Bedford St Cuthbert, Bedfordshire

St. Cuthbert, St. Cuthbert's Street (parish church)

St. Cuthbert's church, on the east side of the town, so named in honour of St. Cuthbert of Durham, is said to have been founded by Offa, King of Mercia, A.D. 772, and, if so, would be the oldest existing ecclesiastical foundation in Bedford: the former building, consisting of a small nave and chancel under one roof, with a bell turret, was replaced in 1847 by the present edifice, which, is of stone, in the Transition style, and was built at a cost of £2,100 on the site of the ancient church, erected: in the 8th century: the church, which stands in a pretty and well-planted churchyard, consists of chancel, nave, aisles, transepts and a low but massive central tower containing 1 bell, renewed in 1903 at a cost of £80: at the end of the north transept is a clock: the church has been twice enlarged; first in 1865, when the aisles were built at a cost of £1,600, and subsequently in 1877, when the building was extended westward, a cloister porch added on the west front and an organ chamber erected on the north side of the chancel, at a total cost; of about £1,350: on the erection of a new organ chamber on the south side of the chancel in 1r886, the former chamber was converted into a vestry: the organ, built at the same time, replaced the former organ, built in 1865; the total cost of organ and chamber was £616; the organ was enlarged in 1887 at a cost of £65, and there are three stained windows with figures of saints: the fittings of the church are of solid oak, obtained from Chicheley Park, Bucks: the east window is stained, and contains a figure of St. Cuthbert; several other stained windows have been presented to the church as memorials: the communion plate includes an ancient silver chalice and a modern service, presented by Mr. T. Wooldridge: the brass lectern was the gift of the late Ald. Horsford, who also left a legacy in money, which has been expended in the erection of a massive oak screen, between the chancel and the vestry, and in other improvements: the church affords 1,200 sittings.

Christ church, in Goldington road, a chapel of ease to St. Cuthbert's, is an iron structure, originally erected in 1883 in Castle road, at a cost of £1,150, and removed to its present site in 1902.