The Parish of Sharnbrook in General
Sharnbrook is a village and parish located around 7 miles (11 km) north-west of Bedford town centre.
Landscape
Volume III of The Victoria County History for Bedfordshire was published in 1912 and at that time the parish comprised 2,467 acres, of which 853 acres are arable land and 1,305¾ acres permanent grass. The soil is clay, the subsoil clay and gravel, the principal crops being wheat, barley, oats, peas, beans and turnips.
Name
The name Sharnbrook comes from the word 'dung-brook' presumably from its fouling by the cattle. v. scearn, broc.
- 1086: S(c)ernebroc, Serneburg
- 1163: Shernebroc
- 1189: Sarnebroc
- 1220: Scarnebroc
- 1247: S(c)harnebrok(e)
- 1276: Scharneburg
- 1302: S(c)hernebrok
- 1406: Sharbroke
- 1785: Sharmbrook
According to the Victoria County History the following place-names have been found in documents connected with this parish:—Carswellfielde, Sondewood, Temple Leys, Temple Corner (xvi cent.), Castle Close, Coffle End, Clipsey Spinney, Eyles Plantation, Naboth's Vineyard, Uttersfield Plantation (xx cent.).
Administrative History
Sharnbrook is an ancient parish in the Willey Hundred. Sharnbrook's neighbouring parishes are: Felmersham, Souldrop, Bletsoe and Odell.
Charities
In 1827 William Curtis by will bequeathed £200 upon trust to be invested and income applied for the benefit of poor frequenting the meeting-house of Particular Baptists. The legacy with accumulations is represented by £265 17s. 11d. consols, with the official trustees, producing yearly £6 12s. 8d.
Population
In the Domesday Book of 1086 the population of Sharnbrook 37 which was made up of 11 villagers, 17 smallholders and 9 slaves. This figure needs to be multiplied by a factor of at least four to take into account these men's dependents. The population puts it in the largest 20% of settlements recorded in Domesday.
The Hearth Tax of 1671 (transcribed in Bedfordshire Historical Records Society Volume 16 in 1934) records 64 dwellings in Sharnbrook.
- 1086: 148
- 1671: 272
- 1801: 585
- 1891: 761
- 1921: 772
- 2001: 1,442
- 2021: 1,739