Wootton Bedfordshire Family History Guide

Wootton is an Ancient Parish in the county of Bedfordshire.

Alternative names: Otone (xi cent.); Wutton (xii cent.).

Parish church:

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1561
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1602

The registers previous to 1813 are in six books: (1) all entries 1562 to 1652; (2) the same from 1653, the baptisms to 1665, the marriages to 1705, and the burials to 1667; (3) burials only 1668 to 1705; (4) baptisms 1683 to 1704; (5) all entries 1723 to 1812, marriages till 1754; (6) marriages (printed), 1754 to 1812.

Nonconformists include: Baptist, Wesleyan Methodist

Table of Contents

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

Wootton is a large parish and scattered village covering an area of 3,788 acres, of which 1,423 are arable land, 1,803 permanent grass, and 97 consist of woods and plantations. The soil is a rich, strong clay with a subsoil of gravel and marl, producing crops of wheat, beans and barley. The village of Wootton lies towards the north of the parish about 150 ft. above ordnance datum, and has outlying districts known as Keeley, Causeway End, Tags End and Bott End.

Wootton House, which stands in a park of 70 acres at the west end of the village, is the residence of Colonel the Hon. Robert Villiers Dillon. The church and vicarage, a Georgian building, stand at the entrance to the park, and beyond is The Hoo, the property of Mr. Foster and at present occupied by Miss Rohrweger. A road which enters the parish in the north passes through Keeley, Bott End and Tags End to Wootton Green in the south, leaving on the right Hoo Farm, in the neighbourhood of which Wootton Hoo manor-house was probably situated.

The Bedford branch of the London and North-Western railway and the Midland railway both run through this parish. The land slopes from west to east, and the highest ground is found at Bourne End, where in the grounds of a farm-house are remains of a moat, the site of one of the manors. Here an altitude of 317 ft. is reached, while in the north-east of the parish it sinks to 107 ft. There are brickworks here, the most extensive of which were erected in 1899 by Messrs. B. J. Forder & Sons, Limited, and cover an area of 5 acres.

When a survey of the manors of Studleys and Cannons was taken in 1605 the metes and bounds of the parish were given, and were as follows: From the east end of Culey Grene to Hardwicke Bridge (a mile), thence to Houghton Brooke (a mile) to the west part of Pilling Grene (a mile), thence to Shelton Grene, to Washinglenes Gate, to the west of Kempston Wood, and thence to Culey Grene (each a mile)

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

WOOTTON, a parish, with a scattered village, in the district and county of Bedford; 3½ miles N by W of Ampthill r. station, and 4½ SW of Bedford. It has a post-office under Bedford. Acres, 3,711. Real property, £6,205. Pop. in 1851, 1,204; in 1861, 1,349. Houses, 277. The property is subdivided. The manor, with W. House, belongs to Sir Payne, Bart. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely. Value, £400. Patron, Miss E. M. Neale. The church is early, decorated, and later English; and its chancel was recently rebuilt. There are Baptist and Wesleyan chapels, a handsome parochial school, and charities £78.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

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.

North Thos., Wootton, Bedfordshire, carpenter & brickmaker, Nov. 20, 1832.

Parish Registers

Wootton Parish Registers 1561 – 1812

Free Download
Bedfordshire Parish Registers V.43

Read more

London Marriage Licences and Allegations 1521 to 1869

The following have been extracted from London Marriage Licences 1521 to 1869.

Abbreviations. — B. Bishop of London’s Office; D. Dean and Chapter of Westminster; F. Faculty Office of Archbishop of Canterbury; V. Registry of the Vicar-General of Canterbury.

Marsh, Richard, of London Cony, Herts, gent., bachelor, about 26, and Elizabeth Clarke, spinster, about 20, consent of father, Francis Clarke, of Wootton Pilling, co. Beds — at Marston, co. Beds. 24 Dec. 1661. V.

Middleton, Symon, of Hackney, co. Middlesex, esq., widower, about 50, and Mary Luke, of Woodon, Beds, spinster, about 24, and at own dispose — at Apsdon, co. Herts. 6 April, 1672. V.

Monoux, Humphrey, of Wootton, Beds, esq., bachelor, 22 and upwards, and Mrs. Alice Cotton, spinster, about 17, daughter of Sir Thomas Cotton, late of Cannington, co. Huntingdon, bart., deceased, and her mother also dead, consent of her guardian, Sir Thomas Probee, bart., and — Pedley, esq.— at St. Margaret, Westminster, or Bigglesworth, or Sutton, co. Beds. 6 July, 1666. V.

St. John, Benjamin (Saintjohns), of Cold Overton, co. Leicester, esq., bachelor, about 23, and Mrs. Blanch Munox, of Wootton, co. Beds, spinster, about 18, consent of father. Sir Humphrey Munox, of same — at St. Clement Danes, St. Giles-in-the-Fields, or St. Andrew, Holborn. 7 Aug. 1663. V.

Source: London Marriage Licences 1521 to 1869; Edited by Joseph Foster; London 1887

Quarter Sessions Rolls

The following have been extracted from the Notes & Extracts from the Bedfordshire County Records comprised in the Quarter Sessions Rolls from 1714 to 1832 compiled by Messrs. Hardy & Page, Record Agents

1730 7th November. Examination of Anne Johnson, a vagrant, taken up in the parish of Wootton.
She says that she does not very well know how old she is, but appears to be between 13 and 14 years of age. That her father and mother were named Richard and Sarah Johnson, and that her father was a miller and lived in the parish of Wirksworth, in the county of Derby, in which parish deponent was born as she has often been told by her father and mother. That her father, owing more money in and about Wirksworth than he was able to pay, and afraid of being thrown into prison, some years ago (but how many deponent cannot tell), together with his wife and the deponent, left the parish of Wirksworth and went from thence to the City of London, where, after they had been some time deponent’s mother died, and the same summer the father also died. Ever since his death she has lived by begging, and sometimes has earned some small wages by keeping of sheep and cows in the fields belonging to several parishes and counties through which she has wandered.