I have enormous admiration for people who with a rare mixture of tenacity, scholarship and flair are able to open up the past so that it enriches the present. Chris Pickford is one such person.

He has been researching the churches of Bedfordshire for very many years but has done so with a lightness of touch which belies the underlying hard work. We now have the result of this in front of us.

Yet again he has shown us the eccentricities, the skills, the dedication that each generation has put into the care of their church buildings and has reminded us that these buildings are treasure-houses of the spirit as well as places of prayer and service.

The rootlessness and restlessness of contemporary society is counterpointed by the stillness and centredness of many of our churches - and that is a significant part of their importance for us; but to be able to enter those churches accompanied by Chris Pickford's researches is to be even more fully enriched.

It is a great privilege to have been invited to write this Foreword and I do so in the belief that the churches of Bedfordshire will continue to be uniquely important resources for the well-being of mind and spirit for the life of our communities in the years ahead

SALFORD

The list of incumbents at Salford goes back to 1229, but the present church is entirely of later date. The nave and south aisle were built in the late C13th and the chancel in the early C14th The timber-framed north porch includes a beam with C13th dogtooth ornament. The nave roof dates from the C15th and there are some C15th pews. The church also has monuments to the Salford, Polein and Peddar families.

In 1552 it was noted that “the said churche and steple coveryd with lede and the chancell and porch tyled”. The inventory also lists the mediaeval plate, ornaments, and three bells one of which still hangs in the open bellcote over the west end of the church. In 1617 the church was reported to be out of repair. One of the bells was recast in 1626 and another (now lost) in 1661. Dates of 1632 on a beam in the nave roof and 1633 in the porch clearly relate to repairs at that time. A new chalice and paten were obtained in 1638. The plate was later supplemented by the gift of a salver (hallmarked 1763) in 1771 and a flagon in 1802.

In 1750 the benefices of Hulcote and Salford were united, and from this date the churches share a similar history. Salford Vicarage was demolished when the Rectory at Hulcote was repaired and enlarged in 1824.

At some time around 1760, the original “steeple” over the west end of the church was taken down and replaced by a new tower of brick with comer pinnacles, pyramid roof and weathervane. When William White reported on the condition of the church in 1866 he considered the tower to have been built about a hundred years earlier. He also noted that it was built from the oak beams which carried the original bell turret. There was also a west gallery under the belfry. At about the same time, c.1760, the chancel was partially rebuilt and a plaster ceiling erected. Visiting in 1827, Boissier described Salford as “a small poor Decorated church with low tower & N porch”. Some repairs were ordered by Bonney in 1823 and 1833.

In 1836 the church was re-pewed, the south doors stopped up and other improvements carried out at the expense of the parish. Hulcote church was also repaired after the work at Salford had been completed.

THE BEDFORDSHIRE CHURCHES SERIES

This is to be a series of three volumes covering Bedfordshire churches in the nineteenth century. The volumes will contain descriptions of churches “on the eve of restoration” together with contemporary illustrations –most of which will be published for the first time.

For each church, there will be extracts from original records amplified by a commentary and explanatory footnotes. The main source material consists of:

• 1. Extracts from church inventories – mainly 1822

• 2. Antiquarian notes on churches by Archdeacon Bonney, c.1840

• 3. Archdeacon Bonney’s visitation notebooks 1823-1839

• 4. Articles on churches by W.A. – John Martin, the librarian at Woburn Abbey - 1845-1854

• 5. Church descriptions by Sir Stephen Glynne 1830-1870

There is considerable value in having these key sources, with illustrations and commentary, in one place. The descriptions by Bonney and Glynne are purely factual, but John Martin’s articles, highlighting abuses and neglect, make colourful and at times controversial reading. Bonney’s visitation notes - and the supporting evidence from contemporary records such as churchwardens’ accounts – give a clear indication that church buildings were far from neglected in the opening decades of the nineteenth century. Together these sources document features that can still be seen today, and provide information on others that have been lost.

The aim has been to present the text of contemporary sources in their original state, to convey a feeling for the times as well as to provide information. It is recognised that most of the sources could have been condensed by editing - for instance the lists of registers in the glebe terriers and the quotations in the articles by W.A. – but the Editorial Group felt that they should nevertheless be published in extenso.

The introductory commentary for each church includes a summary of the history of the building, focusing especially on eighteenth and nineteenth century restoration and alterations. These introductory notes are generally brief, but may be longer where differences between present and past external appearance merit detailed discussion. Detailed footnotes explain and amplify features mentioned in the text of the original sources and so lead the reader to additional research material.

The Sources – Introduction

Bedfordshire churches on the eve of restoration are well documented in a number of sources. First, there are a great many pictures of churches by artists such as Thomas Fisher and George Shepherd dating from the early Cl9th. Secondly, there are the manuscript sources which describe the condition of church buildings and ornaments in the years leading up to “the age of restoration”.

These sources are described and discussed in detail below. In outline, however, they include the glebe terriers for 1822 which describe the plan of each church and list the ornaments and furnishings. As Archdeacon of Bedford from 1821 to 1844, Dr. Henry Kaye Bonney compiled two notebooks on the churches in his care. In the one, he made detailed architectural notes on each church and its fittings, and in the other he kept a record of the orders made at his archidiaconal visitations between 1823 and 1839. Another commentator was John Martin, the Librarian at Woburn Abbey, who using the signature W.A. wrote a series of pithy articles on Bedfordshire churches for the Northampton Mercury and Bedfordshire Times between 1845 and 1854. Lastly, there are the notebooks of Sir Stephen Glynne who visited over a third of the churches in the County between 1830 and 1870.

Together these sources provide a colourful image of the appearance, condition and atmosphere of Bedfordshire churches at a time when on the one hand they were nearer their mediaeval state than they are today but when on the other they were arguably in their greatest need of attention.

Glebe Terriers (extracts) 1822

After the Reformation, the ecclesiastical authorities became increasingly aware of the need to keep proper records of church possessions. The documents known as glebe terriers fulfil this purpose, and include terriers (recording property and endowments) and inventories (listing goods and chattels). The existence of such records helped to prevent the loss and misappropriation of church property.

Terriers had been compiled for purely parochial purposes in mediaeval times, but in compliance with an archiepiscopal order or canon of 1571 it became a requirement for copies of these documents to be lodged in diocesan registries for safe-keeping.

Thanks to the support of Bedfordshire County Council and my former colleagues in the Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service the bulk of the work for this volume was completed before I left Bedford in August 1998 to take up a new appointment in London. The task of completing the book for publication has been relatively simple.

Thanks are due to the authorities and owners who have allowed the publication of their material. The 1822 glebe terriers are published here by kind permission of Lincoln Diocesan Record Office. Archdeacon Bonney's church notes were among the manuscripts transferred to the County Record Office from the old Bedford Library, while Bonney's visitation notes appear by kind permission of the present Archdeacon of Bedford, the Ven. Malcolm Lesiter. Sir Stephen Glynne's Bedfordshire church notes are published by kind permission of Sir William Gladstone. Thanks are also due to Geoffrey Veysey for providing information on the notes and for allowing me to quote from his article about Sir Stephen Glynne. The sources of illustrations are acknowledged separately.

Material for this volume has been gathered from several record repositories and institutions. My first debt of gratitude is to all my friends at Bedford, but I must also thank the staff at the British Library, the British Newspaper Library, the library of the Society of Antiquaries of London, the Bedfordshire County Library Service, Lambeth Palace Library, Cambridge University Library, Lincolnshire Archives and the Hertfordshire County Record Office for their help and advice.

Although acknowledged in the first part, special thanks are due to Pauline Newbery who typed most of the text of the original sources and to Neil Alston who prepared the initial selection of illustrations. To these names must be added that of Jackie Croot who has worked carefully through the newspaper files extracting useful references to churches and chapels. Her work has added enormously to the available information, making it possible to solve many problems of interpretation for which answers would otherwise have been impossible to find.

I owe a great deal to the support and contributions of people who have accompanied me on my visits and to the many local experts who have made their knowledge of individual churches available to me and commented on the draft text. The Bishop of St.Albans has very kindly contributed a foreword.

HARLINGTON

The present church is essentially of the early to mid C14th, with the nave and aisles apparently earlier than the chancel. Both are in the Decorated style. Documentary evidence indicates that there was a chapel or church here in the period 1174-1181.

Recent excavations have disclosed the foundations of a buttress at the east end of the chancel which may have belonged to the earlier church. Later additions to the fabric include the Cl5th west tower and south porch and the vestry of c.1500 on the north side of the chancel. In the early Cl6th, the walls of the aisles were heightened and the body of the church re-roofed in its present form. The Edwardian inventory of 1552 noted “the churche and porche leaded and the chaunsell tyled and the stepull tyled”.

Early stained glass in the easternmost window of the north wall of the north aisle in memory of members of the Wingate family was recorded in a drawing of 1634. Chancel repairs for Lady Wentworth are recorded in accounts of 1696-7. Repairs by the parish are documented in the churchwardens’ accounts which survive in a single volume from 1677 to 1918. Dated lead of 1774 recorded at the time of its removal related to roof repairs by John Carte of Ampthill in that year. Extensive repairs costing over £150 were undertaken in 1825-6. The organ - an early instance in a country church - is first mentioned in 1825. The church interior was described by Boissier in 1827 as “snug and comfortable”. He also noted “the east window filled with Modern stained glass”.

The church is said to have undergone a thorough restoration in 1867. The tower was repaired in 1869 by George Muckleston at a cost of £35. Two new stained glass windows by Powell of Whitefriars were installed, the east window in 1876 and the east window of the north aisle in 1885. The chancel roof, of crown-post type, was repaired in 1886 and the open rafters decorated in light blue studded with stars. Archdeacon Bathurst commented on the state of the church and recorded repairs to the nave roof and re-roofing of the vestry in 1888. In 1892 the south porch was restored at the expense of the patron, Major Cooper Cooper, who also had the ancient sundial repaired.

AMPTHILL

Although the present church dates chiefly from the Cl4th and Cl5th, the foundations of the Cl2th church were discovered during excavations in 1975. The later church has a chancel, nave with north and south aisles, south porch and west tower. It retains its Cl5th roof with angels and shields (though the painted decoration is modem) and there is a ceilure above the former rood.

In 1696 a private pew was constructed for Lord Ashbumham of Ampthill Park in the south aisle of the church. Sir Christopher Wren and his pupil Nicholas Hawksmoor were involved in the design, and the pew was built by Alexander Fort, the King’s joiner. There was a heated legal dispute between Lord Ashburnham and Lord Ailesbury of Houghton House about this pew, which was eventually removed in 1847. The entrance through the east wall of the south aisle is shown in Buckler’s drawing dated 1835 (Plate 2). Lord Ailesbury had his own pew in the church, and there are faculties and papers regarding other Cl8th pews. In 1827 Boissier described the church as “crowded with pews & galleries”. Between 1823 and 1839 Bonney ordered several improvements to the pews, and in 1845 W.A. was highly critical of the arrangement of the church interior.

A faculty was obtained in 1728 to replace the pulpit, take down the chancel screen, and alter various windows. It was probably at this date that the pulpit was placed centrally in the chancel arch where it remained until 1847. Other repairs and alterations in the Cl8th and early Cl9th are recorded in the churchwardens’ accounts from 1718, vestry minutes from 1767, and churchwardens bills from 1823 (listed individually by Andrew Underwood) in the parish records.

Restoration came in 1847-8 under James Tacy Wing of Bedford, who provided new seats and galleries in the nave (Plate 3) and renewed the east window, repaired the roof and stonework, and added a small vestry on the north side of the chancel. In 1851-2 the church was lit by gas.

The tracery of the windows in the south aisle was renewed in 1872-3. Further work followed in 1877 when the vestry on the north side of the chancel was enlarged under James Piers St. Aubyn, although not all the work authorised by the faculty was carried out.