Bedfordshire. Eyersholt

DIRECTORY.] BEDFORDSHIRE. EYERSHOLT. 63 curate of the parish: the font dates from the 12th century: The area is 1,300 acres ; rateable value, [2,074 ; the popu the church will seat 140 persous. The earlier register is lation in 1881 was 274. included in that of Leighton Buzzard and dates from the CLIPSTONE is a portion of this hamlet, situated I mile year 1653. but there ~s now a separate register for the north. parish, The living is a vicarage, in the gift of the parish Parish Clerk, Charles Baker. ioners, and held since r88r by the Rev. James Sunderland LL.M. and M.A. of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Here SuB-PosT 0FFICE.-David Stevens,receiver. Letters through are Congregational and Wesleyan chapels. The town lands, Leighton Buzzard arrive at 7 a. m. & 12 noon ; dispatched of 120 acres, produce £200 yearly, of which one moiety is at 6.30 p.m. week days only. The nearest money order paid to the vicar, and the remainder applied to the church & telegraph office is at Hockliffe and the poor. The principal landowners are Messrs. William This place is included in Stanbridge, Eggington & Tilsworth Claridge and William Smith and John Warner Adams esqs. United School Board district, formed in r874 of Hockliffe House, Leighton Buzzard. The soil is loamy; Board School (mixed), erected in r88o, for 6o children; subsoil, clay. The chief crops are grass, wheat and barley. aYerage attendance, 42 i Mrs. Kate Hunt, mistress Powell William Langley, Langley cot Dunton Fred, beer retailer Janes Charles, farmer Sunderland Rev. Jas.LL.M., M.A. [vicar] Edwards Henry & Sons, carpenters, Olney George, farmer Wigham Eustace, Eggington house builders & contractors Stevens David, shopkeeper Adams John, farmer, Clipstone Hunt Herbert, shoe maker Tillett William, The Horse Shoes P.H Batchelar Ezra, farmer Inns William John, farmer ELSTOW (formerly called Helenstow) is a parish and village green are remains of a stone cross. A short distance pleasant village, situated on the road from Bedford to Luton, south of the church are the remains of the Benedictine nun one mile south from Bedford, in the Northern division of the nery of St. Helen, founded by Judith, Countess of Hunting county, hundred of Redbornestoke, petty sessional division, don, and niece of William the Conqueror, in 1078; at its union and county court district of Bedford, rural deanery of dissolution there were 21 nuns, and the revenues were esti Haynes, arcbdeaconry of Bedford and diocese of Ely. The mated at £284. The renowned John Bunyan, author of church of SS. Mary and Helena, anciently attached to the " The Pilgrim's Progress," was born in this village in 1628 ; Benedictine abbey, is chiefly a building of the Norman the son of a tinker, he was received into the ministry of the period, with some portions of Early English date, and con Baptists, and for preaching was imprisoned in Bedford gaol sists of a chancel, or choir, with clerestory, loftyclerestoried 166o-72, afterwards was pastor of a chapel in Bedford ; he nave, aisles, north porch, a vaulted chamber on the north died in London in 16881 and was buried in Bunhill Fields west and a noble detached tower on the north-west with low burial ground. One mile south-east is an ancient mansion spire, containing a clock and 5 bells : there are several now known by the name of Medbury Farm. The poor's ancient monuments and two marble mural tablets to the land, which consists of 22A. oR. 38P. is let for £44 Ios. 9d. two co-heiresses of the late William Hillersdon esq. the which sum is distributed among the poor yearly. Pillow former owner of the manor, whose ancestors possessed it lace making is carried on to a small extent. Samuel Whit for many generations: there are brasses to Elizabeth bread esq. ll.P., D.L., J'.P. of Southill. Biggleswade, is lord Hervey, an abbess, and of one of the nuns : the beautiful of the manor and principal landowner. The soil is gravelly Early English vaulted room, called the Chapter house, now near the town of Bedford, but towards the south of the used as a vestry, has a slender column of Purbeck marble parish deep loam and clay; ~bsoil, clay. The chief crops in the centre : the north porch is an interesting example of are wheat and barley. The area is 1,522 acres; rateable Norman work : the font and ceiling are Perpendicular : in value, £6,962 ; population in 1881 was 558. 1882 the church was thoroughly restored at the expense of Parish Clerk, George Prudden. Samuel Whitbread esq. M.P. under the direction of T. J. Jackson, of Bedford, the cost being upwards of £6,ooo: two PosT OFFICE.-William Southam, receiver. Letters arrive very handsome stained memorial windows have been placed through Bedford at 7.18 a.m,; dispatched at 5·57 p.m. at the east eQd of the south aisle to the memory of Bunyan. week days; snndays, 12.57 p.m. The nearest money The register dates from the year r64o. The living is a order & telegraph office is at Bedford vicarage, net yearly value £7o, including 22 acres of glebe, A School Board of 5 members was formed May 20, 1873; in the gift of Samuel Whitbread esq. M.P. and held since M. Sharman, Bedford, clerk to the board; Joseph Adams, r867 by the Rev, James Copner M. A. of St. Mary Hall, Ox- attendance officer ford, who resides at 'fhe Embankment, Bedford. Here is a Board School (mixed), built in 1873, at a cost of £1,6oo, Congregational cha~l. There are two large fairs for cattle for 100 children; average attendance, 85; Thomas held here annually on May rsth and November sth. On the James, master Macan Mrs. The Lodge Harvey William, pig dealer Prudden George, parish clerk Wigram Francis Spencer, The Green Keep James, farmer, Elstow, Hardwick Smith Joseph, baker & farmer COMMERCIAL. Morris Edward,Swan P.JI. good stabling Southam Wm. shoe maker, Post office Cherry William, shopkeeper accommodation & horses & traps on Thorogood J oseph, shoe maker Cranfield Emery,farmer,PearTree farm hire Tilcock George, farmer Crouch William, baker Pestell James, florist Tucker Henry, Red Lion P,H Gooding Thomas, haulier & dealer Prole John & Alfred, farmers Woods Thomas, blacksmith f!arper Joseph, dairyman ProleJsph.l.illey&Edwd.frmrs.Medbury Young Richard, shopkeeper EVERSHOLT is a parish situated 2 miles east from Bedford K.G. and held since 1861 by the, Rev. William Woburn, on the borders of the park, about 4 south from Samuel Baker M.A. of Clare College, Cambridge. There is Ridgmont station on the Bedford and Bletchley branch of 1 a charity estate of no acres, known as the Eversholt the North Western railway and 14 south-west from Bedford, Parochial Charity, administered by trustees, which produces in the Southern division of the county, hundred of Mans head, £245 qs. yearly, applied to the church, to the poor and petty sessional division and union of Woburn, county court to the schools, the latter receiving one-third of the total district of Ampthill, rural deanery of Fleete, arcbdeaconry' income. There is a reading room managed by a committee of Bedford and diocese of Ely. The parish consists of of ro members, the rector being president; also a library at .several clusters of houses called "Ends." The church of ·the school for the use of the parish, consisting of about 250 St. John the Baptist is a building of stone in the Early Yolumes. Gilbert of Eversholt, one of the early rectors of English, Decorated and Perpendicular styles, consisting of this parish, and also lttl. architect of some considerable emi chancel, nave of four bays, aisles and a western embattled bence, was employed in the restoration of St. Albans Abbey. tower containing 6 bells: the north aisle projects one bay The Duke of Bedford K.G. is lord of the manor and chief beyond the nave, and opens into the chancel by a Decorated landowner. The soil is loam and gravel; subsoil, clay. arch, on one side of which is a piscina: there is anothet in The land is chiefly in pasture; the chief crops are wheat, the south aisle and a third in the chancel : it underwent a. barley, oats, beans and -peas. The area is 2,136 acres; complete restoration in r864, under the direction of the late rateable value, £3,240; the population in r881 was 768. Sir G. G. Scott R.A. at a cost of about [3,000: there are PosT OFFICE.-Richard Farmer Harris, receiver. Letters monuments to the Hon. Frances Ongley, eldest daughter of arrive through Woburn at 7.15 a.m. ;• dispatched at 5.20 Samuel Henley, first Baron Ongley, of Old Warden (ext. p.m. TM nearest money order & telegraph office is at 1877); Mrs. Elizabeth Hyde, sister of the Bishop of St. Woburn David's, and Mrs. Sarah Hodgkinson: there is a represJnta- A School Board of 5members was formed in October, 1885; tion of a boar's head carved in storre in the wall of the the Rev. W. S. Baker, chairman & clerk to the board vestr:y, the name Eversholt signifying '' the hold of the wild (pro tem. J boar:" the church will seat 300 persons. The l"egister Board School (formerly National) {mixed), erected in 1844, dates from the year ;r62~L The living is a rectory, tithe for 140 children, & (infants) erected in 1862, for 6o chil- rent-obarge £4So, gross yearly value £6oo, including 65 dren, now annexed ; average attendance, So; Benjamin acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the Duke of Wild, master i • .

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