Cople, Bedfordshire
Historical Description
Cople, a village and a parish in Bedfordshire, on an affluent of the river Ouse, 1½ mile E of Cardington station on the M.R., and 3¼ miles ESE of Bedford, with a post office under Bedford; money order office, Bedford; telegraph office, Cardington railway station. Acreage, 2132; population, 424. Cople House is a chief residence. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely; gross yearly value, £179 with residence. Patron, Christ Church, Oxford. The church is a building of Dunstable clunch and sandstone, in the Early English and Perpendicular styles.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Bedfordshire | |
| Diocese | Ely | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Cople All Saints | |
| Hundred | Wixamtree |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1560.
The Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service (BLARS) hold the registers for Cople: Baptisms 1563-1947, Marriages 1563-1993, Burials 1563-1947, Banns 1818-1994. Transcripts in either book or microfiche form for registers prior to 1813 can be purchased from the BLARS (see website for details).
Churches
Church of England
All Saints (parish church)
The church of All Saints is an interesting edifice of sandstone and Dunstable clunch, in the Early English and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel with side chapels, nave with clerestory, aisles, south porch and a tower containing 5 bells: on the north side of the chancel is an altar-tomb of Purbeck marble, to the Luke family, and on the south side a similar one to the Grey family; there are many brasses: the nave and chancel have been restored since 1877, at a cost of £1,000, and in 1990 a new east window was erected at a cost of over £308; in 1899-1901 the exterior was restored at a cost of £547.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Cople was in Bedford Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Cople from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Cople (All Saints))
- Kelly's Directory of Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Northamptonshire, 1914
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Bedfordshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Cople are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Bedfordshire papers online:
- Bedfordshire Times and Independent
- Biggleswade Chronicle
- Luton Times and Advertiser
- Luton News and Bedfordshire Chronicle
Poor Law
Cople was in Bedford Poor Law Union. For further detailed history of the Bedford Union see Peter Higginbotham's excellent resource: Bedford Poor Law Union and Workhouse.
Visitations Heraldic
A full transcript of the Visitations of Bedfordshire 1566, 1582, and 1634 is available online.