Eyworth, Bedfordshire

Historical Description

Eyworth, a village and a parish in Beds, near the boundary with Cambridgeshire and Herts, 3 miles SE from Potton station on the L. & N.W.R., and 4 E by N of Biggleswade town. Post town, Sandy; money order and telegraph office, Potton. Acreage, 1254; population, 140. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely; gross value, £87. The church is an ancient edifice of grey stone and cobble in the Early English style. It contains some monuments belonging to the family of the late Judge Anderson.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

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	Eyworth All Saints
Hundred	Biggleswade

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Church Records

The parish register dates from the year 1538.

The Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service (BLARS) hold the registers for Eyeworth: Baptisms 1538-1993, Marriages 1538-1982, Burials 1538-1993, Banns 1824-1993. 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 ancient building of grey stone and cobble, in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles and a low embattled western tower, with spire containing 2 bells; there are some stained windows, and in the south wall of the chancel is a richly ornamented monument to Sir Edmund Anderson kt. Chief Justice of the Common Pleas (ob. 1 Aug. 1605), and Magdalen (Smyth), his wife, consisting of a fine altar tomb of marble upon which are two recumbent effigies, one representing Sir Edmund in his judicial robes with collar of SS. and the other his wife in the dress of the period: the canopy is semi-circular, the projecting portion being upheld by two pillars 7ft. in height: the whole is surmounted by the armorial bearings of the family: there are also two other monuments of lesser dimensions to members of this family, and three brasses with inscriptions to Richard Gadburye (ob. 1624) (founder of the Eyworth charity), his wife and only daughter: in 1902 Viscount Peel P.C., D.L. presented a stained window, altar cloths and tapestry hangings in memory of his daughter, the late Hon. Ella Frances Peel, who died 21 July, 1900: there are 120 sittings.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Eyeworth was in Biggleswade Registration District from 1837 to 1974

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Eyworth from the following:

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Bedfordshire is available to browse.

Maps

Online maps of Eyworth 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:

Poor Law

Eyworth was in Biggleswade Poor Law Union. For further detailed history of the Biggleswade Union see Peter Higginbotham's excellent resource: Biggleswade Poor Law Union and Workhouse.

Visitations Heraldic

A full transcript of the Visitations of Bedfordshire 1566, 1582, and 1634 is available online.