Blunham Bedfordshire Family History Guide
Blunham is an Ancient Parish in the county of Bedfordshire. Moggerhanger was constituted a chapelry in 1860
Other places in the parish include: Moggerhanger and Muggerhanger.
Parish church: St. Edmond
Parish registers begin: 1571
Nonconformists include: Baptist, Independent/Congregational, Particular Baptist, and Wesleyan Methodist.
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
The parish of Blunham included the large hamlet of Mogerhanger until less than a century ago, when the latter was created an independent parish. The two townships lie in the fertile plain of east Bedfordshire, and the inhabitants are occupied mainly in market gardening.
From early in the seventeenth century Blunham seems to have been a stronghold of dissent. Besides the direct references to dissenters, there are many entries of persons interred unbaptised. In a return of nonconformists, there were 50 Baptists at Blunham in 1669. John Wright, “the pious saddler of Blunham,” and George Farr (pp. 74-5, etc.) were fellow sufferers of John Bunyan in Bedford gaol.
Parish History
Blunham
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
BLUNHAM, a village and a parish in Biggleswade district, Beds. The village stands on the river Ivel, near the Cambridge and Bedford and the Great Northern railways, 6½ miles E of Bedford; and has a station on the former railway, and a post office under St. Neot’s. It was once a market-town. Pop., 647. Houses, 147.
The parish includes also the hamlet of Muggerhanger. Acres, 3,300. Real property, £7,266. Pop., 1,150. Houses, 243. The property is much subdivided. Blunham House and Blunham Park are chief residences; and the former is the seat of SirG. Payne, Bart. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely. Value, £731. Patron, Countess-Cowper. The church is Norman and good. The vicarage of Muggerhanger is a separate benefice. There are two dissenting chapels, a national school for boys, and an industrial school for girls.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales 1850
Blunham, 4½ miles N. Biggleswade. P. 1050
Source: Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales; Second Edition; C. W. Leonard, London; 1850.
A Topographical Dictionary of Great Britain and Ireland 1833
Blunham, co. Bedford.
P. T. Biggleswade (45) 5 m. NNW.
Pop. with Moggerhanger 540.
A parish in the hundred of Wixamtree; living, a rectory in the archdeaconry of Bedford and diocese of Lincoln; valued in K. B. 46l. 2s. 11d.; church ded. to St. Edmond; patroness, the Countess de Grey.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of Great Britain and Ireland by John Gorton. The Irish and Welsh articles by G. N. Wright; Vol. II; London; Chapman and Hall, 186, Strand; 1833.
Moggerhanger
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
MOGGERHANGER, or MUGGERHANGER, a village and a chapelry in Blunham parish, Beds. The village stands 1 mile SSW of Blunham r-station, 1¼ mile W of the river Ivel, and 4½ NW by N of Biggleswade; and has a post office under St. Neots.
The chapelry contains also the hamlet of Charlton, and was constituted in 1860. Pop., 503. Houses, 96. Moggerhanger House is the seat of F. Dawkins, Esq. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Ely. Value, £100. Patron, F. Dawkins, Esq. The church was built in 1861, by the late Mrs. Dawkins, as a memorial to her deceased husband, the Rev. E. H. Dawkins; is in the early Norman style, of Kempston stone and Silsoe red sandstone, with pillars of Ancaster stone; consists of nave, aisles, transepts, and apsidal chancel, with a central tower; and contains a splendid brass monument to the Rev. E. H. Dawkins, over his remains.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales 1850
Moggerhanger, in Blunham parish. P. 425.
Source: Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales; Second Edition; C. W. Leonard, London; 1850
Bankrupts
Below is a list of people that were declared bankrupt between 1820 and 1843 extracted from The Bankrupt Directory; George Elwick; London; Simpkin, Marshall and Co.; 1843.
Garratt John, Muggerhanger, Bedfordshire, publican, Dec. 11, 1832.
Parish Registers
Blunham Parish Registers 1571 to 1812
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Blunham
Moggerhanger
Bedfordshire Historical Directories
Directory Transcriptions
The Post Office Directory of Bedfordshire 1869
BLUNHAM is a parish, large village, and station on the Bedford and Cambridge line of the North Western Railway, 7 miles east from Bedford, 6 south from St Neots, 5 north west from Biggleswade, and 50 from London, in the hundred of Wixamtree, union and county court district of Biggleswade, rural deanery of Shefford, archdeaconry of Bedford, and diocese of Ely, situated between the rivers Ouse and Ivel.
There is a National school for boys, a School for girls, and an Infant school, supported by contributions. There are two Dissenting chapels. Blunham formerly had a market, and a fair at the festival of St James, granted to John Lord Hastings in 1315.
South Mills is a small hamlet of Blunham. Frederick Dawkins Esq is lord of the manor.
Parish Clerk, William Clarke
Post Office – Robert Judd postmaster, Letters received through St Neots at 5.30 am; dispatched at 6.25 pm. The nearest money order office is at Sandy
National School, John Noy, master; Mrs Sarah Noy, mistress
Infant School, Mrs Sharpe, mistress
Railway Station, Henry Boor, station master
CARRIER TO BEDFORD – George Thomas, monday, wednesday & saturday, returning same days
Blunham
Abbott Rev William [Baptist]
Brookes Miss
Edye Mrs
Goodman Mr William
Judd Mr William
Medd John MD
Mountain Rev Jacob Henry Brooke D.D. J.P. rector & rural dean The Rectory
Payne Sir Charles Gillies, bart. D.L. Blunham house
Usher Joseph esq The Orchard
COMMERCIAL
Barker John market gardener
Bolnhurst James farmer
Bonness James beer retailer
Clarke William beer retailer & farmer
Clarke William Thomas jun farmer
Dennis John butcher
Elliott Thomas Old Horseshoes inn
Ellwood John beer retailer
Eyre Thomas farmer
Fairy Moses farmer
Field Thomas tailor
Flood John Henry butcher
Fovage John shoe maker
Goodship George boot & shoe maker
James John Baker Old Salutation
Judd Robert draper & grocer & post office
Judd Mrs farmer
Judd William gardener
King Nathaniel Kifford Railway tav
Letts John machinist
Lovell Joseph farmer
Medd John MD surgeon
Norman Mark miller & farmer
Pedley Lewis shopkeeper
Powers Frank & William bakers & farmers
Reid Sarah Mrs beer retailer
Samuel Thomas builder
Samway James mealman & beer retailer
Sharpe Francis painter & glazier
Smith Frank dealer
Thomas John market gardener
Wakefield Geo shoeing & jobbing smith
South Mills
Pope Cornelius manager for Charles Powers Oil mills
Triplow John farmer
Source: The Post office directory of Northamptonshire, Huntingdonshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, and Oxfordshire By Kelly’s directories, ltd 1869
Maps
OS Grid Reference: TL1480251229 (all-numeric format: 514803 251230)
Administration
- County: Bedfordshire
- Civil Registration District: Biggleswade
- Probate Court: Court of the Archdeaconry of Bedford
- Diocese: Pre-1837 – Lincoln, Post-1836 – Ely
- Rural Deanery: Shefford
- Poor Law Union: Biggleswade
- Hundred: Wixamtree
- Province: Canterbury