Upper Stondon, Bedfordshire
Historical Description
Stondon, Upper, a parish and a small village in Beds, 1 mile W of Henlow station on the Bedford and Hitchin branch of the M. R., and 2½ miles S of Shefford. Post town, Shefford; money order and telegraph office, Shillington. Acreage, 426; population, 47. Bricks are made. The manor belongs to Earl Cowper. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely; net value, £134 with residence. The church was rebuilt in 1857 partly from the materials of the former building, and is in the Decorated style. It has a tower, and contains some good stained windows.
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 | Upper Stondon All Saints | |
Hundred | Clifton |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register of marriages dates from the year 1684, burials from 1683.
The Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service (BLARS) hold the registers for Upper Stondon: Baptisms 1686-1986, Marriages 1657-1967, Burials 1653-1985, Banns 1861-1963. 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 was re-erected in 1857, chiefly by subscription of the landed proprietors of the parish and the adjoining hamlet of Lower Stondon, and is a building of the sandstone found on the Wrest estate, in the Decorated style, consisting of chancel, nave, north transept, porch and a tower on the north side containing one bell, cast at Hertford in 1819: the transept was built by Trinity College, Cambridge, for the use of the inhabitants of Lower Stondon; of the old church, a Late Norman structure, there remains the font, a stone altar slab with crosses, under the present table; a memorial, c. 1680, in the middle of the chancel floor; an image bracket, and the inner door of the tower or main entrance, c. 1250; the former chancel screen was converted into altar rails, a pulpit and reading desks: the stained east window was the gift of W. Brooks esq.; and there is a memorial window to Robert Long esq. churchwarden, who died August 5, 1868, and another to the late George Lines esq.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Upper Stondon was in Biggleswade Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Upper Stondon from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Stondon, Upper (All Saints))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Bedfordshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Upper Stondon 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
Upper Stondon 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.