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Woburn (St. Mary)

WOBURN (St. Mary), a market-town and parish, and the head of a union, in the hundred of Manshead, county of Bedford, 15 miles (S. W. by S.) from Bedford, and 42 (N. W. by N.) from London; containing 1914 inhabitants. This town, which, having suffered severely from fire in the year 1595, and again in 1724, is almost entirely modern, occupies a gentle eminence on the main road from London to Leeds, and consists of four broad and handsome streets that intersect each other at right angles. The approaches to it from the north and the south, are kept in excellent repair, and have been embellished with two ornamental houses corresponding in architectural character with the market-house in the centre of the town, an oblong edifice in the Tudor style, erected by the late Duke of Bedford in 1830, from designs by Mr. Blore. The sides of this building have each four cloister arches filled with ironwork; at the east end is a neat arched doorway, over which is an oriel window, and the north-east angle has a square tower, with a spiral roof of lead surmounted by a vane. The lower part of the building is principally appropriated to the use of the butchers of the town and neighbourhood; the upper story comprises a splendid apartment for the manorial courts, and for the use of the county magistrates, who hold a petty-session for the hundred on the first Friday in every month. The market is on Friday; and fairs are held on Jan. 1st, March 23rd, and Oct. 6th: the spring fair is noted for an abundant supply of horses and cattle. The manufacture of thread-lace formerly constituted a principal branch of business, but of late it has been entirely discontinued, and some attempts have been made to introduce that of plat from Tuscan straw, as a more healthy and advantageous occupation for the children of the poor. The Bedford branch of the London and Birmingham railway passes on the north-west of the town. Assemblies, respectably attended, occasionally take place during the winter months. The town is singularly neat and improving; and the beauty of its site is greatly enhanced by the evergreen woods in its immediate vicinity, which were planted by John, fourth Duke of Bedford, and occupy 200 acres in extent. Near the markethouse is a fountain or reservoir, in the Tudor style, for supplying water in case of fire, erected at the expense of the late duke.

The living is a donative curacy; net income, £251; patron and impropriator, the Duke of Bedford. The church, erected by Robert Hobbs, last abbot of Woburn, presents a singularly beautiful appearance, being nearly covered with ivy. The old quadrangular embattled tower, terminating in pinnacles and surmounted by a cupola, stood detached from the main building; it was taken down and rebuilt in the later English style, from the lower stage, in 1830, by the Duke of Bedford, under the superintendence of Mr. Blore, and was then joined to the north aisle by a vestry-room and gallery. The tower rises to the height of 90 feet, and is surmounted by an octagonal stone lantern; at each angle is a lofty pinnacle, panelled and crocketed, with a finial, and the lantern has eight ornamented arches, supporting the roof, which rises spirally with crockets to a handsome finial. In the interior of the church is a curious alabaster monument of the Stanton family, consisting of twelve figures in the attitude of prayer; with some other ancient sepulchral memorials. A fine altar-piece of the Nativity, by Carlo Maratti, was presented by the late Duke of Bedford, who also adorned the building with a new window of five lights, with enriched and cinquefoil arched mullions, and the upper part embellished with stained glass, and figures of the Evangelists and four of the Patriarchs. There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyans. Adjacent to the church, and now corresponding with it in style, is a free school established in 1582, by Francis, second Earl of Bedford; in 1808, the Duke of Bedford increased the original endowment to £50 per annum, and in 1825, a similar school for girls was founded under the patronage of the duke and duchess. Twelve almshouses were founded in 1672, and endowed by John, fourth duke, for the residence and maintenance of 24 widows. The poor-law union of Woburn comprises 16 parishes or places, and, according to the census of 1841, contains a population of 11,282.

In the immediate vicinity of the town is Woburn Abbey, with its noble park, the seat of his grace. Itoccupies the site of a Cistercian abbey founded in 1145, by Hugh de Bolebec, and the revenue of which, at the Dissolution, was valued at £430. 13. 11.; the site, with a great part of the lands, was granted in 1549, by Edward VI., to John, first Earl of Bedford. In the middle of the last century the abbey was almost entirely rebuilt by Flitcroft, after which considerable enlargements were made under the superintendence of Mr. Henry Holland, who erected also the principal entrance to the park from London, a handsome facade decorated with Ionic threequarter columns, surmounted by the ducal arms and crest. The abbey is approached from this entrance through an extent of rich park scenery and by the margin of an artificial lake. The mansion occupies the four sides of a quadrangle, and comprises various suites of apartments magnificently furnished, and adorned with paintings by the most celebrated masters, and a collection of upwards of 280 portraits of distinguished family and other characters. The library, 56 feet in length by more than 23 in breadth, is stored with the most splendid illustrative and other works, of the highest class. The principal state-rooms are in the west front, which is of the Ionic order; the private apartments adjoin the library on the south, having immediately before them a terrace arranged as an ornamental flower-garden. A covered arcade conducts from the private apartments to the sculpture gallery, formed by the munificent taste of the late duke, 138 feet long by 25 wide, in which, amongst valuable works of art by ancient sculptors, are deposited some of the finest productions of Chantrey, Westmacott, and Thorvaldsen; the celebrated group of the Graces, by Canova; and the magnificent Lanti or Bedford Vase. The pleasure-grounds contain many objects of great attraction; the park abounds with fine timber, and is well stocked with red and fallow deer: the oak-tree on which Hobbs, the last abbot of Woburn, was hanged pursuant to the mandate of Henry VIII., is still pointed out. In 1572, Queen Elizabeth made a journey to the mansion; and in 1645, when Charles I. visited the Earl of Bedford, the overtures of the parliamentary commissioners were privately submitted to him here, prior to being offered to him formally in public.


Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

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