GenUKI Contents

Bedfordshire

CARDINGTON

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"CARDINGTON, a parish in the hundred of Wixamtree, in the county of Bedford, 3 miles to the south east of Bedford, its post town. It is situated on the south side of the river Ouse, and is a station on the Midland (South-East branch) railway. The parish includes the chapelry of East Cotts. The living is a vicarage (with parsonage and glebe) in the diocese of Ely, value £245, in the patron: of the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge. The church is dedicated to St. Mary. It contains two monumental brasses, a fine monument, by Bacon, to Samuel Whitbread, the great brewer, and a tablet to the memory of John Howard, the philanthropist, who resided some time at the manor-house in this parish, and died at Cherson in 1796. There is a chapel belonging to the Wesleyan Methodists. The parochial charities amount to about £28 per annum. The manor-house is the seat of the Whitbreads, who settled at Cardington about 1650."

• "COTTON END, a hamlet in the parish of Cardington, hundred of Wixamtree, in the county of Bedford, 3 miles south east of Bedford."
• "EASTCOTTS, a township and chapelry in the parish of Cardington, hundred of Wixamtree, county Bedford, 7 miles west of Biggleswade."
• "FENLAKE, a hamlet in the parish of Cardington, hundred of Wixamtree, county Bedford, 1 mile south east of Bedford. The river Ouse flows through the hamlet."
• "HARROWDEN, a hamlet in the parish of Cardington, county Beds, 2½ miles south-east of Bedford Bridge, and 8 north west of Biggleswade. It is situated on a branch of the river Ouse."

[The above was transcribed (and edited) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868]
by Colin Hinson ©2023

The following information was transcribed by Craig Pickup from Kelly's Bedfordshire Directory, 1940

• "CHAPEL END, a hamlet in the parish of Cardington, hundred of Wixamtree, in the county of Bedford, ½ mile north east of Cardington."
• "HERRING'S GREEN, a hamlet in the parish of Cardington, hundred of Wixamtree, in the county of Bedford, 3 miles south of Cardington."
• "SHORTSTOWN, a 20th century village, in the parish of Cardington, county of Bedfordshire, 1¼ miles south west of Cardington."

Census

• The 1851 Census Index for Cardington can be found in the 1851 Index to Census of Bedfordshire, Volume 2, Book 2 available from the Bedfordshire Family History Society.
• The 1851 Census Index for Eastcotts can be found in the 1851 Index to Census of Bedfordshire, Volume 2, Book 2 available from the Bedfordshire Family History Society.

Churches

• Here are photographs of Churches etc. in the parish:
  • St. Mary's Church, Cardington. (Yet another Bedfordshire Church hidden by trees!)
    • Internal view looking down the nave
    • The Font
  • St. Mary's Church, Cardington. (View 2)
  • The Howard Memorial Congregational Church, Cardington.
• There are photographs and a description of St Mary's on the Bedfordshire Parish Churches website.

Church History

• Church of England
  • The church of St. Mary, with the exception of the chancel, is now (1898) being rebuilt in the Perpendicular style, from designs by Mr. Highton, architect, of Bedford, and will eventually consist of chancel with aisles, nave with clerestory, aisles and a western tower to contain 8 bells: in the north aisle of the chancel is a mural tablet to John Howard, the philanthropist, d. 20th Jan, 1790; there are also several marble monuments by Weekes Bacon to the Whitbread family: under the arcades of the chancel are two canopied altar tombs with brasses, one to the family of Sir W. Gascoigne, comptroller of the household to Cardinal Wolsey, the other to Sir Jarrate Harvye: the stained east window was erected to the memory of W. H. Whitbread esq. : in the south wall of the chancel is a piscine. The register dates from the year 1574. [Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
• Non-conformist
  • The Wesleyan chapel at Cardington was erected in 1823. [Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
  • At Cotton End is a large Baptist chapel, re-built by subscription in 1836, and seating about 600 persons. [Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]

Church Records

• Church of England
  • The parish record transcripts for St. Mary are available on microfiche for the period 1574-1812 from the Bedfordshire Family History Society.

Gazetteers

• A transcript of the Cardington parish entries from Samuel Lewis's 1831 Topographical Dictionary of England,
• A transcript of the Cardington parish entries from Samuel Lewis's 1835 Topographical Dictionary of England,
• A transcript of the Cardington parish entries from The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1866-9
• A transcript of the Cardington parish entries from Kelly's 1898 Directory of Bedfordshire

Military History

• The BFHS Project in conjunction with Roll of Honour contains the Cardington War Memorial transcription for WW1 and WW2, the Cotton End memorial with details of the men found on it and the Cardington memorial to the men who died in the R101 disaster.