Shelton, Bedfordshire
Historical Description
Shelton, a village and a parish in Bedfordshire, 4¼ miles W by N of Kimbolton, and 4 S from Raunds station on the M.R. Post town and money order and telegraph office, Kimbolton, under St. Neots. Acreage, 946; population, 112. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely; gross value, £98 with residence. Patron, Lord St. John. The church is a small but ancient edifice of stone in the Decorated, Transitional, 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 | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Shelton St. Mary | |
| Hundred | Stodden |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1565.
The Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service (BLARS) hold the registers for Shelton: Baptisms 1706-1990, Marriages 1706-1982, Burials 1706-1993, Banns 1824-1982. 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. Mary
The church of St. Mary is an ancient stone building of mixed styles, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, north chapel, low south porch and a western pinnacled tower containing 3 bells and a clock: the chancel is Decorated, the nave arcades Transitional, and the south aisle, which retains a piscina, Perpendicular; the north aisle is continued to the end of the chancel, forming a chapel, to which there is a circular opening in its inner wall; there are 56 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Shelton was in St. Neots Registration District from 1837 to 1934
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Shelton from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Shelton (St. Mary))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Bedfordshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Shelton 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
Visitations Heraldic
A full transcript of the Visitations of Bedfordshire 1566, 1582, and 1634 is available online.