Stagsden (St. Leonard)
STAGSDEN (St. Leonard), a parish, in the hundred of Willey, union and county of Bedford, 4 miles (W. by S.) from Bedford; containing 632 inhabitants. It comprises about 3386 acres, of which 220 are arable, 1100 meadow and pasture, and about 80 woodland: the soil is chiefly clay, producing good wheat; the wood is oak and elm, with plantations of fir. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £8; patron, the Hon. G. R. Trevor; impropriators, Trinity College, Cambridge. The great tithes have been commuted for £558, and the vicarial for £350; the glebe comprises 2 acres. The church is a handsome structure in the later English style, with an embattled tower. A school is endowed with £6 per annum.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.