England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Eversholt St John the Baptist

The Parish

The parish of Eversholt lies in southwestern Bedfordshire roughly 2 miles east of the small market town of Woburn. Eversholt sits within a broad area devoid of numbered roads, until that is the modern M1 motorway was carved through just a mile to its east, Woburn previously saw the closest such road, the A4012 connecting Ampthill with Leighton Buzzard. Eversholt is a remarkably dispersed settlement, as Pevsner comments it consist of no fewer than 14 "ends" such as Church End, Potter's End and Higher Berry End. Eversholt sits immediately east of the grounds of Woburn Abbey together with its Safari Park. This area is underlain by iron-rich Greensand which gives many of Eversholt's building, including the church, an umber glow especially in evening light. That Greensand also dictated a more equable farming regime with pastoral dominated slightly over arable, the stone besides being quarried for building was also, at one time, exploited for its iron content. Eversholt is drained eastwards by the infant River Flitt which becomes the Ivel beyond Shefford, the latter joins the Great Ouse to reach the North Sea through The Wash. Eversholt is sited at around 100 metres above the sea in a landscape more undulating than much of its county, land rises to the southwest to almost reach 150 metres. Eversholt parish was fairly typically sized for its area, covering just over 2,100 acres it would have supported a population of almost 900 parishioners. In Domesday times Eversholt was chiefly held by Hugh de Beauchamp with a minor portion with the ubiquitous Bishop Odo, together their holdings amounted to just 8 ploughs together with the usual meadows & woodland.

The Church

St John the Baptist's church sits appropriately enough at Church End opposite the Green Man Inn. From the exterior the church is an example of an ironstone Perpendicular church but the interior tells an older story. Pevsner speculates that the three-bay northern arcade may even be Norman Romanesque or Transitional and date from the 12th century. Other internal features indicate that the church has been here from the turn of 12th into 13th centuries. It is clear from the exterior, however,, that the church was significantly changed during the great church-building era of the 14th century. Decorated style windows are followed by many Perpendicular features indicating a rebuild starting in early 14th and progressing into the late 14th century. In sequence work seems to have commenced at the eastern end with the chancel, Decorated, followed by the western tower, early Perpendicular and then the remainder in a later Perpendicular style, at which point the clerestory would have been added to improve internal lighting. A substantial restoration by the Victorians, in this case of the 1860s then resulted in today's church. The church sits on the southern side of Church End with ample parking for a car or two outside the gate, the churchyard, banked above road height, is largely free of photographic obstacles.