A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



to the nave, and later in the century a north aisle was 

 added. The chancel was re-modelled and probably 

 lengthened eastward about 1330, a new chancel arch 

 being inserted at that time, and the western tower is 

 an addition of the middle of the fifteenth century. 

 A clearstory was added to the nave c. 1500, and the 

 only other addition to the fabric is a modern south 

 porch. A good many worked pieces of stone from 

 the twelfth-century church may be seen in the walls 

 of the aisles. 



The east window of the chancel is of three lights 

 with modern tracery, the gable over it being of brick. 

 In the north wall is a single blocked twelfth-century 

 light, and in the south wall a square-headed window 

 of two trefoiled lights f. 1330. To the west of it 

 is a south doorway with a plain pointed arch, the 

 stonework being apparently modern. There are low 

 side windows at the north-west and south-west angles 

 of the chancel with trefoiled ogee heads to the lights 

 and transoms across the lower part of the openings, 

 both are of early fourteenth-century date, but the 

 tracery in the south window has been renewed. At 

 the south-east is a trefoiled piscina recess of four- 

 teenth-century date, and a modern credence imme- 

 diately to the west of it. 



The chancel arch, c. 1330, has jambs of three 

 engaged shafts with smaller members between them 

 and half-round moulded capitals and bases. The arch 

 is of two orders with wave moulds on the western side 

 and plain chamfers on the east. There is a rebate in 

 the lower edge of the inner chamfer to take the 

 boarding behind the rood-loft with which the arch 

 was formerly filled. 



The chancel roof is of low pitch, the tie-beam 

 being ancient, but is otherwise of modern stained deal. 



The nave has arcades of three bays, that on the 

 north, of late thirteenth-century date, having octagonal 

 columns with moulded bases and capitals, and pointed 

 arches of two chamfered orders. The south arcade is 

 of earlier type, the capitals being more simply treated 

 and having a square-edged abacus, circular in plan, on 

 the octagonal bell. The capital of the west respond in 

 this arcade has some plain leaf ornament which seems 

 to have been touched up at some recent date. The 

 arches are like those in the north arcade, but in the 

 spandrel over the first column is a small sunk trefoil, 

 and in that over the next a six-petalled flower in relief 

 in a sunk panel. 



The clearstory has three two-light windows a side, 

 with four-centred heads and trefoiled lights, and the 

 roof is of low pitch with moulded tie-beams which 

 appear to be ancient. 



The north aisle has an east window of two trefoiled 

 lights with quatrefoils over under a square head, and 

 the two northern windows are of the same type. The 

 north doorway is of two hollow chamfered orders and 

 probably of late thirteenth-century date. The 

 windows of the south aisle are similar to those in the 

 north, except that the south-east window has three 

 lights instead of two. The south doorway has thir- 

 teenth-century jambs, formerly with shafts of which 

 the capitals only remain ; they have been carved with 

 foliage beneath as well as on the bell to repair the 

 damage caused by the loss of the shafts. The arch 

 itself is fifteenth-century work simply moulded, and 

 the porch into which it opens is entirely modern. 



The tower is of three stages, embattled, with a pro- 

 jecting staircase turret at the south-west. It has two- 

 light belfiy windows with quatrefoils in the heads and a 

 similar west window on the ground stage. In its east 

 wall is a plain pointed doorway probably of the same 

 date as the tower. On the east face of the tower is 

 the mark of a steep pitched roof removed when the 

 clearstory was added. 



The font at the west end of the nave has an 

 octagonal bowl on a stem, and appears to be of 

 fifteenth-century date, but the upper part of it has 

 been repaired. 



In the nave is a large slab, 8 ft. by 3 ft. 4 in., 

 with the matrix of a brass consisting of a figure under 

 a crocketed canopy with flanking pinnacles ; above 

 the canopy are five shields. 



There is a single bell in the tower, dated 1820, 

 and pits for two more. 



The plate comprises a cup of 1633, inscribed 

 ' Wrestlingworth Communion Cup, Bedfordshire ;' 

 a paten of 1 869, and a flagon of Sheffield plate. 



The first book of the registers runs from 1578 to 

 1729, being the parchment copy begun in 1598 ; the 

 second book contains baptisms and burials, 1729 to 

 1800, and marriages to 1753. The third is the 

 printed marriage register 1754 to 1812, and the 

 fourth contains the baptisms and burials from 1 801 



to l8l2. 



There is also a register of briefs and affidavits 

 for burials in woollen from 1681 to 1730, and the 

 fint book of churchwardens' accounts runs from 1725 

 to 1832. 



In the east window of the north aisle is a shield of 

 fifteenth-century glass bearing on a gold ground three 

 uncertain charges gules. 



The church of Wrestlingworth 

 JDFOfVSON was granted early in the thirteenth 

 century to Newnham Priory by 

 Klias Taillebois," which grant was confirmed by his 

 daughter Cicely and Imbert de Hereford in 1230." 

 In 1 3 14 the right of Newnham to present to the 

 living was definitely recognized by the bishop of 

 Lincoln.*' At the dissolution of Newnham Priory 

 the living, which is a rectory, and was then worth 

 £'j 6s. 6d.," became the property of the crown, and 

 the right of presentation is now exercised by the Lord 

 Chancellor." 



There is a Congregational chapel at Wrestlingworth 

 built in 1887. 



The chantry of Tempsford owned a certain close 

 and lands in Wrestlingworth worth 5/., together with 

 stock worth £6 5/. for the'sustentation of an obit." 



In or about the year 1 709 Daniel 

 CHjiRITIES Dennis by his will devised a messuage 

 in this parish, now used as a general 

 shop and post office, and let at ^^22 10/. a year, and 

 3 acres of land on the north side of the village, now 

 let at £() a year, for charitable purposes. 



By an order of the Charity Commissioners of 30 

 June, 1899, made under the Local Government Act, 

 1894, one-fourth part of the yearly income was 

 apportioned as an ecclesiastical charity and the 

 remainder as an eleemosynary charity. 



This parish is also possessed under the title of 

 ' Church and Poor's Land ' of a block of four cottages 

 in the village fronting the main road, let to four 



6» Harl. MSS. 3656. 



" Feet of F. Beds. 15 Hen. Ill, m. 2. 



«2 Harl. MSS. 3656. 



*' Falor Eccl. (Rcc. Com.), iv, 199. 



258 



«^ Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.). 

 "' Chant. Cert, i, No. 25. 



