A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



Diocese of Ely. 

 three croium or. 



Gulei 



and baptisms from 1697 to 1765. The second con- 

 tains marriages from 1754 to 1789. 



The rectory to which the advowson 

 ADVOWSON of the vicarage is attached was formerly 

 annexed to a prebend in Lincoln 

 Cathedral. In 1 1 3 2, together with Biggleswade manor 

 (q.v.) it was granted to the bishops of Lincoln,*" and in 

 153s the vicarage was worth ;£ 1 0.'° In 1 8 3 7 the arch- 

 deaconry of Bedford, hitherto in the Lincoln diocese, 

 was transferred to Ely, whose 

 bishop now holds the right of 

 presentation to Biggleswade.'" 



There appears to have been 

 a chapel in Stratton in the 

 fourteenth and fifteenth cen- 

 turies. In 1 3 1 7 Thomas de 

 Northfleet, canon of St. Paul's, 

 left money for the repair of the 

 chapel of St. Mary." John 

 Enderby left alms in 1457 for 

 masses for his soul to be said in 

 Stratton Chapel," and in 1473 



Maud his widow obtained a licence to found a 

 chantry at the altar of St. Mary in the chapel of 

 Stratton for the souls of John Enderby and others." 



The church of St. John the Baptist in the north of 

 the town, designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield, is a 

 building of brick, erected in 1883. 



There are in Biggleswade at the present day Strict 

 Baptist, Baptist, Wesleyan, and Primitive Methodist 

 chapels, and a meeting-place for the Salvation Army. 

 There are also a council and two non-provided 

 schools. 



In 1475 the bishop of Lincoln received a licence 

 to found a fraternity or gild to be called the Gild 

 of the Holy Trinity," whose object was to provide a 

 priest to say a daily mass in the church of St. Andrew, 

 Biggleswade, ' for the good estate of the said King 

 (Edward IV) and Queen, the soul of the late Duke of 

 York, father of the king, and all the brothers and sisters 

 of the said guild.' "' At the Dissolution its value was 

 £j, but in 1547 it was found no longer to fulfil the 

 purposes for which it was established, and was 

 abolished.'* 



Charity of Sir John Cotton, bart., 

 CHARITIES known as the Flitwick Charity. In 

 1726 Sir John Cotton, bart., by his 

 will, directed {inter a/ia) that a sum of j£i,8oo should 

 be laid out in the purchase of freehold lands, and that 

 out of the rents and profits two-ninths thereof should 

 be paid to the vicar of St. Neots, county of Hunting- 

 don, two-ninths to the rector of Conington in the 

 same county, one-ninth to the vicar of Biggleswade, 

 as augmentations of their respective benefices, two- 

 ninths to the schoolmaster in the township of Holme 

 (in the ancient parish of Glatton, Huntingdonshire), 

 and two-ninths to the schoolmaster in Biggleswade for 

 the instruction of children in the principles of the 

 Christian religion as practised in the Church of 

 England. 



By the direction of the Court of Chancery an estate 

 in the parish of Flitwick in the county of Bedford 

 was purchased in 1752, the rental value of which is 

 about ;£200 a year. The official trustees hold (1906) 



a sum of j^53 15/. lld. consols, towards replacement 

 of a sum of ;^375, borrowed in 1897, for enlargement 

 of the farm-house. 



By an order made under the Board of Education 

 Act, 1899, two-ninths of the net yearly income has 

 been assigned for purposes of education under the 

 title of Sir John Cotton's Educational Foundation 

 (Holme), and the same proportion under the title of 

 Sir John Cotton's Educational Foundation (Biggles- 

 wade). The other proportions are duly applied for 

 their respective objects of trust. 



Robert Braynforth (as appeared from the Table of 

 Benefactions), by his will, date unknown, charged certain 

 land in Distaff Lane, in the parish of St. Nicholas Cole 

 Abbey, London, with the yearly sum of j^io for the 

 use of the poor of the town and parish. The rent- 

 charge was redeemed by the payment into court of 

 £i 3 3 6s. id. consols, which sum was, in or about the 

 year 1898, with the consent of the court re-invested, 

 with other monies advanced for the purpose (since 

 replaced out of income), in the purchase of a ground- 

 rent oi £1^ a year, payable out of No. 215, London 

 Road, Croydon, belonging to a society known as ' The 

 Institute Building Society.' 



The income is distributed in money to the poor 

 inhabitants on St. Thomas's Day in sums of lod. to 

 each recipient. 



The Table of Benefactions also showed that John 

 Wright, by his will, date unknown, gave the sum of 

 £^\ a year, payable out of a house in the Market 

 Place, to be distributed among such poor people as 

 should live in the parish. The property charged 

 now consists of shops and a house in the Market 

 Place, of which Mr. A. J. Brookbanks is the owner. 

 The charity is distributed at the same time and in the 

 same manner as the last-mentioned charity. 



It also appeared, from the same table, that the 

 Rev. E. B. Frere, vicar of the parish, deposited 

 j^52 10/. in the Savings Bank in trust for the poor 

 for ever. The gift is now represented by £1 1 10/. 6d. 

 consols, with the official trustees, and the dividends, 

 amounting to £1 5/. id., are distributed in bread. 



In 1795 Jane Brooks, by her will, proved in the 

 Archdeaconry Court of Huntingdonshire, on 24 

 January, 1797, bequeathed ;^l6o to trustees upon 

 trust to invest the same and to apply the income for 

 the benefit of poor people of the respective parishes of 

 Hinxworth and Baldock in the county of Hertford, 

 Biggleswade and Stotfold in the county of Bedford, in 

 equal fourth-part shares for distribution in bread 

 amongst the most necessitous poor of the respective 

 parishes. 



The legacy was, in 1833, laid out in the purchase 

 of two contiguous pieces of land known as the Great 

 Mill Field and the Little Mill Field, in the parish of 

 Stocking Pelham in the county of Hertford, contain- 

 ing together 7 a. 3 r. 1 8 p. 



By an order of the Charity Commissioners of 2 April, 

 1889, the churchwardens were appointed trustees of 

 the charity. The rent, amounting after deductions 

 for tithes, &c., to ^^4 9/. id. is applied in the distribu- 

 tion of loaves. 



In 1 808 George Herbert, by his will, bequeathed 

 to the vicar and churchwardens ^^300 in trust to 



88 Dugdale, Mon. vi, 1271. 

 "" Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), !v, 198, 199. 

 »» Line. Epis. Reg. ; Inst. Bks. P.R.O. ; 

 F.C.H. Beds, i, 347. 



'' Hht. MSS. Com. Rep. ix, App. pt. 

 464. 



»2 Add. Chart. 35245. 



" Cal. of Fat. 1467-77, p. 400. 



214 



" Ibid. 485. 



»s Chant. Cert, i, No. 22 ; 2, No. 5. 

 S8 Ibid, i Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 

 198. 



