GenUKI Contents

Bedfordshire

Nearby places

LOWER GRAVENHURST

"LOWER GRAVENHURST, a parish in the hundred of Flitt, county Bedford, 5 miles south east of Ampthill, its post town, and 11 south west of Bedford. Two-thirds of the land is arable, the remainder pasture and meadow. Part of the soil is a rich loam, and the remainder clay. There is no village, and the whole of the parish forms one large farm. The tithes were commuted for land and corn rents under an Enclosure Act in 1820. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Ely, value £243, in the patronage of the lord chancellor. The church is a small edifice in the Gothic style of architecture, dedicated to St. John, and has a brass to one of the De Bilhemores, of the early part of the 15th century. Earl de Grey is lord of the manor.

Census

• The 1851 Census Index for Lower Gravenhurst can be found in the 1851 Index to Census of Bedfordshire, Volume 4, Book 1 available from the Bedfordshire Family History Society.

Churches

• There are photographs and a description of St Mary's on the Bedfordshire Parish Churches website.
• The following Churches have their own websites:
  • St. Mary's Church, Lower Gravenhurst

Church History

• Church of England
  • The church of St. Mary is a small but ancient building, chiefly in the Decorated style, consisting of chancel and nave, under a continuous roof, and a massive embattled Perpendicular western tower with a large octagonal turret at the south-east angle, and a small spirelet, and containing 1 bell : the chancel retains Decorated sedilia, piscins and a bracket, and Decorated, has tracery of the original painting : the tracery of some of the windows is singular : there remains a brass to Robert de Bilhemore, who rebuilt the church, with the following inscription : "Robert de Bilhemore chiualer ge fait faire cette eglise de nonele gist icy dieu de salme eit merci. Amen" : another brass with effigies is inscribed to Benjamin Pigott esq. 1606, and his three wives. The register dates from the year 1569. [Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]

Church Records

• Church of England
  • The parish record transcripts for St Mary are available on microfiche for the period 1569-1812 from the Bedfordshire Family History Society.

Gazetteers

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

Military History

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