Bletsoe Church

 

Bletsoe church about 1820 [Z49/1069]

The Church

The oldest surviving parts of St.Mary's church are the south doorway and some of the masonry in the tower, being 13th century. The chancel, which is on a different axis to the nave and the central tower, is 15th century as is the south transept; the north transept appears to have been used as a mortuary for the St.John family since the 16th century - there is an alabaster monument to Sir John St.John, who died in 1559, with his wife and children. In 1578 the churchwardens reported that the chancel was "a little oute of repayre", in 1852 it was reported that the chancel was not "used at present" and since the 1970s it has not been used and is now sealed off from the rest of the church.

Repairs totalling over £44 were carried out on the roof in 1811-1812 and in 1837 £10 was spent on painting the church. Other restoration in the nineteenth century is difficult to reconstruct . The famous architect Samuel Sanders Teulon (responsible for a number of highly unusual churches new churches, though, sadly none in Bedfordshire) prepared plans in 1857 and it was reported in the report of the Bedfordshire Architectural & Archaeological Society in 1863 that the church was to be "committed forthwith…to the care of Mr.Teulon". However, two other architects, Edward Browning and James Tacy Wing worked on the church, though it is possible that they were working to Teulon's plans (which have only partially survived). Browning undertook the work on the St.John family chapel, beginning in 1858, whilst Wing, from 1864, worked on the nave, tower, south transept, porch and chancel. All this work left the church in a very different state to that in which it had been previously. In 1882 a reredos was added and a new organ installed at the same date by the Bedford maker, Trustram. The Mayer & Company stained glass in the east window and doors to the north transept were installed in 1885 in memory of the late rector, Rev.Edmund Tudor St.John. Another Mayer window was installed on the south side of the chancel in 1888.

Most of the notes on the structural history of the church can be found in Bedfordshire Historical Record Society Volume number 73 of 1994 Bedfordshire Churches in the Nineteenth Century: Part I: parishes A to G, put together by former County Archivist Chris Pickford from numerous sources some held by Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service and some held elsewhere or published.

The Rectory

In 1927 the Rectory was valued under the 1925 Rating Valuation Act; it was described as comprising a hall, drawing room (16½  by 19ft), dining room (16½ by 18ft), wc, two larders, boot room, scullery, kitchen (13½ by 13ft), study (13½ by 18ft) and three glasshouses downstairs with a wc, nine bedrooms (10½ by 14ft; 11 by 14ft; 8½ by 14ft; 10½ by 15ft; 18½ by 13½ ft, 15 by 12½; 12 by 12ft; 16 by 18ft and 16 by 17ft ) and a bathroom upstairs; outside were a coachhouse, three stall stable, carpenter's shop with a club room over, two piggeries, a cow shed for two beasts, a wood shed, a hay store, two tennis courts, a kitchen garden and grounds. Drainage was to a cess pool and water from a well; the rectory was lit by oil lamps. The valuer was somewhat critical: "Not well planned, lot of wasted room, too manty small bedrooms. Has to take boarders as living too small". Another valuer has simply written "I agree. Hopeless". There was 7.569 acres at the rear which was occupied with the Rectory. Interestingly, during archaeological excavations in 1967-1969 at least 19 skeletons were found in the vicinity thought to have been buried between 600 and 900 AD, Roman material having been found nearby in the 1930s.

Bletsoe church in March 2007

The parish has had the same incumbent as Riseley since 1979.

List of Rectors

- Peter - 1199 [parson];
- Martin de Pateshull - 1209, 1224 [noted at these dates];
- Nicholas de Eston - 1228 [capellanus];
- Richard de Pateshull - 1251 [subdeacon];
- Stephen de Grovile;
- Florus de Chelwinton - Apr 1272 [subdeacon; on death of Stephen de Grovile];
- Roger de Pateshull;
- Thomas de Pateshull - 1 May 1310 [acolite; on resignation of Roger de Pateshull];
- Roger de Pateshull - 17 Sep 1310 [subdeacon; on resignation of Thomas de Pateshull];
- William de Wasseburn - 8 May 1317 [priest; on death of Roger de Pateshull];
- Henry Huberd of Gayton - 16 May 1338 [priest; on death of William de Wassheburn];
- John de Braundeston - 23 Jun 1349 [clerk; on death of Henry Huberd];
- William Lee - 6 Oct 1385 [son of John Boueton of Bletchley; priest; vacant];
- John Baynard;
- Robert Allene - 15 Nov 1443 [priest; on resignation of John Baynard; exchanged to become Rector of Griswell [Norwich Diocese];
- Simon Roo;
- Simon Hotham - 1 Dec 1447 [priest; on resignation of Simon Roo];
- John Rodeley - 20 Jul 1472 [on death of Simon Hotham];
- John Bradshawe - 18 Mar 1496 [priest; on death of John Rodely];
- Edmund Percivall - 22 May 1507 [capellanus; on death of John Bradeshawe];
- Jacobus Walker - 6 Apr 1538 [capellanus; on resignation of Edmund Percivall];
- Thomas Nixe;
- Richard Dove - 20 Oct 1579 [admitted 2 Sep 1579; vacant by death of Thomas Nixe];
- John Orme - 24 Jan 1583 [parson; buried 10 Mar 1617 in chancel; vacant by reason of non-payment of tenths of which the last Rector was Richard Dove; admitted 14 Nov 1582];
- Richard Albon [minister; buried 18 Apr 1602];
- John Anderson;
- Thomas Drayton - 30 Apr 1618;
- John Aylmer or Elmore - 27 Sep 1630 [on resignation of Thomas Drayton];
- Christopher Lory [buried 11 Oct 1658; intruded "by Committee of the House of Commons, minister to officiate in Bletsoe and to have possession of the parsonage house, thites etc. John Elmore, late parson, prevents him. They are to take forcible possession and put Lawry in possession"];
- Nicholas Mason - 1 Mar 1659 [on death of Christopher Lawry; matriculated at Christ's College Cambridge, 17 Dec 1614; BA 1618; MA 1621; instituted to Irchester Rectory 13 Aug 1623; buried 6 Jun 1671 aged 72; will 1 Aug 1670, proved 15 Jul 1671];
- Thomas Becket AM - 30 Nov 1671 [of Trinity College, Cambridge, 1671; on death of M.Mason];
- Valentine Carlton MA - 29 Apr 1676 [St.Peter's College, Cambridge 1671; on cess. of Thomas Beckit; buried 11 Nov 1729 aged 90];
- Thomas Walker AM - 6 Nov 1729 [St.Peter's College, Cambridge; on death of Valentine Carlton; he married Anne Newcome on 15 Jan 1730 at Wymington; died 25 Sep 1770; Anne, his wife died 25 Feb 1733 aged 32];
- Hon.Ambrose St.John - 23 Sep 1771 [clerk; on death of Thomas Walker; died 18 Jul 1775 aged 29];
- Henry Hinde MA - 1 Nov 1775 [of King's College, Cambridge; on death of Ambrose St.John];
- William Fancourt BA - 26 Sep 1787 [Clare College, Cambridge, 1759; on death of Henry Hinde; died 17 Feb 1818 aged 82 after being 30 years Rector and 42 years Vicar of Melchbourne; Mary, his wife, died 20 Mar 1833 aged 93];
-( George Barker BA - 24 Feb 1793 [Pembroke Hall, Cambridge; ordained deacon and licensed next day as curate]);
- John Leete BA - 13 Mar 1818 [St.Catherine's College, Cambridge, 1798; died 27 May 1832 aged 36];
- John Tomlinson Day BA - 5 Sep 1832 [Corpus Christi College, Cambridge; on death of John Leete];
- Edmund Tudor St.John - 1881;
- Frederic Henry Bolingbroke - Jan 1885;
- James Tate - Oct 1891;
- Charles Edmund Waller Dalison - Dec 1897;
- Reginald Heber Moss - Jul 1899;
- Percy Lees Underhill - Apr 1913 [Vicar of Condover];
- Frederick William Carlton - Oct 1920;
- Alfred Cheetham - Mar 1936;
- William George Branch - 1945;
- Joseph Wilson Jackson - 1954;
- Albert Marchant - 1957;
- George Sidebottom - 1960;
- Peter Phillips - 1979;
- David J Bourne - 1984
- Martin T.Bailey - 2006