with water by means of several small rivulets, and the adjacent neighbourhood is highly respectable, and contains some genteel and handsome mansions. The market is on Saturday, chiefly for corn and straw-plat, but the business done is very inconsiderable. In 1227, a fair was granted by charter of Henry III.: at present, fairs are held on the third Tuesday in January, the last Tuesday in April, first Tuesday in July, and the Tuesday before the 29th of October, all which are noted for the sale of horses and sheep. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Bedford, and diocese of Lincoln, rated in the king's books at £13. 6. 8., and in the patronage of the Crown. The church is dedicated to St. Mary. There is a place of worship for Baptists. Three several bequests have been made for the instruction of children; in 1711, of £50, by Dame Constance Burgoyne; in 1712, of £30, by Alexander Atkinson; and in 1770, of £400, by John Caryer; which are vested in land, and, with the sum of £3. 16. 8. per annum, a proportion of the town land receipts, are applied to the instruction of about thirty of both sexes.