England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Bletsoe St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Bletsoe lies in northern Bedfordshire roughly 6 miles north of the county town of Bedford. Bletsoe sits on and mostly northeast of the A6 road which links Bedofrd with Rushden in Northamptonshire. Bletsoe is a small and linear village, a small presence on the A6 is marked by an inn and a few properties but most of the village sits alongside The Avenue as its main street is known. Of historic interest is a series of earthworks to the east which marks out the former site of a castle which has been robbed-away for its materials reused in local buildings. Bletsoe sits close to the River Great Ouse and its parish included a stretch of the river's water-meadows and flood-plain giving the farming a mixed regime of pastures by the river and arable fields growing the traditional cereals, oil seed and beet. Bletsoe is drained generally southwards by the Great Ouse which performs a series of elaborate meanders before passing through Bedford, turning eastwards to cross Fenland and reach the North Sea through the port of King's Lynn and the Wash. Bletsoe is sited at around 50 metres above the sea in fairly gentle terrain, away from the river land rises to almost 90 metres on the old World War II airfield of Thurleigh now Bedford Autodrome. Covering around 2,000 acres Bletsoe parish was typically sized for its area, that acreage would have supported close to 400 parishioners. In Domesday times Bletsoe was shared between Countess Judith and Hugh de Beauchamp and had assets of 10 ploughs, meadows & woodland and a mill.

The Church

St Mary's church sits on the eastern side of The Avenue towards the northeastern end of the village. Whilst a medieval church at heart it is one which was extensively modified in Victorian times. The layout is cruciform, usually indicative of an early church but the earliest fabric identified by Pevsner dates from the 13th century, it is represented primarily by the southern doorway and the heart of the crossing tower both being Early English Gothic in style. There is a lancet too opening into the chancel to indicate it too was possibly of these early times. The church was greatly extended in the earlier 14th century, the chancel given Decorated styled recesses and the tower arches also show the same age. There are two Victorian restorations documented, the first of an extensive phase running from  1857 to 1866 remodelling most of the details of the church, a further phase in 1883 rebuilt the eastern wall of the nave in a High Victorian style, In more modern times the chancel was declared redundant in the 1970s and has been separated from the nave and stands disused. The Avenue is of sufficient width to allow on-street parking outside the churchyard which is entered by a neatly roofed wooden gateway, the churchyard has quite a few trees including a substantial clump in the favoured southern aspect, this is one needing some careful scouting by the photographer to find the optimal views.