Bedfordshire

Croydon Wendy Eyeworth Wimpole Barrington Meldreth Bassingbourn Barley Southill Litlington Upper Caldecote Sutton Brook End Everton Potton Northill Cardington Whaddon

      The ancestors of Ruth Wagstaff (great-grandmother, 1847) came from a small cluster of villages and towns on the eastern edge of Bedford County. Bedford County is in the southern Midlands of England. Much of the county is occupied by the broad valley of the Great Ouse River and its tributaries, but at its southern boundary the chalk ridge known as the Chiltern Hills cuts across the county on a southwest-northeast alignment. The outstanding architectural masterpiece of the county is Woburn Abbey. The present structure dates from 1747 and is surrounded by a magnificent park with lots of deer.

      The Wagstaff Ancestral Locations are in Bedfordshire as shown on the following map. Click on a village to go to a description of it.



Cardington. Map

      John Larkins (7th-great-grandfather, 1649) was christened here. John Larkins is the 2nd-great-grandfather of Isaac Wagstaff (3rd-great-grandfather, 1787). John Larkins� parents, John Larkins and Dorothy Laddes also lived here.

  St. Mary's Church was rebuilt in the 20th century.

  Cemetery at the St. Mary Church in Cardington.

  This house near the church was built in 1642.

      Cardington was a village that has become a larger town. The St. Mary�s Church was a medieval structure, but it was rebuilt in the 20th century. The Green is a very nice area in town (A History of Bedfordshire, Page 44).

Everton. Map

  Mariah Lucy Webb.

      Mariah Lucy Webb (2nd-great-grandmother, 1820) was born here. Her parents, John Webb Jr. and Jane Lee Hall, were married here in 1819. Her mother, Jane Lee Hall, was born here in 1799.

  St. Mary Church in Everton.

  Window in the St. Mary Church in Everton.

  Font in the St. Mary Church.

      Everton is a village that has some rustic looking thatched cottages perched on the slope of a low ridge, with long views opening up to the north (Mackay 64). The attractive St. Mary Church is in the village.

      An excellent site for complete coverage of the village of Everton is Bernard O�Connor�s web site.

Eyeworth. Map

      John Wagstaff (4th-great-grandfather, 1760) and Elizabeth Larkins (1751) were married in Eyeworth in 1784.

  Church in Eyeworth.

  1839 print by Mathew Rugeley of the church in Eyeworth (Bedford Rec. Off.)

      Eyeworth is a small village with a Church (Wilson 686).

Potton. Map

      John Wagstaff (4th-great-grandfather, 1760) was christened here. His mother, Susan Foscue (5th-great-grandmother, 1725) was christened here, married Thomas Wagstaff here in 1748, and was buried here in 1783. Thomas Wagstaff was buried here in 1788. Three more generations of Thomas Wagstaff and Susan Foscue�s ancestors lived here including: Frances Rugeley, Jermyn Foscue, Robert Foscue, Ann Snitch, John Wiltshire, and Elizabeth Wiltshire.

  Potton town square.

  Potton town square.

  Church of St. Mary.

      Potton is an old market town centered on a medieval square. The market day was once very important. The town center contains buildings built from the 16th through 18th centuries. Much of the town was destroyed in 1783. The Church of St. Mary is impressive and complete. It has a tower, transept and chapels. It is medieval in most respects with both interior furnishings and an exterior graveyard (Mid Bedfordshire Scenic Route, Pigot�s Directory of Bedfordshire, Page 22, A History of Bedfordshire, Page 29).

  House in Potton.

  Mr. Brookman and Carl Shelley at the sand and gravel pit.

  Wagstaff cottages in Potton.

      At the Bedford Record Office, we located the 1830 Tithe Map, which showed that a Wagstaff farmed a field in Potton. The owner of the property is Mr. Brookman. The field is now part of a large sand and gravel pit operation. He also told us that some apartments on the main road were named the �Wagstaff Apartments.� He told us about a James Wagstaff from Potton who moved to London and became very wealthy. If we have any relationship to the apartments, the Wagstaff farming the field at the pit, or James Wagstaff, we don�t know what it is.

Southill. Map

      Bathsheba Lee (4th-great-grandmother, 1764) and her father, Thomas, and mother, Mary, lived here. She was christened here in 1764.

  All Saints Church.

  House built in 1797 at Southill.

      Southill is a picturesque village dominated by South Hill Park, home of the Whitebread Family since 1795. Samuel Whitebread I founded the brewery of the same name. In All Saints Church lies the body of an Admiral executed on his own ship in 1757.

Sutton. Map

      John Webb Jr. (3rd-great-grandfather, 1795) and his parents, John Webb and Frances Webb lived here. John Jr. was christened here in 1795.

  All Saints Church in Sutton.

      Thomas Wagstaff (5th-great-grandfather, 1723) was christened here. Two generations of his ancestors lived here also.

      Sutton is a small picturesque village. It has one of the most delightful groups of buildings in Bedfordshire, centered around the church overlooking a stream spanned by a rare 15th century twin-arched packhorse bridge with a ford alongside. The All Saints Church is a medieval building with many interesting features including a sacred barrel organ of 1830. It also contains the �squire�s� pew and a monument dedicated to Sir Roger Burgoyne (Mid Bedfordshire Scenic Route, Mackay Page 64).

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