Ridgmont Churches

 

 
Segenhoe Church around 1900 [Z50/95/93]

Ridgmont's original parish church was at Segenhoe, on the road leading to Steppingley and Woburn. Evidence indicates that Segenhoe was the name of the ancient parish, with Ridgmont being a hamlet but that very early the positions became reversed as the centre of population moved.

 
Segenhoe church from the south - February 2007

Segenhoe church is now a roofless ruin but picturesque and now preserved in that state. It is an important building as its state of preservation clearly shows how it was built and the various dates at which new work was carried out. The skin of the chancel is 11th century, that is around the time of the Norman Conquest. The chancel arch and south side of the nave are slightly later Norman work, the north arcade being 13th to 14th century. The church had a wooden steeple before 19th century alterations and new Perpendicular style windows were installed in 1751 and 1782. The church had a 14th century font which was moved to the new church in 1855, returned in 1904 and was smashed by vandals in the early 1960s.

Interior of Segenhoe church looking east - 1952 [Z291/210]

The church was repaired by Robert Nixon of Woburn between 1818 and 1819 when the north porch was rebuilt, the walls repaired with brick and most of the windows enlarged and fitted with wooden tracery; the roofs were reconstructed and the lead replaced with slate and the exterior finished in stucco. Archdeacon Bonney ordered a new tower which was erected between 1823 and 1826, it resembled one built by Robert Nixon at Lidlington. In the 1840s the church was reported as in a good state but very poorly furnished. By 1853, however, a lot of repair work needed undertaking and so it was decided to have an entirely new building in a more convenient location. Like Clophill it was decided to retain the old church as a mortuary chapel, the graveyard continuing in use.

Segenhoe church interior looking east - February 2007

By 1912 the church was described as derelict and demolition was suggested in 1927 but inspection by F.C.Eeles of the Central Council for the Care of Churches discovered the ancient fabric which was restored by W.A.Forsyth between 1928 and 1929. A series of articles in the Bedfordshire Magazine between 1959 and 1961 highlighted the deteriorating condition of the building, the roof virtually collapsing by 1970. The Ampthill & District Archaeological Society campaigned for preservation of the ruin and in 1980 the church was formally declared redundant and the ruins consolidated by Bedfordshire County Council in 1982.

 
Ridgmont Church around 1900 [Z50/95/38]

The new church in Ridgmont was designed by George Gilbert Scott and built largely at the expense of the Duke of Bedford, costing £4,390. The foundation stone was laid on 25 April 1854 and the finished building was consecrated on 1 November 1855. The spire can be seen for miles, particularly from the M1 either side of Junction 13. The church has occasionally been repaired but essentially remains much the same today as when first built.

Most of the notes on the structural history of the churches 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.

Segenhoe church from the north February 2007

From 1844 to 1849 John Vaux Moore was Vicar of Ridgmont as well as Rector of Aspley Guise and from 1849 to 1866 William Charles Cavendish Bentinck was Vicar of Ridgmont as well as Vicar of Husborne Crawley. From 1934 to 1961 Ridgmont shared an incumbent with Hulcote & Salford, then with Husborne Crawley and, since 1980, with both Husborne Crawley and Aspley Guise. The parishes remain independent, however, with their own parochial church councils, churchwardens and services.

List of Vicars

- Robert - 1220 [clerk; ordained vicar];
- Robert de Sancto Edmundo;
- Dionisius de Raveneston - 1227 [capellanus];
- Matthew de Lincoln - 1236 [capellanus];
- a vicar admitted - 1241;
- John Sleigrom - 1245 [of Dunstable; resigned in 1247 on receiving Vicarage of Sundon];
- Robert de Sancto Edmundo - 1249 [capellanus];
- Robert de Bikeleswade - 1252 [capellanus];
- Thomas de Elhone - 9 Nov 1273 [capellanus; on death of Robert];
- William de Lameleye - 15 Oct 1332 [priest; on death of Thomas];
- William Herdwik - 1 Mar 1334 [of Newport Pagnell [Buckinghamshire]; priest; on death of William de Lambeleye];
- John Hynewyk - 7 Jun 1361 [priest; on death of William];
- Richard Clerk - 12 Sep 1363 [of Ampthill; priest; on resignation of John de Henewyk];
- Henry Martin - 13 Mar 1401 [capellanus; on resignation of Richard Clerke];
- John Rouland - 30 Apr 1402 [Rector of Brychold, Canterbury Diocese, by exchange with Henry Martin];
- Thomas Kemele - 17 Dec 1402 [Capellanus; on resignation of John Rouland];
- Thomas Exhalle - 30 Nov 1404 [Vicar of Seagry [Wiltshire], by exchange with Thomas Kemele];
- Nicholas Masonn;
- John Bilneye - 28 Jan 1411 [capellanus; on death of Nicholas Masonn];
- Roger Driver - 24 May 1421 [priest; on death of William Sylney [or Dylney];
- John White;
- John Michell - 12 Mar 1431 [priest; on death of John Whyte];
- Helias North - 11 Mar 1444 [priest; on resignation of John Michell];
- John Baudryk - 19 Dec 1453 [priest; vacant];
- William Ryppon - 26 Jan 1477 [on death of John Baldryk];
- John Pye - 18 Sep 1479 [on death of William Rypton];
- Thomas Freston - 18 Dec 1480 [priest; on resignation of John Pye];
- Thomas Stokes - 8 Jan 1482 [priest; on resignation of Thomas Freston];
- William Barton - 20 Jan 1504 [on death of Thomas Stokys];
- John Markham - 5 Mar 1506 [capellanus; on death of William Barton];
- Richard Barcocke;
- William Tryppe - 20 Sep 1524 [priest; on death of Richard Barcoke];
- William Mott - 1566 [clerk; on death of William Tripp; patron Peter Grey, esquire of Segenhoe; buried 14 Mar 1570];
- Richard Harrie - 18 Jan 1573 [clerk; on death of William Mott];
- Humphrey Herret - 20 Mar 1579 [buried 10 Mar 1619];
- John Blackshaw - 29 Mar 1611;
- Ralph Bower - 1618;
- Ralph Noalton - 1633;
- Francis Greene - 1679;
- John Car - 1690 [clerk];
- Thomas Wilkinson - 1715 [minister];
- Edward Tanqueray - 26 Aug 1790 [clerk; sequestrator; licenced to serve the cure with the profits thereof, for serving it];
- John Vaux Moore MA - 13 Dec 1843 [vacant; living sequestrated; resigned 2 Jul 1849];
- William Charles Cavendish Bentinck MA - 23 Nov 1849 [on resignation of John Vaux Moore];
- Hon.Arthur Charles Baillie Hamilton MA - 7 Feb 1866 [on death of William Charles Cavendish Bentinck];
- Henry Joshua Lomax - Jan 1892;
- William Wing Carew Baker - Nov 1896;
- John Robert Hare Duke - Sep 1903;
- John Shelton - Oct 1906;
- Albert Rust - Mar 1914;
- Charles Russell Dickinson - Sep 1919;
- William Rashleigh - Jan 1928 [formerly a batsman for Kent County Cricket Club];
- Irwin Frost Smith - Jul 1934 [with Hulcote & Salford];
- Edgar Richards - Sep 1943 [with Hulcote & Salford];
- A.Wilkinson - May 1949 [with Hulcote & Salford];
- John Henry Seymour Spread [with Hulcote & Salford];
- Charles Edward Standen - 1953 [with Hulcote & Salford];
- Edward Cyril Forbes Bache - 1961 [with Husborne Crawley];
- John Wesley Naylor - 1972;
- Michael Saunders - 1976 [curate in charge];
- Robert Maynard Hardy - 1980 [with Aspley Guise and Husborne Crawley; later Bishop of Lincoln];
- Richard William Huband - 1981 [with Aspley Guise and Husborne Crawley];
- John Edward Ingham - 1992 [with Aspley Guise and Husborne Crawley];
- Graham Bradshaw - 2000 [with Aspley Guise and Husborne Crawley]