The Parish of Bletsoe in General

Countryside near Park Farm September 2009

Landscape

The soil in the parish is clay, limestone and gravel. The River Great Ouse flows through the south-west of the parish and the land varies from 132 feet above sea level by the river to a high point of 293 feet in the north of the parish.

Bletsoe War Memorial 2007

Name

The name Bletsoe derives from 'Blaecci's hill-spur'. Blaecci was an Old English personal name, and hoh meant a bit of a hill that sticks out sideways from a larger hill, called a spur. The name has varied considerably over time, perhaps the most important change coming around 120 when the first element began to change from Blech- to Blet-:

• · Blechesho: 1086-1302;
• · Blecheshou: 1086-1302;
• · Blacheshou: 1086;
• · Blechisho: 1195;
• · Blechesho: 1199-1302;
• · Blecchesho: 1199-1302;
• · Blettesho: c. 1230-1280;
• · Blechenesho: 1247;
• · Blethesho: 1276-1303;
• · Blekenesho: 1276;
• · Blethenesho: 1276-1360;
• · Bletnesho: 1276-c. 1550;
• · Bletneshoo: 1276- c. 1550;
• · Blettisho: 1276;
• · Bletenysho: 1276;
• · Bletesho: 1287;
• · Bletthesho: 13th century;
• · Bletteneshoo: 1368;
• · Bletsho: 1376;
• · Bletneso: 1509-1510;
• · Bletesoo: 1526

Bletsoe Village Hall September 2009

Administrative History

Bletsoe is an ancient parish and the boundaries have not changed in over a hundred years. It comprises 2,249½ acres and in 1910 1,208 acres of this was arable (the principal crops being wheat, barley and root vegetables) with 814½ acres of grassland and 72¼ acres of woods and plantations. Bletsoe is bounded by Riseley in the north, Thurleigh in the east, Milton Ernest in the south and both Sharnbrook and Felmersham in the west.

9 Memorial Lane October 2009

Population

The Population at Domesday| was probably a little over a hundred people, making it quite a significant settlement at that date. More modern population figures rose in the first half of the 19th century then began to fall back as more local people drifted to towns like Bedford and Rushden to find work; then decreased severely in the early part of the 20th century as mechanisation of farm work took more people from the land and forced them to look for employment elsewhere. In the latter part of the century figures rose again but to nowhere near the levels of 1831-1861. The figures in full are given below: 

• 1801: 321;
• 1811: 312;
• 1821: 383;
• 1831: 410;
• 1841: 420;
• 1851: 407;
• 1861: 412;
• 1871: 392;
• 1881: 341;
• 1891: 337;
• 1901: 286;
• 1911: 312;
• 1921: 249;
• 1931: 219;
• 1951: 265;
• 1961: 235;
• 1971: 252;
• 1981: 144;
• 1991: 236;
• 2001: 283.