Church
Mogerhanger church from the west November 2007
Until Mogerhanger became an ecclesiastical parish| in its own right, Church of England residents of the village would have travelled up to the parish church at Blunham |for worship, baptisms, marriages and burials. By 1851, however, over 40% of the population of the parish was in Mogerhanger; a church was needed more locally to serve the needs of the community. Mrs. Elizabeth Dawkins of Mogerhanger House, widow of the Revd. Edward Henry Dawkins, offered to build a church in the village in memory of her husband. The church of St. John the Evangelist was built of Kempston stone and red sandstone from Silsoe, and was designed by William Slater in an early Norman style. It has nave and aisles with a western entrance and south door, an extended north aisle, a pyramid roof capping the crossing tower, and an apsidal chancel. Nicholas Pevsner described the exterior as ‘serious, bold and austere’. The builder was Conquest of Kempston. Work began with the laying of the foundation stone on 19 September 1859, and was completed the following year.
Inside, original furnishings included a carved stone font, an organ by Bevington (the gift of Col. Thornton of St. John’s House), the church plate and three stained glass windows in the apse, fine early examples of work by Clayton & Bell. When in 1887-8 a new organ chamber was built on the north side of the tower (in the portion of the north aisle extended originally to form the vestry), a new organ by Richardson & Sons (of London and Manchester) was installed. Later additions include a chancel screen, dedicated in 1912, and the installation of stained glass windows between 1881-1920 by makers Mayer & Co. of Munich, Hardman of Birmingham and Powell of Whitefriars.
The church was consecrated on 31 July 1860, and Moggerhanger became a separate ecclesiastical parish that same year, on 30 October. Note that Mogerhanger is the civil parish spelling and Moggerhanger the spelling of the ecclasiastical parish.
Most of the notes on the structural history of the church can be found in greater detail in Bedfordshire Historical Record Society Volume number 80 of 2001 Bedfordshire Churches in the Nineteenth Century: Part IV: Appendices and Index, 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.
Mogerhanger Church and vicarage about 1900
Vicarage
The vicarage is adjacent to St. John’s church on the north side. When it was valued under the terms of the 1925 Rating Valuation Act it comprised a dining room, drawing room, study and two cupboards down the passage, a small kitchen, pantry, scullery, W.C. and lumber room all below; upstairs were three large bedrooms and a servant’s bedroom, a bath and a box room. It was noted that water was laid on to the house. Outside were 3 loose-boxes, a harness room and a coach-house, all only used for store, a slate-roofed barn and a lean-to potting shed. The total area was assessed at 2r[oods] 27p[erches]. The valuer’s pencilled comment was that it was ‘in excellent structural repair’ and overall a ‘v. good house, in nice position, well built, fair garden’.
Mogerhanger church from the east November 2007
List of Vicars
- Thomas Horace Cookes - 24 Nov 1860 [M.A., licensed to parish curacy of the District Chapelry of St John. Patron Elizabeth Dawlins of Mogerhanger House, widow. Resigned 14 Oct 1862];
- Nathaniel Royds - 27 Mar 1863 [M.A., on resignation of last incumbent];
- Charles James Lambarde - 17 Oct 1864 [M.A., licensed to parish curacy on cession of Royds. Patron Edward Henry Frederick Dawkins, Esq.];
- John Sutton Hack - 1883;
- Edward Mayo - 1885;
- Marmaduke Alan Prickett - Feb 1901;
- William Foster Smith - Oct 1908;
- Sidney Alfred Pizey Kermode - Jul 1911;
- John Thomas Cook - 1915;
- T J L Davies - 1945;
- Harold Phoenix - 1947;
- Norman William Hill - 1974;
- Timothy Havelock Girling - 1980 ;
- ThomasDenisDesert - 1989;
- Nicholas T.MacNeill – 1998;
- Lynda Klimas - 2004