Nikolaus Pevsner begins his entry for the Church of St.Mary Magdalene and St.James in his "Buildings of England" series book on Bedfordshire and the County of Huntingdon and Peterborough by saying "Has any other church such green greensand as the W tower of Husborne Crawley, where it appears mixed with ironstone?" This church is wonderfully sited on a hill and is visible for some distance, particularly on the M1 as one approaches Junction 13 from the south.
The Church seen from the SE - February 2007
The church is first mentioned in 1170 when it was granted to Dunstable Priory. The earliest part of the current church is the 13th century south arcade, the church also has a later north arcade and a 15th century tower. the rest of the building dates, in effect, from 1911 when it was heavily restored by Cecil Hare with money from the Duke of Bedford. The Thompson family were responsible for many adornments of the church - new bells were hung between 1611 and 1616 with another added in 1637 and they gave the plate between 1636 and 1638. Sir John Thompson, died 1597, Comptroller General to Elizabeth I has a large alabaster monument in the church with "badly carved effigies" in the opinion of Pevsner.
The church seen from the SE during the rebuilding of 1911 [Z50/65/21]
Extensive renovations were ordered in 1823, the work costing the, then, very large sum of £300 - the church was re-roofed with slates instead of lead, new ceilings were plastered, the exterior of the tower was plastered and new pews installed - roofing was carried out by William Hannell of Woburn and the tower work by John and Thomas Stevens, also of Woburn. Unfortunately there was a fire in the tower in 1841 caused by a lightning strike but it seems to have done little damage. The chancel was restored in 1844. A stained glass east window was installed in 1927 and the Mossman memorial window in 1953.
Most of the notes on the structural history of the church can be found in greater detail in Bedfordshire Historical Record Society Volume number 77 of 1998 Bedfordshire Churches in the Nineteenth Century: Part II: parishes H to R, 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 church just after the rebuilding of 1911 [Z50/65/23]
Aspley Guise and Husborne Crawley were united, briefly, in 1795 under Rev.Thomas Tipping Aveling but this ended in 1813. From 1849 to 1865 Husborne Crawley shared a Vicar with Ridgmont. Since 1961 Husborne Crawley has shared a Vicar with Ridgmont and since 1980 with Aspley Guise and Ridgmont; the parishes remain independent, with their own parochial church councils, churchwardens and services.
List of Vicars:
- Geoffrey - 1219 [capellanus];
Ordination of Vicarage - Oct 1220;
- Simon de Wengrave - 1230
Prior and Canons of Dunstable rebuilt from the oundations a new front to the chancel - 1251
- Thomas;
- William de Ely - 1273 [capellanus; on death of Thomas];
- Henry Wolf - 8 Feb 1323 [on death of William];
- John Surman - 9 Aug 1349 [priest; on resignation of Henry];
- John Archer - 26 May 1377 [of Millbrook; vacant];
- John Jurdon - 1 Apr 1414 [priest; on death of John Archer];
- Henry Crapples - 15 Jan 1462 [priest; on death of John Jordon];
- Thomas Whitacre - 23 Oct 1465 [priest; on death of Henry Cracples];
- Roger Wodward - 30 Apr 1475 [on resignation of Thomas Whitakres];
- William Pedder - 19 Dec 1506 [capellanus; on death of Roger Wodward];
- Richard Byrch - 1534 [noted as Vicar in this year];
- John Stalworthe - 13 Mar 1545 [priest; on death of last incumbent];
- Thomas Brigg or Birde or Birdge - 3 Aug 1546 [clerk; on resignation of D.John Stalworthe; buried 20 May 1579];
- Richard Harvie - 7 Aug 1579 [on death of previous incumbent; buried 19 Jun 1623; will dated 2 Sep 1622, proved 25 Jun 1623];
- Edmund Fountaine - 6 Oct 1623;
- Francis Fletcher - 6 Oct 1625 [buried 30 Jun 1628];
- Nathaniel Hill - 1628 [minister];
- Hezekiah Slingsby - 1639 [minister];
- James Dutton - 27 May 1643 [clerk];
- Robert Stackhouse - 1664;
- John Carter - 1675 [clerk; buried 20 Sep 1701];
- William Barnwell - 1683;
- William Slingsby [buried 15 Jan 1697; will dated 11 Jan, proved 22 Jan 1697];
- Thomas Wilkinson - 1715 [minister];
- Francis Richardson AB - 13 Aug 1725 [died 1760];
- Thomas Tipping Aveling - 20 Jan 1795 [clerk; on death of last incumbent];
Deed of Union of Husborne Crawley with Aspley Guise - 1795
- William Charles Cavendish Bentinck MA - 3 Nov 1849 [vacant];
- (Samuel Wright - 1822 [stipendiary curate]);
- Villiers Shallet Chernocke Smith MA - 26 Oct 1865 [on death of William Charles Cavendish Bentinck; stipendiary curate from 1850];
- Richard Shepherd MA - 12 Apr 1871 [on death of Villiers Shellet Chernocke Smith];
- Charles Falkland Bickmore - Dec 1891;
- Albert Rust - May 1900;
- Alfred Edmund Sasse - May 1914;
- Albert Rust - Jul 1926;
- Wilfrid Joseph Charlton - Nov 1946;
- Edward Cyril Forbes Bache - 1957;
- John Wesley Naylor - 1972;
- Robert Maynard Hardy - 1980 [later Bishop of Lincoln];
- Richard William Huband - 1981;
- John Edmund Ingham - 1992;
- Graham Bradshaw - 2000