Flitton, Bedfordshire
Historical Description
Flitton, a village and a parish in Beds, lying on the-river Flitt, 2¼ miles SE of Ampthill, and 2 ENE from Flitwick station on the M.R. Post town, Ampthill; money order and telegraph office, Silsoe. Acreage, 1065; population, 561. The parish includes part of the hamlet of Greenfield. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely; net yearly value, £350 with residence. Patron, Earl Cowper, K.G. The church is ancient and good, was much enlarged in 1835, and contains the burial-place of the De Grey family, handsome monuments to several Earls of Kent, and a brass of Thomas Hill, who died in 1601 when 101 years old.
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 | Flitton St. John the Baptist | |
| Hundred | Flitt |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1583.
The Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service (BLARS) hold the registers for Flitton: Baptisms 1581-1989, Marriages 1581-1995, Burials 1581-1988, Banns 1769-1817, 1823-1983. 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 sandstone in the Later Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles and an embattled tower containing 6 bells: in the church, attached to the wall of the north aisle, is a fragment of a brass to Thomas Waren, gent. ob. 1544, his wife Elizabeth, and children; the male effigy and figures of children are now lost; the inscription is palimpsest, but has been broken into three pieces, of which two are missing; the reverse bore several Latin verses in rhyming couplets: there is also a brass on the chancel floor to Thomas Hill, d. 1620, aged 101 years: here is the mausoleum of the De Grey family, containing many splendid monuments, dating from the 16th century: in the church is a list of the vicars from 1260.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Flitton was in Ampthill Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Flitton from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Flitton (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 Flitton 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
Flitton was in 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.