23. The Governors shall apply such and so many as they think fit of the existing school buildings of the Trust, other than the buildings hereby appropriated to the Grammar School, with their respective sites, playgrounds and appurtenances, for the purpose of Schools to be conducted as public elementary Schools, as defined by the Elementary Education Act, 1870, or any Act which may be passed for amending the same, for boys or for girls or for boys and girls resident in the Borough of Bedford; or they may at any time, with the consent of the Charity Commissioners, sell or dispose of the same premises or any part thereof, or apply the same to other educational purposes authorised by this scheme, providing other equal and suitable public school accommodation for such elementary education as aforesaid.

24. The Governors shall apply the said two-eleventh parts of the net income of the Trust for the purposes of such public elementary schools as aforesaid by erecting and maintaining proper school buildings and fittings, by providing efficient Masters and Mistresses, by establishing Exhibitions, calculated either to prolong the education of meritorious scholars within the Schools, or to carry them to some higher place of education, or by such other methods as the Governors shall from time to time judge to be best calculated to stimulate and promote the education of the poor of Bedford.

25. The Governors may from time to time raise and expend such capital sums as they find necessary for providing proper sites, buildings, and fittings for such public elementary Schools as aforesaid. But all sums so raised and the interest payable thereon shall be set against and, as between the several objects of the Trust, shall be deemed to have been charged upon and taken in reduction of the said two-eleventh shares of the net income of the Trust hereinbefore assigned to elementary education.

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.

Three charities were concerned with education in Bedford before 1868. Two of these were small. The school which was endowed by Leith’s charity was probably in existence as early as 1720, but received its endowment from the will of Alexander Leith, dated 1727. By this twenty children from the parishes of St. Paul and St. Cuthbert were to be taught to read, to write, and to understand the Church catechism. This school lasted until the early 1850s, but after 1856 the money from the charity was used for clothing needy children, and later still for other educational purposes.

The other small charity was one left to several towns by Aiderman Newton of Leicester in 1760. Bedford’s share was £26 a year to clothe and educate twenty-five boys of poor parents. These boys were to be taught reading, writing, arithmetic, psalm singing, and toning responses in divine service. The school lasted for about fifty years, but by the early nineteenth century funds proved insufficient. Fortunately this coincided with the beginning of the Harpur Trust’s full involvement in elementary education, and the Trust was able to accommodate the boys from Newton’s Charity in its new school.

The oldest educational charity, the Harpur Trust, had for long centred on one school, the Grammar School. From this had eventually developed an English School, later called the Commercial School. The Harpur endowment was also used for various other charitable purposes, including marriage portions, apprenticeships, and almshouses. It was in fact through its general charitable work that the Trust first became involved in elementary education. In 1773 an institution was founded known as the Hospital, which was to house, clothe, and educate a number of poor children. The day’s activities in the Hospital were divided between work and education and the children received instruction in reading, writing, and accounts. Although the Hospital existed for a hundred years, its teaching function became very limited after the early years of the nineteenth century.

The Governors of the Harpur Trust in the early 1800s were interested in contemporary developments in education. A group of them visited the National School in Baldwins Gardens, and as a result the Trust decided to start a school run on the monitorial system.

The School Places Crisis

As 1895 drew to a close it became apparent to the Harpur Trust Elementary Schools Committee that the stage was fast approaching when the Harpur Trust could do no more to accommodate the ever-increasing numbers requiring elementary education. The income from the 2/11 of the endowment was not increasing, nor to any great extent was the government grant: on the other hand the cost per pupil was rising steadily. At the end of November the heads of the elementary schools were asked to inform the Committee what in their opinion was the maximum number of children that could be accommodated without lowering efficiency. After considering the replies, the Committee decided to recommend that “the Governors should seriously consider the urgent necessity for increased school accommodation, and the inability of the Harpur Trust to provide the same.”

The facts of the situation were clearly brought home to the Governors at their meeting on January 8th, 1896, when the inspector’s reports were read. These revealed serious overcrowding. At Ampthill Road Boys’ School classes of 55-60 were being taught in rooms which at 10 square feet per pupil should only have accommodated thirty-seven. In the infants’ school a room 26 feet by 22 feet had, at times, to hold ninety-three children. Another room 30 feet by 20 feet accommodated 122, and there was one class alone that had over ninety on the register. At Clapham Road a similar state of affairs existed. In the babies’ room 108 were taught in a room that should have only held seventy, and as many as forty-nine sometimes had to be taught in a cloakroom that should have held no more than twenty. When the inspector made his visit in November, no pupils had been admitted since September.

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.

On Sunday, March 30th, 1851 a census was held covering all churches, chapels and preaching-houses of every religious deonomination in England and Wales. This census is important as it provides the only fullscale statistical picture of all the denominations that we have for the nineteenth century. It was organised through the usual channel of the Registrars’ Districts. Forms were left by local enumerators at every place of worship, and collected on Monday, March 31st.

Census day itself was wet and unpleasant. Some places advanced this as a reason for diminished congregations (see for example Riseley Church of England 3, and Potton Church of England 43) but in general the weather does not seem to have greatly affected numbers. Other reasons put forward for below average congregations were sickness (e.g. Oakley Church of England 24, and Meppershall Church of England 60), social causes (e.g. Blunham, where some of the congregation had been forced into the workhouse 40), and special services at other churches (e.g. Biggleswade Wesleyan 56, and Luton Old Meeting 105).

There was some opposition to the census, especially among certain of the Anglican clergy. This took various forms. At Pavenham and Felmersham Rev. Fielding Palmer made no attempt to give an estimated number of attendants, while Rev. T. J. Day of Bletsoe gave full expression to his feelings on the “Remarks” section of the form. The most common form of opposition was refusal to fill in the form at all. Occasionally the task was carried out by some other person of authority in the parish, as for example at Tilbrook (113) where it was done by the Constable. In other cases it was left to the local registrar to complete the form in October 1851 (e.g. Tempsford 39, Sutton 46, Flitton 73, Stanbridge 95). The only other complaint about the Census in the county came from the Catholic and Apostolic Church at Bedford (26). The objection here was based on “being classed under any sectarian name”.

Three different census forms were used – one for the Church of England, one for the Society of Friends, and one that was intended for all other denominations.

The parish churches of England are among the most noble and conspicuous of the nation’s architectural monuments. Their survival, however, owes more to chance than to good stewardship. Neglect, decay, and deliberate destruction are as much a part of their history as the work of dedicated benefactors and parishioners who strove to make our churches worthy for Christian worship.

As the sources selected for inclusion in this series demonstrate all too clearly, many Bedfordshire churches were in a dilapidated state in the opening decades of the nineteenth century. Others, whilst structurally sound and decently furnished for the worship of the day, needed “restoration” – a term meaning much more than just repair. This was the situation facing the Victorians who – far from vandalising our heritage – sought to restore these precious buildings from years of neglect and adapt them to suit the new liturgical arrangements of the time.

The coming of the ecclesiological movement in the 1840s brought a new concern for the ceremonial aspects of worship – the ministry of the sacraments instead of the ministry of the word. This entailed a change in the arrangement of church buildings, the old “preaching boxes” of the Cl8th giving way to churches in which all attention focused on the chancel and the holy table in the sanctuary. The reformers often exaggerated the poor state of church buildings as a means of drawing attention to the need for change, and the Victorians were invariably critical of alterations and repairs carried out in previous centuries when utility had been regarded as more important than sanctity.

Between about 1840 and 1914 virtually every parish church in England was in some measure restored, and vast sums of money were spent on what was seen to be one of the most worthy causes of the Victorian era. Many churches were rescued from the brink of collapse and given a new lease of life. Some were restored to their former glory. Others were mutilated beyond recognition or wholly rebuilt. Churches viewed by the Victorians as “tainted by classical alterations” were gothicised. Sound buildings were “improved” to suit the needs of a new religious age.

Churches remaining “unrestored” in appearance are to be seen at Chaigrave, Dean, Knotting, Odell, Shelton and Wymington (to name a few of the more rewarding examples in the County), but sadly the phrase “over restored” is all too common in the Bedfordshire volume of Dr. Nikolaus Pevsner’s Buildings of England series.

A brief general survey of post-Reformation church work in the County will be useful as an introduction to the subject. It seems sensible to frame the review round the work of architects - the designers of buildings and of furnishing schemes - who worked at different periods and in different styles. In this way, it is possible to view the changes in ecclesiastical taste in the County in their broader national context.

Post-Reformation church building to 1800

In general terms, church building activity came to an abrupt end at the time of the Reformation. There are, however, exceptions and recent studies in the neighbouring county of Huntingdonshire have demonstrated the extent of building work and improvements to churches into the seventeenth century. This may be untypical of the general picture, and Bedfordshire lacks any particularly distinguished examples of churches dating from the period between 1550 and 1800. Those mentioned below are all relatively minor when compared with the treasures in neighbouring counties, such as:

In Bedfordshire, Hulcote church was rebuilt by the Chemocke family in the late sixteenth century. It is gothic in form, but with a distinctly Renaissance feel. The tower at Blunham was rebuilt in 1583. At Odell there is a fine screen and ringing gallery of 1637 in the tower arch. At Campton, the north aisle dates from 1649. Whipsnade church was rebuilt in 1719. Melchboume has a seventeenthcentury porch brought, it is said, from Woodford in Northamptonshire. The body of the church was rebuilt in the classical style in about 1770. Shillington tower, destroyed in a storm in 1701, was rebuilt in brick in 1750. The 1783 black basalt Wedgwood font at Cardington - another formerly existed at Melchboume - is a particularly memorable example of eighteenth-century church furnishing. In every one of these cases the identity of the architect is unknown.

One elementary school not dealt with in the above study, as it was not one open to all the children of Bedford, is the Bedford Union Workhouse School. The Poor Law Commissioners in their Report of 1834 wrote of the importance of education, and when Poor Law Unions were established following the 1834 Act, provision was made that workhouse children should receive both an elementary education and some form of industrial training.

The Bedford Poor Law Board of Guardians took over the old House of Industry, which had been built in 1794, and included school rooms, and among their first tasks set about establishing a school. A school master and mistress were appointed in 1836, but not before some dispute over what subjects should be taught. There was a strong feeling that writing should not be in the curriculum, for fear that it would make the workhouse school seem too attractive. However, the Poor Law Commissioners would not entertain such a suggestion, and writing was included with reading, arithmetic, and religious instruction. The industrial training comprised shoemaking, tailoring, and later gardening, for the boys, and dressmaking, washing and cooking, and at one time bonnet sewing and straw plaiting, for the girls.

The background of the children that the workhouse school educated is indicated by the following return, which was made in 1838.

When these children reached the age of 16 the Board of Guardians sought apprenticeships for them by advertising in local newspapers.

The rooms in which the children were taught were barely suitable for the purpose, especially as far as the girls were concerned. As early as 1846 there was a suggestion that a new school building was necessary, but nothing was actually done until 1862. Even then the decision to erect new buildings was only carried by the casting vote of the Board’s Chairman, Mr. C. L. Higgins. Two schoolrooms, with two rooms attached for industrial training, were built by Messrs. Reynolds and Sons at a cost of £654 12s 0d.

The workhouse school system seems to have worked fairly efficiently, and the report of the government inspector, whose visits began in 1843, was generally good, but there were grave disadvantages, not only for the children, who were segregated from other children, and for whom life must have been very hard, but also for the teachers.

The New Scheme Established

The new Board of Governors of the Harpur Trust met for the first time in December 1873, and Mr. S. Whitbread, m.p., was elected Chairman, a post he was to hold for more than twenty years. From the point of view of elementary education this was a fortunate choice, as he was keenly interested in its welfare. Although the business of the first meeting was mainly of a formal nature, one question concerning elementary education was raised. Mr. and Mrs. Turnley were giving up the Hawes Street School, and offered to let it to the Harpur Trust. No decision was taken then, but at a meeting held on January 7th, 1874 it was decided to accept the offer, and to engage the existing teaching staff for one year.

Initially the Governors set up two committees for the schools, one for the Grammar School, and a joint one for the Modern and the Elementary Schools. The first task of this latter Committee was to divide up the existing buildings in Harpur Street between the Modern and the Elementary Schools. This was no easy task, and in March they advised the Governors to put off a final decision until midsummer. They did, however, suggest that the elementary schools should have the buildings then occupied by the General Preparatory School, the Girls’ School, and the Hospital (which was to be closed). This led to a serious discussion, during which Mr. Whitbread made a speech strongly supporting the Trust’s development of the elementary section. His idea was that they should aim to make elementary education under the Trust better than it would have been under the 1870 Act. He foresaw that if the town’s population continued to increase as rapidly as it was then doing a school board would at some time become inevitable, but felt that if they could keep the elementary education under the control of the Trust they would be able to ensure that the clever children were moved up from the elementary schools into the Modern School. All the Governors, however, did not share this liberal point of view.