Warden, Old (St. Leonard)

WARDEN, OLD (St. Leonard), a parish, in the union of Biggleswade, hundred of Wixamtree, county of Bedford, 3¾ miles (W. by S.) from Biggleswade; containing 630 inhabitants. A market and fair, granted in 1218, were formerly held here, but have been long disused. The living is a discharged vicarage, united to that of Southill. In the cemetery is the mausoleum of Lord Ongley. An abbey for Cistercian monks from Rivaulx was founded in the parish in 1135, by Walter L'Espee; it was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and at the Dissolution had a revenue of £442.