Elstow

Elstow is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Bedford, Bedfordshire, England, about 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Bedford town centre.[2]

Elstow
Elstow is located in Bedfordshire
Elstow
Elstow
Location within Bedfordshire
Population2,702 (2011 Census)[1]
OS grid referenceTL052465
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townBEDFORD
Postcode districtMK42
Dialling code01234
PoliceBedfordshire
FireBedfordshire and Luton
AmbulanceEast of England
UK Parliament

History
The Moot Hall
A model of Elstow Place

Countess Judith, niece of William the Conqueror, founded a Benedictine nunnery in Elstow in the year 1078.[3] The Moot Hall, which is an important example of timber frame construction, was completed in around 1500.[4]

In 1538 Elstow Abbey was valued as being the eighth richest nunnery in England. On 26 August 1539, the Abbess was forced to surrender the Abbey, the manor of Elstow and all the Abbey's other lands and estates throughout England, to King Henry VIII, as part of his Dissolution of the Monasteries.[5][6]

So large and significant was the Abbey at Elstow that, in the 16th century, a vote was carried in Parliament to create a cathedral for Bedfordshire using the now available site. But this motion never received the royal assent hoped for by its sponsor, Bishop Stephen Gardiner of Winchester.[6]

John Bunyan was born in 1628 at Bunyan's End, which lay approximately halfway between the hamlet of Harrowden and Elstow's High Street.[7]

South of the village, from 1942 to 1946 during World War II, the munitions factory ROF Elstow operated. Author H.E. Bates wrote about it in The Tinkers of Elstow (1946).[8]

Elstow today

The village and most of the populated part of Elstow parish are located inside Bedford's southern bypass, with the hamlet of Harrowden lying just to the south-east of that road. Elstow is now a conservation area, with many historic buildings and a village green.[9] Primary education is provided by Elstow School, with around 400 pupils on the roll.[10]

May Festivals
Elstow May Festival

May festivals are thought to have existed in the village since the formation of the nunnery in 1078. They were abandoned in about 1889 but then revived by the local headmaster, 'Bob' Wadsworth, in 1925. They were discontinued in 1968 and were then revived again in 2006 by the Reverend Jeremy Crocker, rector of Elstow Abbey.[11][12]

References
  1. "Civi Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  2. Elstow & Moot Hall – A brief History, Pilgrim House Publishing 2014
  3. Lysons, Daniel (1806). Magna Britannia; Bedfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire. T. Cadell and W. Davies.
  4. Historic England. "Moot Hall (1136906)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  5. "Chronicles of the Abbey of Elstow", Rev SR Wigram, MA Parker & Co 1885
  6. TJ Elliott (2011). "Benedictine Past". Elstow Abbey.
  7. Brittain, Vera (1950). In the Steps of John Bunyan: An Excursion into Puritan England. London: Rich and Cowan. p. 30.
  8. Bates, H. E. (1946). The Tinkers of Elstow: The Story of the Royal Ordnance Factory run by J. Lyons & Company Limited for the Ministry of Supply during the World War of 1939—1945. (Privately Published)
  9. "Elstow Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Plan". Bedford Council. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  10. "Elstow School". Department for Education. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  11. "Elstow: The Bedfordshire village that's held May festivals and fairs for a millennium". Bedfordshire Live. 20 April 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  12. "Elstow May Festival – A Brief History", Moot Hall 2011
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