Keysoe Bedfordshire Family History Guide
Keysoe is an Ancient Parish in the county of Bedfordshire.
Parish church: St. Mary
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1735
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1602
Nonconformists include: Baptist
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
KEYSOE, a village and a parish in the district and county of Bedford. The village stands 4 miles SSW of Kimbolton, and 5½ ENE of Sharnbrook r. station; was anciently called Caissot; is a very scattered place, connected at the ends with Keysoe-Row and Brook-End; and has a post office under St. Neots.
The parish comprises 3,564 acres. Real property, £4,023. Pop., 867. Houses, 186. The property is subdivided. The principal manor belongs to John S. Crawley, Esq. A broken piece of ground in the NE is thought to have been the site of a Romano-British town.
The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely. Value, £225. Patron, Trinity College, Cambridge. The church is decorated and later English, in good condition; consists of nave, N aisle, and chancel, with W tower and spire; and contains an early English font and a piscina.
There are Baptist chapels at Keysoe-Row and Brook-End, and a national school.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
KEYSOE (St. Mary), a parish, in the hundred of Stodden, union and county of Bedford, 4 miles (S. S. W.) from Kimbolton; containing 757 inhabitants.
The parish is intersected by the road from Bedford to Kimbolton, and comprises by measurement 3564 acres, of which 2200 are arable, 900 pasture and meadow, and 350 woodland, chiefly of oak: the surface is varied. Limestone is quarried for the roads.
The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king’s books at £8; net income, £150; patrons and impropriators, the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge. The tithes were commuted for land and a money payment in 1803: the glebe comprises 166 acres. The church is chiefly later English, with some remains of the Norman and decorated styles; it has a lofty and handsome spire, and contains a curious Roman font with a Norman-French inscription.
Here are two places of worship for Baptists.
In a field in the parish, still called “Cromwell’s Close,” Cromwell, it is said, for a time encamped. On the glebe land is a strong chalybeate spring.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Church records
Bishop’s transcriptsfor Keysoe, 1602-1876
Churchwardens, overseers, and surveyors records, 1702-1916
Parish register of Keysoe, 1602-1812
Parish register transcripts, 1602-1812
Parish registers for Keysoe, 1735-1983
Church records – Indexes
Computer printout of Keysoe, Beds., Eng
Cemeteries
Monumental inscriptions in the parish of Keysoe, Brook End, Baptist burial ground, 1742-1976
The monumental inscriptions of the Baptist Chapel, Keysoe Row East, Bedfordshire
Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.
Churchwardens, overseers, and surveyors records, 1702-1916
Census
Census returns for Keysoe, 1841-1891
Schools
Log book, 1905-1929 Keysoe Council School (Keysoe, Bedfordshire)
Taxation
Land tax assessments for Keysoe, 1797-1949
Maps
OS Grid Reference: TL0752462723 (all-numeric format: 507524 262723)
Administration
- County: Bedfordshire
- Civil Registration District: Bedford
- Probate Court: Court of the Archdeaconry of Bedford
- Diocese: Pre-1837 – Lincoln, Post-1836 – Ely
- Rural Deanery: Eaton
- Poor Law Union: Bedford
- Hundred: Stodden
- Province: Canterbury