Cardington Church

St.Mary's Church from the south - March 2007

The church we see today is very largely the work of George Highton. The old church was almost completely redesigned by him between 1897 and 1901, with money donated mostly by Samuel Whitbread III (it cost over £18,500). The only early features left were in the late 15th or early 16th century chancel.

looking east towards the altar - March 2007

The original church was 12th century and had, before 1897 a central tower, nave, south aisle, chancel with side chapels and Whitbread family chapel where members of the family were buried. It was largely embellished by the Whitbreads in the 18th century and these embellishments were incorporated in the present building. Samuel Whitbread I, founder of the brewery business, was born in Cardington in 1720 and from 1760 to 1788 began giving gifts to the church including a clock, altar linen and communion plate, royal arms, pulpit and bells. Work on the family vault began in 1791, five years before Samuel's death.

The church had been much criticised throughout the nineteenth century as being old fashioned and rather smacking of nonconformism in its layout but it was structural problems with the tower which, in 1896, led to the decision to restore the whole building.

During the 20th century a memorial to the dead of the R101 was added, as was a wooden lectern designed by Ampthill architect Sir Albert Richardson.

memorial to Samuel Whitbread II in March 2007

The church is very rich in funerary monuments including a 12th century coffin lid. Other monuments include that of Cardinal Wolsey's Controller of the Household and Lord of the Manor, Sir William Gascoigne (d.1540), with an elaborate brass and another tomb chest and brass, this time to Sir Jarrate Harvye (d.1638). But it is the Whitbread tombs which make the church memorable. They begin with that of Ive Whitbread and his ancestors, by Peter Scheemakers and probably carried out in 1766 and also include Samuel I (d.1796) and Samuel II (d.1815, a particularly moving figure of kneeling husband and wife by Henry Weekes in 1849) and William Charles Whitbread (d.1791) shown as a small child

 Most of the notes on the structural history of the church can be found in greater detail 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 Vicarage 

The Vicarage was valued in 1927 under the 1925 Rating Valuation Act it then comprised a hall (18 by 17½ft); dining room (16 by 17½ft); drawing room (16½ by 10½ft ) with a bow window; pantry; kitchen (18½ by 16½ft); scullery ("huge and high") with cellars under the whole house. Upstairs were a bathroom, a bedroom over the scullery for the maid, a single bedroom over the kitchen, a double bedroom over the kitchen and four more double bedrooms over hall, dining room and drawing room. Outside were two kitchen gardens and a tennis court as well as a wood barn with a loft over, stables used for storage with a loft over, a garage, a laundry, a coal barn, a wood barn and a chicken house. In the opinion of the valuer it was a "v.poor place no conveniences". It also had a grass field of 1.952 acres.

looking east from the altar - March 2007

List of Rectors

- John - 1227
- Reginald de Wrestlingworth - 1228 [capellanus]
- M. Walter de Swaneburn - 1229 [capellanus]
- William de Rowell - 1242 [capellanus]
- Robert de [...] - 1249
- Henry de Estrqa - 20 Apr 1272 [priest; on death of Robert]
- Fulco - 27 Mar 1274 [priest; on death of Henry]
- Nicholas de Penington - 23 Sep 1284 [subdeacon]
- John de Barton - 14 Jan 1291 [capellanus;  on death of Nicholas]
- Robert de Newton - 9 Apr 1311 [capellanus; on death of John de Barton]
- Thomas King - 9 Dec 1349 [priest;  on resignation of Robert]
- Henry Wakerle - 24 Oct 1352 [of Wodeford; priest, on resignation of Thomas]
- Ralph Bereford - 21 Jun 1364 [priest;  on resignation of Henry Wakerle;  exchanged to Edyweston Rectory]
- Robert Newman
- Thomas Andrew - 9 Jun 1376 [rector of Ruspane, on exchange with Robert Newman]
- William Palmer
- William de Berkelowe - 6 Oct 1385 [Rector of Southaningfeld, diocese of London, on exchange with William Palmer]
- William Bachelor - 20 Apr 1396 [Vicar of Granchester, diocese of Ely; on exchange with William Berklowe]
- William Heyne - 2 Feb 1411 [of Coupull, vacant]
- Robert Simound - 28 Aug 1415 [capellanus;  on resignation of William Heyne]
- Augustine Luce - 16 Nov 1438 [priest; on resignation of Robert Skynglee, exchanged to Rokelyng vicarage, London diocese]
- Richard Fylle - 15 Jun 1446 [priest; on resignation of Robert Grene, exchanged to Clothall Rectory]
- Robert Grene - 15 Jun 144_ [priest; on resignation of Richard Fyll; exchanged to Clothall Rectory]
- Thomas Barbour - 31 Oct 1455 [priest; on death of Richard Fylle]
- Thomas Horne - 19 Apr 1457 [capellanus; vacant]
- John Tapett
- Nicholas Ardewyk - 28 Feb 1461 [priest; on resignation of John Tapett]
- John Janyn - 23 May 1472 [on death of Nicholas Hardwyk, last vicar]
- John Crosse - 9 Nov 1472 [on death of John Janyn, last vicar]
- Thomas Hunt
- John Hechynson - 27 Jan 1479 [on death of Thomas Hunt, last vicar]
- Thomas Dykenson - 18 Jan 1516 [on death of John Hutchynson]
- John Deane - 17 Jun 1546 [clerk; on death of Thomas Dikkinson, Patron, Sir John Gascoigne, knight, son & heir of Sir William Gascoigne, knight, now deceased, by grant from the late Prior & Convent of the dissolved monastery of Newenham to the said Sir William and Lady Elizabeth, his wife, also now deceased, & the said Sir John for 99 years]
- George Butnam - 15 Oct 1552
- John Parrett - 9 Jul 1554
- John Palmer
- Thomas Page - 29 May 1560 [clerk; on death of John Palmer];
- John Williams - 1563 [clerk; on cessation of Thomas Page];
- Thomas Sutton - 18 Mar 1566 [clerk; on resignation of John Williams;]
- Richard Rayner - 20 Mar 1572 [clerk];
- Thomas Watts - 13 Jul 1574 [M.A., buried 29 Jun 1610]
- William Chantrell - 1 Dec 1610 [M.A.]
- Thomas Watson - 18 Nov 1614 [Married Maria Brett, 25 Jun 1615]
- Thomas White - 1634
- William Millington - 1662
- John Eaton - 1664
- Joseph Gascoigne - 1670
- Heritagius Badcock - 9 May 1677 [M.A.; vacant, Ordained priest 8 Aug 1661 by Jacobry, Bishop of Dublin. Buried, 10 Feb 1689]
- Devereux Spenser - 17 Mar 1689 [B.A., vacant; Patron, Trinity College, Cambridge.  Buried 11 Feb 1700]
- Hugh Charles Hare - 30 Jun 1701 [B.A., on death of Devereux Spenser]
- Thomas Rowell
- Barwell Collins - 2 Sep 1713 [B.A., on death of Thomas Rowell]
- Samuel Brooke - 16 Jul 1743 [M.A., on death of Barwell Collins]
- Richard Brooke - 28 Apr 1744 [M.A., on cessation of Samuel Brook]
- John Pemberton - 27 Sep 1745 [clerk; on death of John Betts]
- Robert Wilan - 9 Jul 1776 [M.A.; on death of John Pemberton]
- Frogmore Cumming - 26 Jul 1796 [M.A., on death of Robert Willan]
- Richard Ward - 22 Aug 1826 [M.A., on death of Frogmere Cumming]
- Charles French Bromhead - 13 Jun 1829 [M.A., on resignation of Richard Ward]
- Edward John Hillier - 9 Feb 1856 [M.A.; on death of C. French Bromhead; Patron, Trinity College, Cambridge]
- Walter Sydney Champion Seccombe - May 1907
- Ernest Henry Fry - May 1945
- Frederick Norman Robathan - 1959
- Arthur Edward Main - 1963
- Peter Alfred Tubbs - 1969
- J Kenneth Dixon - 1985
- Nigel Paul Morrell - 1995