England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Milton Ernest All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Milton Ernest lies in northern Bedfordshire roughly 5 miles northwest of the county town of Bedford. Milton Ernest sits on the eastern banks of the River Great Ouse and is bisected by the A6 road which connects Bedford through to the Northamptonshire town of Rushden. Milton Ernest is a substantial village with properties both along the A6 and also lanes heading both east and northwest from the main village crossroads. Like many parishes in this area the economy was underpinned by farming, the water-meadows of the Great Ouse floodplain giving rich pastures to compliment the arable fields on higher ground. Modern developments have come to the area, the Bedford to Wellingborough railway lines cuts through the western part of the parish albeit Milton Ernest has no station. The Great Ouse meanders in great loops southwards through Bedford before heading east out across the Fens to reach the North Sea through The Wash. Milton Ernest is sited at around 40 metres above the sea in fairly gentle countryside where local heights to a general level around 80 metres. Milton Ernest parish was small but still fairly typically sized for its county, covering just over 1,300 acres it would have supported a population of close to 450 parishioners. In Domesday times Milton Ernest was a fragmented manor, shared by no less than 6 landholders' collectively its assets amounted to 11 ploughs, the usual meadows, pastures & woodlands and there was a mill.

The Church

All Saints church sits just east of the A6 on the southern side of the lane leading towards Thurleigh. At one time the church was possessed of an Early Norman chancel, a piece from immediately after the Conquest, but this fell victim to the Victorian restorers albeit with some windows retained and reset following restoration. The main elements of the church span the early English Gothic period and the Decorated period which followed indicative of a build commenced in the late 13th century and finished in the early 14th. The chancel arch and western tower are the main elements showing Early English Gothic styles including the characteristic lancet windows on the tower. The northern & southern arcades illustrate well the later Decorated style. The major modification of the Perpendicular period was the insertion of a clerestory to improve internal lighting. The major restoration of Victorian times spanned a 7 year period from 1858 to 1865 when the church was restored and the chancel rebuilt.The main entrance is through an attractive lychgate off Church Green, space for a single car outside, sadly the church is heavily constrained by trees around the southeastern aspect restricting the angles available for photography.