GenUKI Contents

Bedfordshire

Nearby places

DEAN

"DEAN, a parish in the hundred of Stodden, in the county of Bedford, 9 miles north of St. Neot's, and 12 north of Bedford. The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Ely, value £125, in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Worcester. The church, dedicated to All Saints, is in the Norman style, consisting of chancel, nave, square tower, and spire, and has a beautiful carved oak roof, and a brass to Canon Parker. The charities amount to £69 per annum. There is a free school, founded by Joseph Neale in 1702. At Nether Dean there is a Wesleyan chapel. By the Act 40 George III., the tithes of this and of the adjoining parish of Over Dean were commuted for land and a money payment. Lord St. John is lord of the manor."

"LOWER DEAN, (or Nether Dean) a hamlet in the parish of Dean, hundred of Stodden, in the county of Bedford, 4 miles west of Kimbolton, 1½ miles north of Upper Dean.

"UPPER DEAN, (or Over Dean) a hamlet in the parish of Dean, hundred of Stodden, in the county of Bedford, 4 miles west of Kimbolton, 1½ miles south of Lower Dean.

Census

• The 1851 Census Index for Dean can be found in the 1851 Index to Census of Bedfordshire, Volume 2, Book 1 available from the Bedfordshire Family History Society. The full 1891 Census of Dean Parish is available as fiche set C14 from the Huntingdonshire FHS.

Churches

• Here are photographs of Churches etc. in the parish:
  • All Hallows Church, Upper Dean. (view 1)
    • Internal view looking down the nave
    • The font
  • All Hallows Church, Upper Dean. (view 2)
  • The United Reformed Church, Upper Dean. (formerly an independent Chapel).
• There are photographs and a description of All Hallows on the Bedfordshire Parish Churches website.

Church History

• Church of England
  • The church of All Saints, situated in Upper Dean, is a building of mixed styles, chiefly Decorated and Perpendicular, and consists of chancel, clerestoriod nave of four bays, aisles, south porch and a Decorated western tower, with short octagonal spire relieved bv two tiers of small dormers, containing 4 bells and a clock : the chancel, aisles, clerestory and roof are Perpendicular, the chancel arch is Early English, the nave arches Decorated; the roof, a fine open one, has very richly carved bosses and figures of angels, and the wall plates are ornamented with foliage and shields: in the north aisle is a cinquefoiled sepulchral recess and a hagioscope; and in the south porch a holy water stoup : in the south aisle is a piscina, and an altar-tomb with brass to Sir Thomas Parker, prebendary of the collegiate church of St. Mary in Shrewsbury, and rector of Dean, who died in 1501: there is also a monument to Francis Dillingham, rector here, and one of the translators of the Bible, dated 1593; and a record of Joseph Neales educational endowment, left in 1702: there are 250 sittings. The register dates from the year 1566. [Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]
• Non-conformist
  • There is a Wesleyan chapel at Nether Dean, erected in 1846, and a Congregational chapel at Upper Dean, built at the sole cost of William Ackroyd esq. in 1863. [Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]

Church Records

• Church of England
  • The parish record transcripts for All Saints are available on microfiche for the period 1566-1812 from the Bedfordshire Family History Society.

Gazetteers

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

Military History

• The BFHS Project in conjunction with Roll of Honour contains the Upper Dean War Memorial transcription for WW1 and WW2 with details of the men found on it.