Eversholt, Bedfordshire
Historical Description
Eversholt, a parish in Beds, adjacent to Woburn Park, 2¼ miles ESE from Woburn, and 4 S from Ridgmont station on the L. & N.W.R. It has a post office under Woburn; money order and telegraph office, Woburn. Acreage, 2146; population, 623. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely; net value £382 with residence. Patron, the Duke of Bedford, K.G. The church is old but good, and has an ancient font. There is a charity estate of 110 acres, which produces about £245 a year, the money being divided between the church, the poor, and the schools.
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 | Eversholt St. John the Baptist | |
| Hundred | Manshead |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1628.
The Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service (BLARS) hold the registers for Eversholt: Baptisms 1628-1977, Marriages 1630-2005, Burials 1630-1937, Banns c.1798-1802, 1824-1974. 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
St. John the Baptist (parish church)
The church of St. John the Baptist is a building of stone in the Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel, nave of four bays, aisles and a western embattled tower containing 6 bells: the north aisle projects one bay beyond the nave, and opens into the chancel by a Decorated arch, on one side of which is a piscina: there is another in the south aisle and a third in the chancel: the monuments include one to the Hon. Frances Ongley, eldest daughter of Samuel Henley, first Baron Ongley, of Old Warden, a title which became extinct in 1877; Mrs. Elizabeth Hyde, sister of the Bishop of St. David's, and Mrs. Sarah Hodgkinson: on the wall of the vestry is a boar's head carved in stone, the name Eversholt signifying the hold of the wild boar: a new communion table was provided in 1902 at a cost of £50, and in 1905 a new choir vestry was built at a cost of £80: the church underwent a complete restoration in 1864, under the direction of the late Sir G. G. Scott R.A. at a cost of about £3,000, and will seat 300 persons.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Eversholt was in Woburn Registration District from 1837 to 1899 and Ampthill Registration District from 1899 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Eversholt from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Eversholt (St. John the Baptist))
- 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 Eversholt 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
Eversholt was in Woburn Poor Law Union from 1835-1899 when it transferred to Ampthill Poor Law Union. For further detailed history of the Ampthill Union see Peter Higginbotham's excellent resource: Ampthill Poor Law Union and Workhouse.
Visitations Heraldic
A full transcript of the Visitations of Bedfordshire 1566, 1582, and 1634 is available online.