Stopsley, Bedfordshire
Historical Description
Stopsley, an ecclesiastical parish in Luton civil parish, Beds, 1¾ mile NNE of Luton station on the M.R. and G.N.R. It was constituted in 1861, and has a post office under Lnton; money order and telegraph office, Luton. Population, 801. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely; net value, £120. The church was built in 1861, and is in the Early English style. There are Baptist and Wesleyan chapels.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Bedfordshire | |
Civil parish | Luton | |
Hundred | Flitt |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1863; the church not having been approved by the Ecclesiastical Commisioners until Nov. 29, 1883, the Act 47 Vic. cap. 1 was passed to legalise marriages that had been solemnised in the church during the interval without any default of the persons so married, and all such marriages are declared valid by this Act.
The Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service (BLARS) hold the registers for Stopsley: Baptisms 1861-1976, Marriages 1862-1975, Burials 1862-1959, Banns 1863-1977
Churches
Church of England
St. Thomas (parish church)
The church of St. Thomas, consecrated June 2nd, 1862, is of red brick in the Early English style, consisting of chancel and nave and a turret with one bell.
Civil Registration
Stopsley was in Luton Registration District from 1896 to 1933
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Stopsley from the following:
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Bedfordshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Stopsley 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
Parochial History
The civil parish was formed from the parish of Luton, under the provisions of section 1 sub-section 3, of the Local Government Act, 1894 (56 and 57 Vict. c. 73), by Local Government Board Order 33,979, dated April 1, 1896.
By the Luton (extension) Order, 1928, part of this parish was included within the parish and borough of Luton.
By the South Bedfordshire Order, 1933, a further part of this parish was added to the borough of Luton and the remainder to the parishes of Hyde and Streatley with Sharpenhoe.
The ecclesiastical parish was constituted Feb. 4, 1861.
Poor Law
Stopsley was in Luton Poor Law Union. For further detailed history of the Luton Union see Peter Higginbotham's excellent resource: Luton Poor Law Union and Workhouse.
Visitations Heraldic
A full transcript of the Visitations of Bedfordshire 1566, 1582, and 1634 is available online.