Caldecote Church

Plan of the church [P142/2/3/10]

All Saints Church

Until the middle of the 19th century people in the Caldecotes would have attended church in Northill|. An application to the Incorporated Church Building Society for funding for a new chapel of ease in 1867 noted that the hamlets were "very marked for poverty, backwardness and low morality". This chapel opened in 1868 and was dedicated to All Saints. A school had already been built, in 1860 and a curate's house followed in 1873, almshouses in 1876 and a church room for social gatherings only in 1907.

Rev.Arthur S.Pott became Rector of Northill in 1858 and the chapel of ease at Upper Caldecote was his idea. He first began to minister directly to his flock in this area when the schoolroom was built, using it for services and he was presented by his parishioners with a silver salver in 1864 as a mark of their gratitude. Tragically he did not live to see his plans for a proper chapel at Upper Caldecote come to fruition as, in 1866, he died after a fall from his horse. His cousin, Francis, succeeded him as rector and his widow provided £1,000 towards the new church on a site provided by the Lord of the Manor, John Harvey. Owners of the advowson of Northill, the Grocer's Company, also contributed funds. The foundation stone was laid on 25 Jul 1867 and the church, designed by architect Arthur W.Blomfield,  consecrated on 16 Apr the following year. Upper Caldecote became a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1928.

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.

Vicarage

In 1927 the Church House (which became the Vicarage the following year) was valued under the Rating Valuation Act of 1925 [DV1/C/4]. The valuer described it as being constructed of brick and tile with a small hall, store or cloakroom, wc, study ("not used"), bedroom (formerly the drawing room), lounge ("v.nice"), kitchen, scullery, store and larder all on the ground floor. The upstairs  was "not used at all". as the house was only occupied by 2 people and was "much too big", it contained four bedrooms, a box room, a bedroom and linen cupboard and a "very bad" bathroom; The valuer "saw Mrs.Kays, Vicar out" it was, he considered, "not attractive place not very lettable".

Plurality

Since 1981 Caldecote has been held in plurality with Old Warden and, more latterly, with Northill. The three parishes remain independent with their own Parochial Church Councils, churchwardens and services but share a priest.

 
Caldecote church Apr 2007

Vicars of Caldecote 

- Basil Evan Jones - 1928;
- Reginald Joseph Kaye - 1937 [resigned 1942];
- Charles Edward Standen - 1945;
- Leslie Stuart Tull - 1954;
- John Robert de Chazal - 1964;
- Alan Ernest Newport Bliss - 1978;
- Frank Coleman - 2000