England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Ampthill St Andrew

The Parish

The parish of Ampthill lies in the southwestern portion of central Bedfordshire roughly 7 miles south of the county town of Bedford. Ampthill sits on the former route of the A507 road which links the M1 motorway at Milton Keynes through to Baldock in Hertfordshire, that route now takes a more southerly course passing between Ampthill and Flitwick. Ampthill is a much grown market town, early maps show a T-shaped small town with the old A507 forming a short head with a longer tail of properties lining today's Dunstable Street, the town market being situate at the main t-junction. Today Ampthill almost fills the entire space between the old and new routes of the A507 infilling to the east and southeast with modern developments. Ampthill received its right to a market in 1219 during the reign of Henry II and for much of its existence has survived as a regional centre for trade and specialist skills. Like many parishes in its county the wider parish contained a mixture of both arable and pastoral farming methods, the latter perhaps dominated as much of the parish sits upon rather infertile Greensand, some areas of heathland characteristic of that formation still survived within the parish. Modern developments have arrived to the town, the London to Bedford railway line passes to the west without granting a station, the proximity to the M1 to its west has, however, lead to much light industrial growth in the town. Ampthill is drained eastwards by a tributary of the River Flit which is soon joins and continues east until meeting the Ivel where water turns north and joins the Great Ouse for its crossing of Fenland to reach the North Sea through the Norfolk port of King's Lynn and The Wash. Ampthill is sited on steadily rising ground from 70 metres above the sea in its southern suburbs to 120 metres on its northern edges in Ampthill Park, that ground being the highest for some considerable distance. Ampthill parish was typically sized at just under 1,900 acres which would have supported a population of close to 1,700 parishioners. Domesday Ampthill was a much smaller settlement of just 9 households, held by one Nigel d'Aubigny it could muster 12 ploughs backed by some meadows and woodland.

The Church

St Andrew's church sits in the northeast of the town, just north of the old route of the A507 and accessed by the short dead-end lane of Rectory Lane. St Andrew is a church of the later medieval period being largely constructed in a mixture of the Decorated and Perpendicular style, the medieval is overlaid by a heavy Victorian restoration. The church is largely built in the local ironstone from the Greensand formations which gives the church an attractive umber glow in evening sunshine. The 4-bay nave arcades and the chancel arch show best the early 14th century style of the Decorated, the arcades showing tall quatrefoil piers. The remainder of the church shows the later Perpendicular styling especially in the western tower, which comes complete with higher stair turret, the aisles and southern porch. Externally all appears typically Perpendicular. Pevsner documents 6 phases of modern era changes, the most notable being the restoration of 1847 which besides restoration also added a northern vestry and galleries. Two close restorations followed in 1873 and 1877, the latter doubling the size of the vestry amongst other work. In 1891 the organ chamber was constructed in the chancel, in 1940 the galleries from 1847 were removed and in 1971 the nave roof was remade. Church Avenue sits opposite Rectory Lane and offers safe on-street parking leaving only a short walk to the church. Whilst the churchyard is small there are few obstacles for the photographer to be inconvenienced.