England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Clapham St Thomas of Canterbury

The Parish

The parish of Clapham lies in northern Bedfordshire roughly 3 miles northwest of the county town of Bedford. Clapham sits on the former route of the A6 road, now thankfully bypassing to its west, which links Bedford with Northampton and onwards to the far north. Clapham is a village become a suburb, early maps show a small and compact village gathered immediately westward of the church with a mere scatter of properties lying along the former trunk road, today a large modern development spreads for over a mile to the original village's north whilst outer Bedford has crept to within a mile to the south. At the time of this transcript Clapham would have been a typical arable farming village with cereals, beet & fallow rotating year-on-year, the riverside setting close to the Great Ouse would have provided some diversification with pastures within its water-meadows. Modern developments have arrived at the parish with the railway line linking Bedford with Northampton passing just west of the fast dual-carriageway that the A6 now follows. Clapham sits on the northern banks of the Great Ouse which drains the parish southwards to Bedford through an intricate meander before heading eastwards on its long journey to the sea arriving through The Wash and the Norfolk port of King's Lynn. Clapham is sited at around 40 metres above the sea to the northeast and away from the river a few spots approach 80 metres in what is relatively gentle terrain. Clapham parish covered just under 2,000 acres, a fairly typical size for this area, and supported a population of around 350 parishioners. Clapham's Domesday entry shows a much larger settlement than today with sufficient population as to be amongst the largest 20% in the land, held by one Miles Crispin its assets were substantial too, 34 ploughs is an impressive number and when backed by the usual meadows & woodland and a mill made for a rather wealthy and substantial manor.

The Church

St Thomas' church sits within the oldest area of the village accessed from the dead-end lane of Green Lane by a surfaced pathway. This church has ancient origins best revealed within its ancient rubble-built western tower which is Saxo-Norman in age and may pre-date the Conquest, the topmost stage is of the 12th century but the lower stages are simple Saxon work. Much of the remainder of the church has been extensively modified during a major Victorian restoration of 1861-1863 but substantial fragments were left in situ. Both southern and northern arcades were restored during work on the nave but the restorers left the eastern 2 bays in their original Early English Gothic style. The chancel arch was 13th century too but has been taken down and re-erected so hardly original fabric. Other than these elements all else relates to the Victorian work, it is disappointing to see so little original remaining for what must once have been an historic building. The church can be approached either from Green Lane or from the High Street by means of footpaths, that from the High Street has parking bays so is preferable. Sadly for the photographer the church mostly sits embedded within close-set trees with only the northeastern aspect relatively open and making for a challenge to adequately record this church.