Totternhoe Bedfordshire Family History Guide
Totternhoe is an Ancient Parish in the county of Bedfordshire.
Alternative names: Tattnall
Parish church: St. Giles
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1629
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1602
Nonconformists include: Wesleyan Methodist, Baptist, Primitive Methodist
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
TOTTERNHOE, a parish, with a village, in Luton district, Beds; 2 miles SW by W of Dunstable r. station. Post town, Dunstable.
Acres, 2,394. Real property, £3,418. Pop. in 1851, 753; in 1861, 652. Houses, 144. The property is subdivided. T. Castle is a double-ditched ancient British camp. Straw-plait working is carried on.
The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely. Value, £180. Patron, Earl Brownlow. The church is later English.
There are two Wesleyan chapels.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
TOTTERNHOE (St. Giles), a parish, in the union of Luton, hundred of Manshead, county of Bedford, 2 miles (W. S. W.) from Dunstable; containing 656 inhabitants. It comprises 1775 acres, of which 321 are common or waste.
The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king’s books at £10, and in the patronage of the Trustees of the Earl of Bridgewater, to whom, with Trinity College, Cambridge, the impropriation belongs. The vicarial tithes have been commuted for £133, those of the college for £135, those of the trustees for £300, and those of the incumbent of Eaton-Bray for £15; the vicar has a glebe of 6 acres, and the minister of Eaton-Bray one of 4 acres.
On the north side of the church passes the Roman Ikeneld-street, skirting the downs, upon which are the remains of Totternhoe Castle, overhanging the village of Stanbridge; the keep-mount is lofty, and encompassed by a circular fosse within another that is square, the latter inclosing the entire breadth of the ridge. Near this fortification is an ancient quadrangular camp; and eastward are extensive quarries of freestone and limestone, below which, at a great depth, is a bed of clay.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Directories
The Post Office Directory of Bedfordshire 1869
TOTTERNHOE is a village and parish, in the union and county court district of Luton, hundred of Manshead, rural deanery of Dunstable, archdeaconry of Bedford, and diocese of Ely, 2 miles west from the railway station at Dunstable, and 6 south east from Leighton Buzzard.
The church of St Giles is of considerable antiquity in the Perpendicular style: it consists of a tower (which contains 5 bells), nave, north and south aisles, and chancel. The register dates from the year 1559. The living is a vicarage annual value, £180 in the gift of Earl Brownlow: the great tithes are about £600 per annum, of which Earl Brownlow receives £300: Trinity College, Cambridge, likewise receives £135 annually: the vicar is the Rev William Brickwood, BA of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
In an ancient book of endowments of livings, &c. in the time of Hugh Locke, Bishop of Lincoln, who was made bishop about the year 1209, and which book is still remaining in the registry of the Lord Bishop of Lincoln, mention is made of an endowment in connection with the parish of Totternhoe, and implying a connection between Totternhoe and the ancient priory of Dunstable.
Here are two chapels one Wesleyan and one Primitive Methodist. There is a week day school, held in a handsome new school, which, with house was erected by Lady Marian Altord, in memory of her son the late Earl Brownlow; and also a Sunday school, both belonging to the church.
The straw plait business is the principal occupation of the villagers. About a mile and a half from Dunstable, and half a mile westward from Maiden Bower, is the supposed site of Totternhoe Castle: it consists of a lofty circular mount, with a slight vallum round its base, and a larger one, of an irregular form, at some distance from it; it is considered to be a fortification of the ancient Britons. Earl Brownlow is lord of the manor and the principal land owner. The soil is clay, subsoil, chalk. The chief crops are wheat, barley, beans, and turnips. The population in 1861 was 652; the area is 2,394 acres; the assessment is £1,700.
Parish Clerk John Bates
Letters received through Dunstable; arrive at 8 am; dispatched at 6.30 pm. Dunstable is the nearest money order office.
Brickwood Rev William, BA, [vicar ]
COMMERCIAL
Battoms John & Charles, farmer
Brinklow Jeffrey baker
Buckmaster Christopher miller
Clements John Cross Keys
Gadsden William Bell
Gurney Jesse farmer
Holland Joseph wheelwright
Holland Solomon farmer
Holt Thomas straw dealer
Holt Thomas whiting manufacturer
Horton Thomas farmer
Janes Benjamin blacksmith
Leach James straw dealer
Linney John shopkeeper
Pratt Hannah & Maria (Misses) farmers
Pratt William Mrs farmer
Purton James farmer
Rollings Edmund whiting manufacturer
Snoxell George butcher
Steers John beer retailer
Turvey James Mrs straw dealer
Turvey John farmer
Twidell William Old Farm inn & shopkeeper
Source: The Post office directory of Northamptonshire, Huntingdonshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, and Oxfordshire By Kelly’s directories, ltd 1869
Maps
Administration
- County: Bedfordshire
- Civil Registration District: Luton
- Probate Court: Court of the Archdeaconry of Bedford
- Diocese: Pre-1837 – Lincoln, Post-1836 – Ely
- Rural Deanery: Dunstable
- Poor Law Union: Luton
- Hundred: Manshead
- Province: Canterbury